George Washington called it “The Provisions State.” Others have dubbed it “The Land of Steady Habits.” And when I attended college in the Midwest, my peers from around the country would ask what it was like growing up in the world’s largest suburb.

I’d bristle in defense of Connecticut (ctvisit.com), the land I love, and begin reeling off all the things to see and do in the Constitution State.

Art lovers canvassing the state’s museums savor masterpieces from the likes of Monet, Manet, O'Keeffe, Degas and Dalí.

Outdoorsy types retreat from bustling city life to camp, fish, hike, bike, kayak, canoe and participate in myriad other activities in nature’s playgrounds.

History buffs trace the 120-mile historic Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (w3r-us.org) meandering along country lanes and through charming villages across the heart of Connecticut. It includes a stop at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum (webb-deane-stevens.org) in Wethersfield, where Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau planned the battle culminating in the American victory at Yorktown during the Revolutionary War.

Wine connoisseurs sip their way across the state, visiting properties such as Hopkins Vineyard (hopkinsvineyard.com), set in a renovated 19th-century red barn and featuring a wine bar overlooking Lake Waramaug (lakewaramaug.com) in the lush Litchfield Hills.

And I haven’t even mentioned Hartford (enjoyhartford.com), which makes a capital visit. Begin with a trip to the nation’s oldest statehouse, followed by a tour of the oldest public art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum (wadsworthatheneum.org), which features about 50,000 works of art, including a large collection of Hudson River School landscapes and Impressionist masterpieces. Cap the morning with a stroll through the 37-acre Bushnell Park (bushnellpark.org) and a whirl on its 1914 carousel (operating between April and October every year; thecarouselmuseum.org), the gold-crowned New England-marble state capitol towering above.

Still in Hartford, spread a blanket on the luxuriant green lawn of the nation’s first municipal rose gardens at Elizabeth Park (elizabethpark.org) to enjoy a noontime picnic. As you stretch your legs and lean back to bask in the golden glow of the sun, inhale the sweet fragrance of 15,000 plants of 750 varieties of roses in bloom. Follow this with a visit to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (harrietbeecherstowecenter.org), the former home of the antislavery author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and a tour of the Mark Twain House (marktwainhouse.org), a National Historic Landmark, around the corner. Twain may have hailed from Missouri, but his 19-room orange-and-black turreted Victorian Gothic mansion in Hartford is the birthplace of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and many of Twain’s other characters.

Several other sites in surrounding towns might interest you and make your itinerary, including Farmington’s Hill-Stead Museum (hillstead.org), home to many Impressionist works.

Fairfield County’s Gold Coast (visitfairfieldcountyct.com) will appeal to the posh and cosmopolitan, while Mystic (mystic.org) is a destination within a destination, with an aquarium, seaport and charming downtown within blocks of each other. Or how about the Home of American Impressionism, the Florence Griswold Museum (florencegriswoldmuseum.org), in Old Lyme? Another choice is New Haven (infonewhaven.com), right by Yale University (yale.edu), with its “graffiti” walls of the Shubert Theater (capa.com/newhaven), also known as the “Birthplace of the Nation’s Greatest (soon-to-come-to-Broadway) Hits,” as well as New Haven Green, a hub of outstanding architecture and outdoor festivals, and Wooster Square, home to Italian restaurants that draw presidential visits.

Nature lovers will adore the beautiful Connecticut River Valley (enjoycentralct.com), which boasts a nostalgic steam-train ride in Essex, shopping in charming Chester and an internationally acclaimed opera house and eccentric Gillette Castle (friendsofgillettecastle.org) set atop a bluff overlooking the river in East Haddam.

I’m still a defender of the Nutmeg State and all it has to offer, from its white sandy shores hugging Long Island Sound to its lush, rolling green foothills of the states’ portion of the Berkshires, in Litchfield County.

Take it from this Yankee who’s lived there most of her life—Connecticut, whatever name it is given, offers a great travel destination.