Nine once-in-a-lifetime food adventures in the USA

Skip the line for lobster rolls and earn your dinner on a working lobster boat. At Lucky Catch Cruises, you'll fill bait bags, haul real traps from Casco Bay, and size up the catch with the crew. Along the way, you'll get to see picturesque lighthouses, historic Civil War forts, and the “Seal Rocks." When you're back at the dock, you can pick out a lobster at the wholesale boat price to take next door to Portland Lobster Company, where they'll cook it for you. 

A fan of the creamy, golden stuff found inside sea urchins? Did you know you can dive for uni yourself? The Sonoma-Mendocino coastline in Northern California is covered in purple sea urchins, and there are just a couple of things to keep in mind when you go uni hunting: 1. Stick to purple urchins, which are plentiful. 2. Suit up (the water is hella cold) 3. Make sure to get a California fishing license and follow the rules. Once you've cracked open your bounty, spread the creamy goodness on rice, toast or anything else you want.

Sure, the scenery is gorgeous, but the meals are the real highlight of any outdoor adventure with Allagash Canoe Trips. While they do offer some day trips, most canoeing adventures take five to seven days in either Maine’s Allagash Wilderness Waterway, the remote and pristine St. John River, or Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula. The family-owned business provides all necessary canoe and camping gear, but, as we said, the food is the real highlight. Guides will whip up blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, vegetables harvested from the family's organic farm, as well as rolls, biscuits, and desserts baked in a reflector oven before the open fire. Yum.

In Washington, it doesn't get better than an al fresco dinner with a view of the Olympic Mountains. Throw in a normally expensive menu item that you can eat for free, and this just might be paradise. Head to Hood Canal in the winter months to harvest tasty oysters right from the shore and into your mouth (bring a lemon and some hot sauce and you can literally dine as you hunt). A couple tips: 1. Oysters are best in areas where fresh flowing water meets salt water 2. You must leave the shells behind for new oysters 3. Don't forget a shellfish/seaweed license from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife!

Think of scalloping as an Easter egg hunt for your favorite shellfish—it's that easy. All you have to do is swim above the shallow saltwater grass flats until you spot the shell's vibrant blue eyes (when the shell is open) or the signature shell shape. The Plantation on Crystal River resort will connect you with experienced guides if you'd rather have company, and once you've filled your bag, the chefs back at harbor will shuck, clean, and cook them for you for a true water-to-plate experience.

Fungi expert and chef Patrick Hamilton leads curious foragers on various wild mushroom hunts in Northern California. With more than 40 years of mushroom hunting experience, Hamilton can help you find 'shrooms, make sure you're picking edible ones, and teach you the best methods for cooking them. The three- to four-hour classes meet either in Marin or on the Sonoma Coast and cover the basics of wild mushroom foraging before setting you loose to unearth chanterelles, boletes, black trumpets, and morels.

OARS knows that good food is just as important as adrenaline-rushing activities when you're adventuring in the great outdoors. The company offers three- to five-day rafting expeditions on Oregon's Rogue River where you can ride the rapids by day and at night enjoy gourmet grub by candlelight (using whatever equipment you can manage to keep on the boat, of course). Roll up your sleeves to help a renowned chef craft a restaurant-quality meal from hyper-local ingredients. You'll come away with a full belly and a new set of skills.

The West Coast may not have a proper fall or winter, but they do have Dungeness crab season, and the most fun way to partake in the annual tradition is to catch one yourself. To do so, head to Tillamook Bay in Oregon—five different rivers flow into the bay, making for some of the best fishing, clamming, and crabbing west of the Mississippi. Crabbing can be good year-round, but the best catches are from October to December when you can harvest crabs directly from the docks at the marinas. Don't forget to get your Oregon shellfish license before you go.

If you've gotten your fill of food and need a liquid palate cleanser, look to California wine country. Sure, you can order a chauffeured ride to your wineries of choice, but we're talking adventure here! Instead, hop into the world's first tandem sidecar attached to a vintage motorcycle. Sidecar Tours will link you up with a knowledgeable guide who knows a thing or two about navigating the road on two wheels, along with the grape varietals that'll soon be filling your glass. Most tours take place throughout San Luis Obispo County, so you'll enjoy its cool, coastal climate for much of the ride to wineries like Biddle Ranch Vineyard and Claiborne & Churchill. Tastings aren’t included in the price, but it’s an extraordinary way to get to know an underappreciated wine region.