A Record of a Lifetime of Wanderlust
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois Part of the allure of visiting the Museum of Science and Industry is the overwhelming nature of it all. One of my favorite exhibits was the display of rare aircraft in the museum, which covered the ceiling of one of the main rooms. One of the rare planes…
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Throughout the Great Lakes, hundreds of lighthouses dot the landscape. Some warn of dangerous shores, but the North Point Lighthouse was designed as a friendly light, letting passing ships know they were at Milwaukee Bay’s north point. Thanks to its height and location on a bluff, the lighthouse was 154 feet above Lake…
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sometimes, when traveling, it is worthwhile to take some time to rest and take in the views. Milwaukee provides a great place to do just that with the Lakefront Brewery. The name may be a misnomer; the brewery started in the Riverwest Community in a former bakery and is currently located in a…
Milwaukee, Wisconsin On the Milwaukee River just south of Wells Street stands a bronze statue of one of Wisconsin’s favorite fictional sons, Arthur Fonzarelli. Fonzie was played by Henry Winkler in the sitcom Happy Days, set in Milwaukee in the 1950s and 60s. The Fonz was only meant to be a secondary character, but over…
Chicago, Illinois I grew up getting off the bus from school at my grandparents’ house. From April to September, my grandfather often had WGN on, carrying the Cubs game from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. For a young boy, those times watching games with my grandfather built a lifelong love of baseball. The Cubs…
Chicago, Illinois Pullman sleeping cars were what made overnight rail travel comfortable and practical. With Chicago’s location as the central rail hub for the United States, it only made sense that George Pullman would open a factory that created these mobile palaces that served the country in Chicago. George Pullman created an entire town for workers…
Indiana Dunes National Park, Beverly Shores, Indiana What do an all-steel home, a log cabin, a flamingo pink tropical house, a glass house with an airplane hanger, and a steel house with fake stone walls have in common? All were houses in the Homes and Industrial Arts Exhibit of the 1933 Century of Progress World’s…
Palms Book State Park, Manistique, Michigan When preparing for a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, many travel recommendations suggested a stopover at Kitch-iti-kipi. Translating as “Big Cold Spring” from the native Ojibwa language, the park’s highlight is Michigan’s largest natural freshwater spring. The spring is over 200 feet across, 40 feet deep, and…
Beverly Shores, Indiana “How are you good at skipping rocks, Daddy?” If my boys had only known how much of my youth I spent on the banks of the Dan River, they would understand that skipping rocks was a right of passage for anyone who spent time on the river. We would always aim to…
Chicago, Illinois We were in downtown Chicago in search of a bite to eat when I pulled up my phone and had a suggestion for the Billy Goat Tavern. The place had decent reviews (Currently 4.5 stars with over 5,000 reviews on Google), good prices for inner City Chicago, and a menu that the boys…