Have you ever traded houses with someone? I mean, for keeps? In 1905, George and Irene Douglas traded their Cedar Rapids city home for a mansion, located about two miles away, which would become known as Brucemore. During a tour of the 16,000 square foot Brucemore, I not only took in the opulence of the home’s design and furnishings, but also learned about the fascinating lives of two families who lived there. Read more
Two years ago I visited Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo during a press trip. Even through the zoo hadn’t opened for the season yet, I could tell from what was available to see during my visit that it was an outstanding zoo for children and adults alike. Therefore, when I made a return visit to Fort Wayne, Indiana, this year I wanted to go back to the zoo and see it in mid-season. I had planned to spend an hour or so in the zoo but ended up staying over three hours—and that’s without children. With about 1,000 animals, beautiful landscaping and five rides, the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo is, by far, the nicest non-major zoo I have visited. Read more
The first thing that caught my eye as I looked through the observation window from the Hershey Gardens gift shop into the new tropical butterfly atrium were the giant blue morpho butterflies flitting about. I had never seen a blue butterfly before, or one so large. The blue morpho is just one species of butterfly introduced in the atrium housed in the Milton & Catherine Hershey Conservatory, newly opened in 2016. In total, 200 to 300 species of tropical and North American Butterflies will be represented in the atrium when it is fully populated. Read more
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had a short time in a city and wished we could stay longer. Fargo, North Dakota, is one of those cities. We had a week to explore North Dakota, and a single day in Fargo was our starting point. Read more
Become the star of your own coloring page. Watch your drawing become part of a scrolling mural. Turn a crayon into a race car. Spin melted wax into a work of art. These are just a few of the activities kids—and adults—can have fun with at Crayola Experience, new to Mall of America in 2016. Read more
John Ray stood in his cornfield watching the nightmarish scene unfold before him, the rest of his family crouched in the farmhouse cellar. Cannon booms resonated in the usually quiet setting. Soldiers’ cries pierced the hot, humid summer Ozark air as bloody bodies fell. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, in which 1,317 Union Soldiers and 1,222 Confederate soldiers lost their lives, is considered the first significant Civil War battle west of the Mississippi River. John Ray’s farmhouse is the only original structure that still stands today. It is one of the eight interpretive stops at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Springfield, Missouri. Read more
