Minnesota, worth the detour.

Roadside Americana

A 500-foot bluff with an 85-foot rock pinnacle on top -- 1800s quarrymen literally carved the summit into its current spire shape while mining limestone, leaving Winona with a landmark that looks hand-sculpted because it partly was.

Outdoors

A short trail leads out onto King's Bluff, 500 feet above the river, where the valley suddenly opens into one of the most-photographed panoramas on the whole Great River Road -- goat-prairie slopes too steep to farm preserve rare plant communities you won't see anywhere else in the park system.

History

The Dakota call this spot Bdote -- 'where two waters come together' -- and it's literal: walk the Pike Island trail and watch the muddy Minnesota River visibly merge into the clearer Mississippi, one of the few confluences in America where you can see two rivers' colors mix in real time from dry land.

Nature

An elevated public observation deck puts you at eye level with towboats being raised and lowered more than 10 feet through the lock chamber, while bald eagles, American white pelicans, and cormorants work the churned-up tailwater below year-round.

Nature

Wabasha keeps a rotating cast of non-releasable bald eagles on hand as educational ambassadors, but the real draw costs nothing: walk out to the riverside deck any winter day and count wild eagles diving on open water by the dozen, no ticket required.