Sculpture Walk Peoria Enhances Warehouse District

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois June 26, 2018July 2, 2022ArtsPartners of Central Illinois, Peoria art, Peoria attractions, Peoria Illinois, Peoria Sculpture Walk Peoria, Peoria sculptures, Peoria things to do, Peoria Warehouse District, Sculpture Walk Peoria, This to do in Peoria, Warehouse District in Peoia, what to do in Peoria 4 Comments

Bring new life to a blighted neighborhood with trendy condos or apartments. Add craft breweries and restaurants. To complete the effort, install public art. We love the revitalization efforts we’re seeing throughout Midwest cities, including the Warehouse District in Peoria, Illinois. Once a deteriorating neighborhood, today developers can’t convert old warehouses to apartment buildings quickly enough. In the evenings, crowds gather at craft breweries. And Sculpture Walk Peoria adds an artistic touch to the once-again bustling Warehouse District just southwest of downtown Peoria. Read more

Blue Gate Amish Tours: Evening in an Amish Home

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana June 19, 2018Amish home visit, Amish Tours in Shipshewana, Blue Gate Amish Tours, Blue Gate Tours, Shipshewana, Shipshewana Amish tours, Shipshewana IN, Shipshewana Indiana, Shipshewana tours, Things to do in Shipshewana, What to do in Shipshewana 0 Comment

Our Blue Gate Amish Tours guide, Allen, encouraged us to ask questions of the Amish bishop we were about to meet in Shipshewana, Indiana. “Nothing’s off limits,” he told us. So the twelve guests on the Evening in an Amish Home tour spent the time asking Bishop Monroe Yoder questions. We came away realizing that although the Amish culture is different in many respects from mainstream America, we have more in common with them than we knew. Read more

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge Connects Two States

Connie Attractions & Events, Iowa, Nebraska June 14, 2018Bob Kerrey Bridge, Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Bridge from Council Bluffs to Omaha, Bridge from Iowa to Nebraska, Council Bluffs attractions, kerrey pedestrian bridge, Rivers Edge Park, Things to do in Council Bluffs, Tom Hanafan Park, Tom Hanafan Rivers Edge Park, travel iowa, Unleash Council Bluffs, what to do in Council Bluffs 2 Comments

A few years ago, on our first visit to Omaha, we crossed the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. The impressive 3,000-foot s-curved bridge, one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the nation, spans the Missouri River and connects Council Bluffs, Iowa, with Omaha, Nebraska. So I wasn’t surprised when the bridge was on the itinerary on my recent press trip to Council Bluffs. Even through it’s the same bridge, and I again took the obligatory photo of one foot in each state, seeing the bridge from the perspective of Council Bluffs rather than Omaha somehow seemed a little different. Read more

Cantigny Park Salutes Battle of Cantigny Centennial

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois June 5, 2018June 1, 20181st Infantry Division, Battle of Cantigny, Battle of Cantigny Centennial, Big Red 1, Cantigny Park, First Division Museum, U.S. Army, U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division, World War I 0 Comment

May 28, 2018, marked the centennial of the Battle of Cantigny. The centennial happened to coincide with Memorial Day, and Cantigny Park, in Wheaton, Illinois, marked the occasion with a ceremony in front of the First Division Museum. Read more

Freedom Rock Tour: A Tribute to Veterans

Connie Attractions & Events, Iowa, Missouri May 28, 2018May 24, 2018Bubba Sorensen, Freedom Rock, Freedom Rock Iowa, Freedom Rock Pulaski County, Freedom Rock Trail, Freedom Rock Winnebago County, Freedom Rocks in Iowa, Ray Sorensen 2 Comments

Iowa artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen is on a mission to paint a mural honoring the military on a rock in every Iowa county and two in every state. We saw our first Freedom Rock last year in Pulaski County, Missouri, and this spring Skip stumbled across another one in Lake Mills, Iowa. Read more

Weekend Getaway: Galena, Illinois

Connie Accommodations, Attractions & Events, Food & Drink, Illinois May 2, 2018May 3, 2018Galena IL, Galena IL shopping, Galena IL tourism, Galena Illinois, Galena tourism, hotels near galena il, things to do in Galena, what to do in Galena, where to stay in Galena IL 9 Comments

Heading west on U.S. 20 in northern Illinois, the road that had been straight and flat begins to wind through gently rolling farm fields as you near Galena. When church steeples and orange brick buildings come into view, you know you’ve reached your destination. A city with fewer than 3500 residents, Galena attracts over a million visitors every year. Visitors come for the history, the shopping, the dining or just to relax in an atmosphere that is like nowhere else in Illinois. Read more