Skip to content
Maggie

Seattle Slew

7 Comments

Yesterday, after leaving Medora (or was it The Lawrence Welk Show?) we squeezed in a short visit to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Vast areas of the park’s rugged landscape are occupied by prairie dogs scurrying around, digging holes and standing on their hind legs to get a better look at who knows what. Visitors pull their cars over to the side of the road by the dozens all day long to gape at these little, hyperactive animals and take their photographs. My personal suspicion is that prairie dogs are […]

Read More →

Mariah

Bandana Bandwagon

3 Comments

There’s not a lot happening in North Dakota. After touching down in Bismarck yesterday afternoon, we drove past wide swaths of rolling hills seemingly devoid of any civilization. Iowa’s corn was gone, replaced by miles of dairy farms and sparingly fenced in fields alongside a near empty interstate. Flash forward 2 hours and the cars were closer together and a small crowd was assembled before the famous Salem Sue, the pride, joy, and primary attraction of New Salem, North Dakota. We absolutely loved it. Sue is an ode to the […]

Read More →

Maggie

Temperatures Rising

3 Comments

Our day began with a visit to Minneapolis’ relatively new Museum of Russian Art. An entire floor was devoted to a beautiful exhibit of more than one hundred sets of traditional Matryoshka nesting dolls. We saw examples of pre-revolution dolls and learned that they were designed and manufactured under state control to ensure uniformity. In sharp contrast, the exhibit predominantly featured unique post-Soviet Matryoshka dolls that were created by artists without censure and inspired by subjects as diverse as politics, history, fairy tales, romance, and more. We then joined a […]

Read More →

Mariah

Tractors and Cornfields and Country Roads, Oh My!

3 Comments

When I was younger, my dad had a bright green and yellow tractor that was twice my height and could zoom around the backyard with me as it’s eager passenger. Of course, I was three, so things seemed much bigger and much faster then. Today, we visited Waterloo, Iowa and went on the John Deere Factory Tour in order to see how tractors are manufactured. As large as the tractor of my childhood seemed, the ones being made in this facility are simply massive. When we entered the John Deere […]

Read More →

Maggie

Blue Skies Smiling at Me

9 Comments

The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, located at the University of Missouri’s Kansas City Campus, contains 33,000 square feet of traditionally sized-toys, the world’s largest fine-scale miniature collection and one of the nation’s largest antique toy collections on public display. The miniature collection included room after room of incredibly small items created by artists from all over the world. Artwork painted on the tops of pinheads that one could only appreciate by looking through microscopes and teeny-weeny dollhouses filled special cases. The 21,000 plus (and growing) pieces in the […]

Read More →

Mariah

Far Cry from the Movies

3 Comments

Last summer, a World War I film was released to worldwide positive critical reception and massive box office success. The movie’s opening action sequence depicts a pilot crashing into the sea and frantically trying to escape his sinking plane in his soaked woolen military issue uniform. The pilot’s name? Steve Trevor. The film’s name? Wonder Woman. Sure, Wonder Woman wasn’t exactly labeled a war film, but it was, and it strives to answer the essential question of all World War I stories: why did it have to happen? Today, my […]

Read More →

Maggie

A Tale of Two Cities

7 Comments

Inexplicably, there are two large towns near one another that are both named Kansas City. One is located in Missouri, and the other is situated where it should be: Kansas. We are staying in the misplaced Kansas City in Missouri. I haven’t been entirely sure I am where I think I am since arriving wherever it is that I evidently am. Our day started off with a visit to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. The museum’s curatorial staff has done an impressive job gathering extremely cool items […]

Read More →

Mariah

Dystopian Candy

3 Comments

I can’t remember the last time I ate a jelly bean, but I know I won’t be eating one ever again. This morning we made a quick day trip to Wisconsin and instead of sampling cheese or admiring the natural beauty of the Midwest, we opted for what seemed like a wholesome, unique, fascinating experience: The Jelly Belly Factory Tour. Start with a rough sketch of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the stuff of childhood and candy legend. Now, make it smaller, empty, vaguely gothic, and condensed into a showcase warehouse […]

Read More →

Maggie

There Will Be Mermaids

6 Comments

Mariah and I began planning the itinerary for this cross-country adventure many months ago by researching an eclectic range of topics. Unique city-based tours? Check. Presidential libraries? Check. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives? Check. New and notable museums? Check. Unusual landmarks? Regional music? Heritage sites? Local theatre? Unconventional accommodations? Gorgeous art collections? Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. We followed our investigations down any number of rabbit holes. One such path led us into the world of nontraditional day classes. The last time we travelled cross-country we took an amazing Raku […]

Read More →

Sarah

When Haiku met Sarah

2 Comments

Lackluster food tour Chicago has so much more That our tour guide skipped Architecture facts That had nothing to do with Restaurants at all Mediocre beef Inauthentic falafel Pathetic pizza Our guide brought her son And her mother with the group And was distracted Dogs in cement parks Famed squatters in McMansions Held her attention She didn’t notice That those who walked most slowly Nearly lost her tour I kept my eye on Two members of our party Wearing polka dots A plain glazed donut Provided welcome respite From disappointment […]

Read More →