#41 WATCH A PARADE
Deep River, Connecticut
Journey back to the summers of yesteryear with a weekend trip to Deep River, Connecticut, home of the largest Fife & Drum Ancient Muster Parade, July 15. After the festivities, beat the midday heat with a soft-serve cone from Main Street Sweet Shoppe. 860-526-9012, www.moxiecomp.com/dram

#42 PICK BLUEBERRIES
New Hope, Pennsylvania
Catch the real summertime blues at Solebury Orchards, where in July and August you can pick a dozen varieties of blueberries about an hour from downtown Philadelphia. The tannins in blueberries help prevent bacteria from sticking to cells in the body (goodbye, gum disease), so dig in to that blueberry pie—your dentist will thank you. $3.59 per pound; 215-297-8079, www.soleburyorchards.com

#43 HIKE HUT-TO-HUT
White Mountains, New Hampshire
It's not an endorphin-induced hallucination: When you hike into one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Huts after a hard day on the trail, you'll find a hut crew already cooking your dinner. In summer, seven of these eight 100-year-old high-mountain huts are full service. If you can't hit all the huts on the weeklong 60-mile route, spend a long weekend hiking to Greenleaf and Galehead. Starting in Franconia Notch, a lung-pummeling three-mile, 2,750-foot climb leads to the wind-generator-topped Greenleaf bunker, which purrs with the transfer of wind to watts. The hut affords expansive views of New Hampshire's formidable 4,000-footers, including Cannon and the Kinsman mountains. After summiting the 5,249-foot Lafayette, head east to the system's most remote outpost, Galehead Hut, nestled in the heart of the Pemigewasset Wilderness Area a full day's hike away. Huts are full service from June 1 until mid-September (higher huts) or mid-October (lower huts). From $85; 603-466-2727, www.outdoors.org/lodging/huts

#44 GET YOUR GROOVE ON
Chicago, Illinois
The upside to the fact that Lollapalooza doesn't travel the country anymore is that it has packed a summer's worth of great music into two sunny Chicago days. August 4–6; www.lollapalooza.com

#45 TRY EVERY FLAVOR
Ben & Jerry's Factory
Waterbury, Vermont
Gorge yourself on Dublin Mudslide—Irish cream liqueur ice cream with chocolate chip cookies and a coffee fudge swirl—or any of the 30 or so other flavors at the Ben & Jerry's factory, just north of Waterbury. A 30-minute guided tour ends in the FlavoRoom, where the real fun begins. Entry, $3; 866-258-6877; www.benjerry.com

#46 JUMP OFF A CLIFF
Hood River, Oregon
Make a splash at the third annual Jump Fest, held at Koberg Beach, Oregon. Leaps range from foot-high puddle jumps to 80-foot plummets; stick to lower elevations unless you want to get familiar with the inner workings of the local emergency room. August 4–6; www.airabovewater.com

#47 GET ENCHANTED
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Pick up some Native American artwork and jewelry, Navajo fry bread, and a bowl of green chile stew at the 85th annual Santa Fe Indian Market. August 19–20; 505-983-5220, www.swaia.org/market.php

#48 FINE DINE ALFRESCO
Boundary Waters
Ely, Minnesota
After a long day paddling island-studded Ensign Lake, in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, dock at base camp for five-star dining on Piragis's seven-day Gourmet Canoe Trip. Master chef Bernard Hermann, knighted by the French government for culinary excellence, fixes feasts like braised pork stew with orange and lemon, and fish with baby shrimp étouffée, while pastry chef Pam Freeman follows with crêpes suzette and caramel rice pudding. Freeze-dried camp dinners will never taste quite the same. September 9–15; $1,500; 800-223-6565, www.piragis.com

#49 DIVE TEXAS
Gulf of Mexico, Texas
The best diving in the lower 48 is in . . . Texas? Roughly 110 miles southeast of Galveston is Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, a pair of coral reefs between 65 and 145 feet deep, where hammerheads, manta rays, and whale sharks feed. Sea Sports Scuba: two-day live-aboard trips from $365; 281-970-0941, www.seasportstravel.com

#50 RIDE INTO THE SUNSET
Durango, Colorado, to Moab, Utah
Want a bike tour without the knee-grinding weight of overloaded panniers? The San Juan Hut System lets you ride free and easy. On the newly added Durango–Moab route, a 215-mile, weeklong jaunt, you ride from the cool, coniferous forests of Colorado's San Juan Mountains to eastern Utah's sandstone slickrock—with little more than the hydration pack on your back. $553 per person for groups of up to eight; 970-626-3033, www.sanjuanhuts.com

Additional reporting by Ki Bassett, Charles Bethea, Grant Davis, Aaron Gulley, Melinda Mahaffey, Stephanie Pearson, Kate Siber, and Jason Stevenson