I ate breakfast at the Bread Basket Café & Bakery in Danville, Indiana, three years ago and loved their fresh spin on the meal. So when I was heading to Danville again this year for the third annual Mayberry in the Midwest Festival, I wanted to be sure to eat there again. This visit, however, wasn’t for a meal, but rather for dessert, to kick off my quest to complete the Hoosier Pie Trail. Read more
Last month we took a road trip, zig-zagging across North Dakota east to west. We started our trip at the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center and ended in Medora. I have a lot to write about North Dakota all across the state, but I’m jumping now to the westernmost point of our trip. The Medora Musical and Pitchfork Steak Fondue was a true grand finale to our road trip. Read more
When devastation strikes, it’s difficult to imagine good coming from it, but that’s what happened in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, New Bohemia neighborhood, referred to as NewBo, following the great Cedar River flood of 2008. Most buildings in the already declining New Bohemia neighborhood filled eight feet or more with floodwaters. Sadly, some historic buildings were torn down rather than repaired. However, with federal and state funds, as well as insurance money, a building resurgence occurred. Today NewBo is booming with new shops, restaurants, and pubs.
The Mississippi River, the third-largest watershed in the world, flows over 2,300 miles through the United States, from Lake Itasca in Minnesota south into the Gulf of Mexico. Traveling the Great River Road Scenic Byway, which follows the course of the river, is on my bucket list. However, lacking the time to do it “right,” seeing everything there is to see along the byway in one trip, I am doing it piecemeal. During a recent travel bloggers conference, TBEX, which was held in Minnesota at the Mall of America, we had an opportunity to explore part of Minnesota’s portion of the Great River Road, from Kellogg to Red Wing. Read more
Not being a farm girl, I always thought beehives on bee farms were the natural ones. You know, the kind that Winnie the Pooh tries to steal honey from. Was I ever wrong, as I found out when I took the Honey Barn Tour at Hunter’s Honey Farm in Martinsville, Indiana. Read more
How many community colleges do you know of that run their own hotel? Not many, I’ll bet, especially a full-service hotel. There are only six in the entire United States, and I had the privilege of staying in one last month during a press trip to Cedar Rapids hosted by Iowa Tourism. The Hotel at Kirkwood Center is part of Kirkwood Community College’s hospitality arts program, which also includes The Class Act restaurant. Read more
