Twelve awesome adventures into the U.S. that are only a day's drive away

Out of love for pointless road trips, we present to you our doable dozen. We took 12 Canadian cities and paired them up with 12 nifty car-centric destinations that are a day's drive away. Then you can park your exhausted carcass in a Red Roof Inn for the night, visit either a super cheesy or genuinely wonderful (our list has some of each) attraction, scope out some of the local colour, have a nice dinner, crash another night and haul butt back to Canada, all in a three-day span.

Do them over a long weekend (or skip out of work for a day after a regular weekend), these are trips you make with your best mates, your toothbrush, a song-laden stereo, a camera, a gas card and not much else. Then, forever after, you get to say, "Hey, remember that time we drove to Salt Lake City for the weekend?" and crack up, even though you've said it 50 times before. Good times. We're helping you make some memories here, people.

Watch: Keep everyone entertained with these fun road trip games