Spring is beginning to emerge following a hard winter during our mid-May visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, situated on the northwestern shore of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Young green grasses are poking out from the drab browns of winter, trees are beginning to leaf out, and the warm sun cuts through the chilly air.
We’re wandering around downtown Beloit, Wisconsin, checking out the shops on a chilly February morning before our first Saturday session of the Beloit International Film Festival. We stop to snap a few photos of Austin’s Barber Shop, a shop with an old-fashioned red, white and blue striped pole out front. Read more
From the time Abraham Lincoln left his family at the age of 22 until he went into law and politics, he ran two general stores, was a surveyor, a postmaster and a captain in the Black Hawk War. During this time, he lived in New Salem, about 20 miles north of Springfield, Illinois. Today you can visit the reconstructed New Salem and explore over 20 recreated log buildings in the area that Lincoln called home at the Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site. Read more
Drop by drop sticky sweet sap falls into the metal bucket hanging on the spout inserted into the maple tree. On a good day a bucket fills in 10 to 12 hours. It takes 30 to 50 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of maple sirup, something the Funk family has been doing since the 1820s. They began selling it commercially in 1891, 35 years before Route 66 was commissioned. Located near the midpoint of Illinois’ portion of Route 66, you can visit the Funks Grove farm and pick up some sirup for yourself if your timing is right. Read more
Dinosaur Park. The name says it all. It’s a park with dinosaurs—seven dinosaurs, to be exact. Seven life-size cement dinosaurs. Is it worth stopping at this kitschy Rapid City, South Dakota, roadside attraction? Absolutely. Here are six reasons why: Read more
We spent the early evening at a murder-mystery dinner in Pythian Castle’s ballroom. Now the mood changed, from light-hearted to eerie, on a 10 p.m. tour of the Pythian Castle. We were going to look for the ghosts that haunt the building. Read more
