One fun part of travel is learning interesting facts about the places you visit. Following are bits of trivia I’ve picked up about each of the Midwest states. Read more
12 Fun Facts You May Not Know about the Midwest
Attractions & Events
Muffler Men: Still Standing Tall on Route 66
For years I worked just down the street from the Gemini Giant that stands on the edge of the Launching Pad parking lot. I frequently ate lunch at the Launching Pad, a now-closed fast-food diner on Route 66 in Wilmington, Illinois, but I never thought about the history of the oversize figure. It turns out he’s one of many Muffler Men, 14- to 25-foot tall fiberglass advertising icons produced by International Fiberglass in Venice, California, from 1962 to 1972. The Gemini Giant was repainted to fit the Launching Pad space theme, the space helmet was added and a rocket placed in his hands.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option. Read more
2015 Midwest Wanderer Year in Review
2015 has been another great year of firsts for us. We’ve visited new destinations, enjoyed new experiences, and had several “who knew?” moments.
Here are some of our favorite 2015 experiences: Read more
Forest Home Cemetery: Paying Respects to Milwaukee Beer Barons
The more we get into the historic aspects of places we visit, the more interesting local cemeteries become to us. Ornate monuments alone are fascinating to see, but what we also find intriguing are family plots where we can piece together a family’s lineage. One cemetery we recently toured was Forest Home Cemetery, where most of Milwaukee’s early beer barons are interred.
Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of four articles about Milwaukee’s Pabst family and the historic Pabst Brewery, at one time the nation’s largest brewery. Read more
Best Place Beer History Tour, Historic Pabst Brewery
Pabst Brewery, once the world’s largest beer producer, had been shuttered and fenced off for almost two decades. The buildings, all 28 of them, would have been torn down had the city not gotten the brewery on the National Register of Historic Places. We learned this story and a lot more about Milwaukee’s beer history during the Beer History Tour at Best Place, located at the historic Pabst Brewery.
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of four articles about Milwaukee’s Pabst family and the historic Pabst Brewery, at one time the nation’s largest brewery. Read more
Viewing Elephant Seals near San Simeon
We had heard that elephant seals spend only two months onshore. The rest of the time they’re far into the ocean. That is true. Maybe it was an assumption on our part, but we thought they all came onshore at the same time, and that we were lucky to hit the right season when we saw hundreds of elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas rookery near San Simeon, California. The truth is, you can view elephant seals at the rookery almost always, more at some times of the year than others.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option. Read more