Things to do In the Midwest

For our day trip to Chicago we decided to 1) Visit the Museum of Science and Industry, 2) Eat a Chicago Dog at Al’s #1 Italian Beef, and 3) Enjoy a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.

Did you know there is a national park with great beaches? While visiting Indiana Dunes National Park, we decided to 1) Hike Cowles Bog Trail, 2) Attend a Ranger talk at the Chellberg Farmhouse, and 3) Relax and enjoy the sunshine at West Beach.

Camping at Turn 2 Retreat for NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway

Riding our bikes to downtown Traverse City, MI

Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City, MI

We spent a month exploring Minnesota including Moose Lake State Park, Interstate State Park, E2's Emu Ranch, Minneapolis, Skaalvenn Distillery, and Prior Lake.

Voyageurs National Park is unique in that most of its 218,000 acres and 655 miles of shorelines are waterways and forests only accessible by boat.

We visited both the South and North Units of the park which are 68 miles apart, and both had amazing views! We tried to do a hike but since the park wasn’t officially open yet (May 2nd, 2002) we encountered serious obstacles on the trail and had to bail once we got to the paved park road.

It’s called the Badlands because that’s what the Lakota and early French trappers both called it due to how difficult the terrain is to travel through. Not too far from the park was the Minuteman Delta-09 missile silo. It is crazy to think that just in this one area of South Dakota there are over a thousand silos just like it.

Faces of Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, each 60 feet tall, carved in Harney Peak Granite, and paying tribute to the leaders who shaped our country.

The Crazy Horse carving is 641 ft long and 563 ft high and has been in progress for about 74 years! It’s taking a lot longer to build than nearby Mt Rushmore because the scale is larger and it’s all done by private funding.

Our adventure through Wisconsin included the small town of Thorp, buildings damaged by recent tornado-like winds, Lambeau Field, Bay Beach Wildlife Refuge, and Bay Beach Amusement Park.