Mount Rushmore at Sunrise: A Spectacular Show

Connie Attractions & Events, South Dakota February 16, 2015November 22, 2015 0 Comment

I finally made it to Mount Rushmore. For 40 years I’d wanted to see the likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt carved into the mountain’s granite, or “the heads,” as my daughter referred to them. For one reason and then another, I never made it there until last fall. It was well worth the wait, and getting up before dawn to see the sunrise was a small price to pay for the spectacular show our presidents put on for us.

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Our group arrived at dawn, just as the skies were beginning to lighten from black to gray, a late September chill in the air. Only a few others besides our group were there that early, before the rush of tourists, allowing us to position ourselves for the best photo shots of the monument.

As the sun began to come up, the stone took on a peach cast against the powder blue sky.

The coloring became more vibrant as the sun peeked higher above the horizon …

… until the mountain was seemingly on fire and the sky a bright azure.

As the sun rose higher, the faces softened.

With the breathtaking sunrise over, it was time to explore a little more. The Presidential Trail allows you to get up closer to the monument and presents some great angles, including from between trees and rocks.

Later I noticed another great view from the windows in the café.

I know it isn’t every day that the sky is as blue as it was on that September morning, not a cloud in the sky. I’m just glad that after waiting over 40 years to see “the heads,” we were blessed with perfect weather and a perfect sunrise.

Mount Rushmore is located in Keystone, South Dakota, about a half hour southwest of Rapid City. Check the web site for directions, operating hours and other details.

Disclosure: My visit to Mount Rushmore was hosted by the South Dakota Department of Tourism. However, all opinions in this article are my own.

Other posts you may enjoy:

Prehistoric History Uncovered at Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota

Exploring Native American Heritage in South Dakota

The Journey Museum, Rapid City: Black Hills History and Culture

Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City: Norwegian Serenity

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Rockford Art Museum: From Sketch Club to Esteemed Gallery

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois February 9, 2015February 9, 2015Rockford, Rockford attractions, Rockfort Art Museum 0 Comment

The Rockford Art Museum began as a local sketch club over a hundred years ago. Today, with 17,000 square feet of exhibition space and 1700 works of art in its permanent collection, it’s one of the largest art museums in Illinois. The museum features 19^th and 20^th century art. A big focus is on modern and contemporary works of art, but also includes American Masters, photography, contemporary glass and outsider art collections.

The museum’s three galleries are spread over two floors. The lower level exhibitions are from the permanent collections, including a couple of sculptures by famed Illinois artist Lorado Taft. We had seen several of Taft’s sculptures at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, so seeing these additional sculptures was a nice tie-in.

Some of my favorite pieces, because they were really funky, were part of last summer’s Oddities and Curiosities exhibition. I was particularly fascinated by Scott Roberts’ video installation, Viola, a mirror in which you see an image of the artist’s grandmother instead of yourself when you look into it. However, it isn’t a still image; rather, you see her blink and move her eyes.

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One of the museum’s prized collections was a donation from Francis and June Spiezer, that includes pieces from Chicago artists, many considered to be the most important in the art world.

The main floor of the museum is designated for temporary exhibitions that change three times a year. Our visit happened to fall during the Rockford Midwestern Biennial. Every other year artists from across the Midwest submit pieces to this juried show, the jurors brought in from the outside. All pieces submitted are required to have been created within two years prior to the show. Besides monetary awards, one piece is awarded the Dean Alan Olson Purchase Award. That piece goes into the Rockford Art Museum’s permanent collection.

The main floor also is where you’ll find the museum store, a great places to purchase unique gift items.

The Rockford Art Museum, located in the Riverfront Museum Park at 711 N Main Street in downtown Rockford, Illinois, is open daily from 10 to 5. Check the web site for directions and admission rates.

The museum campus, a Rockford Park District property, is also home to the Discovery Center Museum, Rockford Dance Company, Rockford Symphony Orchestra and Northern Public Radio. I’m no art critic, but I thought this staircase in the entryway of the museum campus was a work of art itself.

Disclosure: Our visit to the Rockford Art Museum was hosted by the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Rockford Art Museum. However, opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Isle a la Cache Museum: Discover the Fur Trade on the Island of the Hiding Place

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois February 4, 2015February 5, 2015Illinois museums, Isle a La Cache, Romeoville Illinois, Route 66 0 Comment

“Island of the hiding place” is the literal translation of Isle a la Cache, a tiny island in the DesPlaines River in Chicago’s suburban Romeoville. The fur trade was a huge industry in the 1600s and 1700s, and Illinois’ abundant interconnected web of waterways made the area a focal point for trade. Isle a la Cache was a middle ground for trading. It was here that voyageurs often camped, stored goods and traded with the native Potawatomi. A rendezvous took place annually at Isle a la Cache, a big event in which traders met with Native Americans for trading.

The museum begins with the voyageurs, whose trips would often last about eight months. They plied the waterways from Canada down into Illinois in canoes. They carried all the provisions they’d need for the entire trip, plus items for trade. Their loads could weigh a few thousand pounds. They’d often bury some of their provisions in caches and come back for them to be used on the return trip.

Voyageurs brought with them steel tools, firearms and other items Native Americans didn’t have the means to produce themselves. They traded for some food but mostly for fur, specifically beaver pelts. The beaver population was abundant in the 1600s to 1700s, and their water repellant fur was ideal for hats. The Potawatami could predict when the beavers would be in their lodges, so they were easy to trap. The voyageurs sent the pelts to Europe where milliners transformed them into hats. By the early 1800s the beaver population had declined to near extinction.

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The museum segues to the life of the Potawatami. A Potawatami wigwam is on display, as well as tools, clothing and other day-to-day items.

Often French traders would marry Potawatami women, giving them easier access to trade items. Their children were referred to as Metis. Although Metis had insight to both cultures, neither culture fully accepted them.

The museum exhibits ends with a recreated French hat shop with samples of hats and muffs that may have been made of beaver fur. You can learn more about the area’s past in the museum’s library.

The Isle a la Cache Museum is located at 501 E Romeo Road (135^th Street) in Romeoville, just east of Route 53 (the Historic Route 66). The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Check the web site for hours.

While you’re there, drive an eight of a mile farther east to the Centennial Trail. On the north side of 135^th Street, check out the old swing bridge, built in 1899. The bridge spanned the I&M Canal until 1996 when a stationary bridge replaced the swing bridge, and the swing bridge was relocated to the trail.

Other articles you may enjoy:

White Fence Farm, Romeoville IL: Popular Chicken Restaurant on Route 66

Hiking Starved Rock State Park in the Winter

Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket: A Route 66 Icon

Wall Drug: From Free Ice Water to Free Fun

Connie Attractions & Events, South Dakota February 3, 2015November 22, 2015wall drug dakota, wall drug sd, wall drug store, wall drugs, wall sd, wall south dakota, wall street drug 2 Comments

It’s a restaurant. It’s an art gallery. It’s a souvenir shop. It’s a western town. Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota, is all of those things, plus more, rolled into one. Most of all, it’s a tourist attraction not to miss. It wasn’t always that way, though.

Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the drug store in Wall, South Dakota in 1931 during the midst of the Great Depression. They curtained off the back 20 feet of the 24 foot by 60 foot building for living space and gave themselves five years to succeed. Times were tough, and the store wasn’t on the main highway through town.

With six months left to the five year mark, during the heat of the summer back when there was no air conditioning, Dorothy suggested they put up signs along the highway advertising free ice water. Ted thought it was a silly idea but went along with it. He and a high school student painted and put up signs, Burma Shave style. Before Ted got back to the store, the first customer showed up. Ted put up 19 more signs, the customers kept coming, and the store kept growing. Today the store is across the street from the original, takes up 76,000 square feet and offers a whole lot more than free ice water.

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The group I traveled with had dinner at Wall Drug’s Western Art Gallery Restaurant, its walls lined with the largest privately owned western and illustration art in the United States.

We dined on a comfort meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans. Wall Drug serves 30,000 pounds of roast beef every season. The buffalo burger is popular, too. Wall is famous for their doughnuts, as well. I tasted one and understand why.

After dinner we roamed what seemed like a labyrinth of stores, one connected to another, going this way and that, shops selling souvenirs, western wear, specialty foods, pottery, and lots more.

There is even a traveler’s chapel.

In the open-air backyard picnic area, you can pose for photo ops on the many photo props, like this giant jackalope.

The Back Yard Mall has even more attractions, including an arcade, gem mining, a pizza parlor, and a ferocious dinosaur that comes to life, roaring and smoking, every few minutes.

Today, over eighty years after the first signs were posted, more than 200 signs in South Dakota, Wyoming and North Dakota invite you to visit Wall Drug. Signs have even been posted in London and Paris subways, attracting an international crowd. Run now by the third generation Hustead family, Wall Drug still stands by their original offer: free ice water. They’ll even fill your jug.

Wall Drug is located at 510 Main Street in Wall, South Dakota, off of I-90 Exit 110. You can’t miss it—just follow the signs. Check the web site for hours and more details.

Disclosure: My visit to the Wall Drug was hosted by the South Dakota Department of Tourism and Wall Drug. However, all opinions in this article are my own.

Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.

Other articles you may enjoy:

Prehistoric History Uncovered at Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota

Exploring Native American Heritage in South Dakota

The Journey Museum, Rapid City: Black Hills History and Culture

Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City: Norwegian Serenity

Touring the College of the Ozarks: Hard Work U

Connie Attractions & Events, Missouri February 1, 2015February 5, 2015Branson attractions, Branson Missouri, Branson MO, Branson museums, Colelge of the Ozarks, Hard Work U, Keeter Center, Ralph Foster Museum 2 Comments

The College of the Ozarks doesn’t charge tuition. Instead, students at this southwest Missouri school are required to work fifteen hours per week. Student workers in many of those jobs create goods or hospitality experiences available for sale to the general public. We visited the College of the Ozarks, located about four miles from Branson, expecting to spend a couple of hours in the Ralph Foster Museum and to grab a bite to eat in the Dobyns Dining Room. We ended up spending a full five hours on campus, discovering there is much more to explore at the College of the Ozarks besides the museum.

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Keeter Center
Start at the Keeter Center, the rustic lodge recreated from Dobyns Hall, a lodge that was displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair. The original lodge was moved to the College of the Ozarks where it stood until 1930.

The Keeter Center houses fifteen luxury suites, the Dobyns Dining Room, an ice cream parlor, a gift shop and a small armed services memorial. The Keeter Center is also where you can pick up a map to take a self-guided campus tour.

Plan to eat lunch or dinner in the Dobyns Dining Room (reservations recommended). Many of the ingredients used in the dishes are campus-to-table and some of the other ingredients are sourced locally. All of the vegetables and fruits in my Spinach with Smoked Chicken Salad were raised by the students on campus, and so was my husband’s pork fritter. Yep, they raise pork on campus.

Hard Work U, as the college has been dubbed, also has a dairy, from which all of the restaurant’s dairy products are made, including the rich, creamy ice cream sold at the College Creamery.

The Maybee Lodge in the Keeter Center offers fifteen suites that accommodate up to six people each. We didn’t stay at the lodge and didn’t see the rooms, but judging from the descriptions and photos on their web site, the suites truly are luxurious. Every room has a fireplace, private balcony and other upscale amenities.

Edwards Mill
A 12-foot water wheel powers the mill where student workers grind whole-grain meal and flour.

You can purchase the meal and flour in the mill, as well as jellies and apple butter made on campus in the Fruitcake and Jelly Kitchen. Students also bake about 30,000 fruit cakes each year.

Upstairs in the mill we watched basket weaving and rug weaving demonstrations. Baskets, placemats, rugs and tablecloths that the students make are available for sale.

Greenhouses
Over 7,000 plants fill greenhouses, where we spent quite a bit of time photographing the beautiful orchids and other flowers.

I think this one looks like a rubber duck.

The greens for my salad were most likely grown in this hydroponic greenhouse.

Williams Memorial Chapel
The campus chapel used to be a Presbyterian church. It’s now non-denominational and the public is invited to attend Sunday morning services.

Ralph Foster Museum
The Ralph Foster Museum is named for an Ozark region radio pioneer instrumental in bringing country music to a national level. Besides broadcasting, the museum includes antique and archaeology exhibits.

One of the more fun exhibits is the car used in the pilot of The Beverly Hillbillies sitcom.

A huge collection of firearms takes up most of the museum’s upper level. I stopped counting after a hundred. I’d guess there is three times that number of firearms in the museum.

The upper level also includes natural history exhibits with taxidermied big cats, bears and other animals.

Be careful though. You never know what may sneak up behind you.

The College of the Ozarks, located southwest Missouri’s Point Lookout is an ideal side trip when visiting Branson. Check the web site for hours of the various campus sights or to make reservations for the Dobyns Dining Room or Mabee Lodge.

Fashion Outlets Chicago, Rosemont: Outlet Mall Experience Taken to a New Level

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois, Shopping January 26, 2015February 5, 2015chicago fashion outlet, Fashion Outlets Chicago, fashion outlets rosemont, outlet chicago, outlets in Chicago, premium outlets chicago, rosemont outlets 0 Comment

Last week I was introduced to the Fashion Outlets Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois. It’s surprising I hadn’t been there before because I am drawn to outlet malls, and this one is less than 90 minutes from home. There is something about an outlet mall that lures me in. Could be signs like this:

Fashion Outlets Chicago has taken the outlet mall experience to a new level with both shops and service. With over 130 stores from Gucci to Gap, Coach to Claire’s and dining options from Villagio to Sbarro, Fashion Outlets Chicago has something for everyone. Whether you’re on an extended layover at O’Hare, just a few minutes away; attending a convention across the street at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center; or driving in specifically to shop, the indoor mall is easy to access.

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My trip to Fashion Outlets Chicago was part of a Rosemont tour prior to attending the Chicago Travel & Adventure Show. The visit started with what was described as “light bites” at Villagio, one of two full service restaurants in the mall. The food was plenty to fill up on: meatballs, breaded calamari and zucchini, and several specialty pizzas, including one with prosciutto.

During an orientation to the mall we learned the shops are strategically located, so that similar stores are close together, with convenient entrances to each area. Upscale shops are clustered at one end of the upper level, fragrance shops at another end, and children’s shops near each other on the lower level.

We also learned about the convenient guest services that the mall offers, including shuttles from nearby O’Hare Airport terminals and the Chicago CTA blue line Rosemont station. Travel concierge service, operated by BAGS Inc. at the guest services counter includes airport baggage check-in and boarding pass printing. They also offer packaging and shipping, as well as delivery service within a specified a zip code range.

After the orientation we had about 45 minutes to shop. My husband and I browsed a couple of the shoe stores (38 stores sell shoes) and then found the chocolate. We spent the rest of our shopping time in the Lindt and Godiva Chocolatier shops.

Dark chocolate bars, buy four get one free. How could I resist?

In the Godiva Chocolatier shop I noticed an entire box of only dark chocolates.

I was tempted, but I resisted. Instead, we watched as macaroons were dipped into white chocolate. The shop offers chocolate-dipped strawberries, Oreos® and other delectable treats daily.Wandering back to our meeting place, we noticed large colorful art pieces throughout the mall. Fashion Outlets of Chicago partnered with The Arts Initiative, a newly formed organization dedicated to placing visual art in public spaces.

Forty-five minutes isn’t nearly enough time to even browse a mall as large as Fashion Outlets Chicago. I vowed to go back that weekend but couldn’t squeeze it into the schedule. That means I’ll have to make a return trip, specifically to do nothing but shop.

Fashion Outlets Chicago, located at 5220 Fashion Outlets Way with convenient access off of I-294, is open seven days a week and offers free covered parking. Check the web site for directions, transportation options and hours.

Disclosure: My visit to the Fashion Outlets Chicago was hosted by the Village of Rosemont, Villagio and Fashion Outlets Chicago. However, all opinions are my own. Photos taken by Skip Reed and Connie Reed.