Top 2014 Midwest Wanderer Travel Experiences

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota December 27, 2014April 2, 2018Art Party Studio, Bowers Harbor Inn Travers City, Buffalo Roundup, Chicago Helicopter Experience, DeSoto House Hotel, Grand Traverse Commons, Henry Doorly Zoo, Historic Park Inn, Kenosha Dragon Boat Festival, Midwest Travel, Midwest Wanderer, Mission Point Lighthouse, Pontiac Oakland Museum, Poopy's Pub n' Grub, Suzie Q Cafe, Traverse City, Village at Grand Traverse Commons 0 Comment

As another year comes to a close, we reflect on all that we’ve accomplished over the past twelve months and plan new goals for the coming year. For me, 2014 brought lots of opportunities to explore the Midwest, discovering more attractions, events and restaurants to share with you. It’s always amazing how much there is to do right here in the Midwest, from the Great Lakes to the Black Hills, from small towns to big cities. Today I’m sharing with you some of my personal “firsts” and also my top ten blog posts of the year, the ones most popular with you, my readers.

2014 New Experiences:

In March I discovered that anyone can paint—even no-artistic-talent me. At the Art Party Studio in Champaign, Illinois, bring your own wine, if you’d like, follow the step-by-step painting instructions, and every painting turns out well. If, on the slim chance it doesn’t, you can always blame it on the wine.

I tried my hand at glassblowing for the first time at The Glass Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Okay, so my turn lasted only a minute or so, since I was on a group tour and we just had a sampling. It would be fun to go back and create a “work of art” of my own.

I joined the Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau dragon boat team in the Kenosha Area Dragon Boat Festival in July. As hard as our team tried, we came in last place, but we had a great time.

Two new states were added to my list this year, Nebraska and South Dakota. I spent a couple of days exploring Omaha, including gardens, museums and shop. If you like zoos, you have to see Henry Doorly Zoo, my favorite zoo of all I’ve ever been to.

Besides the national monuments, national parks and so many other things western South Dakota has to offer, I took my first helicopter ride with the Black Hills Aerial Adventures, where I saw the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments at eye level and the Needles Highway from a bird’s eye view.

As great as everything else was in South Dakota, the highlight was the Buffalo Roundup in Custer State Park, where I bumped along in the back of a pickup truck right in the midst of the cowboys and cowgirls on horseback rounding up around 1,100 head of bison for their annual vaccines and pregnancy tests.

The year concluded with my second helicopter tour, this time in the evening with Chicago Helicopter Experience, along the Chicago lakeshore, with a great view of the Lincoln Park Zoo and Michigan Avenue Christmas lights.

Top 10 Posts of 2014

Haunted DeSoto House Hotel, Galena IL was published in 2013 but continued to be the most popular throughout 2014.
Ghost stories are apparently popular. Bowers Harbor Inn, Traverse City: Two Restaurants and a Ghost created quite a controversy among Traverse City locals, some believing the legend and others not.
I don’t know whether it’s because of the location on Route 66 or if people are interested in car museums, but the Number 3 most popular post was Pontiac Oakland Museum, Pontiac, Illinois: Auto Nostalgia along Route 66.
Frank Lloyd Wright architecture is always popular, so I’m not surprised that Historic Park Inn: Last Remaining Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel made the list.
Billed as the biggest biker destination in Illinois and along the Great River Road, Poopy’s Pub n’ Grub, Savanna IL; Popular Even with Non-bikers, came in at Number 5.
Downtown shops in towns in southwest Michigan resort towns are always fun to explore, and Traverse City foodie fans especially liked Traverse City Shops: A Culinary Delight.
Green County, Wisconsin, celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the Cheese Days in 2014. In June I attended a press preview of the big September event and wrote about it in Cheese Days 100^th Anniversary Preview, Monroe, Wisc. The event is held every two years, so plan ahead to attend in 2016.
Published just in time for Halloween, another Traverse City supposedly haunted location came in at Number 8, Tour a Former Asylum at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, Traverse City.
Eating at a tiny ten-seat diner is fun, especially when the delicious food is served by a magician, like it is at the Suzie Q Café, Mason City Iowa: A Meal with a Dash of Magic.
Old lighthouses are fun to explore. The stories behind them are always fascinating. Another Traverse City attraction, Tour Mission Point Lighthouse, Traverse City, Michigan made the list at Number 10.

I’m looking forward to sharing more fun and interesting attractions, events and restaurants in Midwest destinations throughout 2015. If you have suggestions on Midwest places to see and things to do, don’t hesitate to share them at info@midwestwanderer.com, and I’ll help spread the word.

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Visit the World’s Only Precious Moments Chapel, Carthage, Missouri

Connie Attractions & Events, Missouri December 23, 2014June 4, 2024Carthage Missouri, Carthage MO, Precious Moments, Precious Moments Chapel 2 Comments

If you’re a fan of those adorable teardrop-eyed Precious Moments children, you will love the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. After years of wanting to visit it, we finally did. You know how sometimes when you expect big things and then you get there and it’s a letdown? It was the opposite with the Precious Moments Chapel, the only such chapel in the world. I expected a small building with a few cute Precious Moments figurines and paintings. Instead, I found awesomeness in the true sense of the word. Huge paintings and murals cover the chapter walls. And the property covers acres of land, in a serene setting of hills and woods.

Exploring the Durham Museum in Omaha’s Old Union Station

Connie Attractions & Events, Nebraska December 8, 2014November 1, 2017durham heritage museum, Durham Museum, durham museum omaha, durham omaha, durham western museum, omaha attractions, things to do in Omaha, western heritage museum 0 Comment

Omaha’s Union Station, the first art-deco style train terminal in the country, was completed in 1931. After Amtrak took over all passenger rail service in 1971, the train station closed. It was almost demolished, but the railroad donated the station to the City of Omaha instead. Today the building is home to the Durham Museum. The museum’s permanent exhibits highlight Omaha area history, as well as temporary, traveling exhibits from sources like the Smithsonian. Read more

Chicago Helicopter Experience: View City Lights by Air

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois December 3, 2014July 5, 2018activiites in chicago, attractions in chicago, chicago atrarctions, chicago city tour, chicago helicopter, Chicago Helicopter Experience, chicago helicopter experience reviews, chicago helicopter rides, chicago helicopter tour, Chicago helicopter tours, chicago sightseeing, chicago things to do, chicago tour, chicago tourist attractions, chicago tours, chicago travel, chicago trips, helicopter chicago, helicopter experience chicago, helicopter ride chicago, helicopter ride in chicago, helicopter rides, helicopter rides chicago, helicopter rides in chicago, helicopter tour chicago, helicopter tours chicago, Helicopter tours in Chicago, places to visit in chicago, sightseeing chicago, sightseeing in chicago, things to do in chicago, tours in chicago, tours of chicago, visit chicago, what to do in chicago 1 Comment

Anyone who has traveled to and from Chicago by airplane at night has sampled a bit of the beautiful city lights. However, you are high up in the air in a matter of seconds and see little, if any, of the downtown area through your tiny window before you are out of city range. On the night-time Chicago Helicopter Experience tour I took, the stunning panoramic view of Chicago lights lasted a full half hour. Read more

Exploring Native American Heritage in South Dakota

Connie Attractions & Events, South Dakota November 28, 2014November 30, 2015Lakota Ways, Native Americans in South Dakota, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, Wounded Knee Massacre 0 Comment

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, over 82,000 people, 12.5% of South Dakota’s population, are of Native American descent, either fully or in combination with other nationalities or ethnicity. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, at 2.8 million acres, is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Not surprising, several of the places I visited during my September South Dakota trip emphasized Native American heritage, including Lakota Ways in Wall and several stops on the reservation. Read more

Studebaker Museum, South Bend: From Carriages to Automobiles

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana November 24, 2014June 3, 2022Indiana museums, Museums in Indiana, National Studebaker Museum, South Bend, South Bend attractions, South Bend IN, Studebaker Museum, Studebaker Museum Indiana 0 Comment

Few transportation companies successfully transitioned from manufacturing wagons and carriages to automobiles. Studebaker was one of the exceptions. In the early 1900s, the company moved from carriages to battery-powered cars. A few years later they transitioned to gasoline engines. The Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana, traces the history of the company from wagon to the last cars Studebaker manufactured, in the mid-1960s.