In a city renowned for its worldwide economic and cultural influence, a Chicago extended stay offers many opportunities for work and play.
With many conveniently located Chicago corporate apartments, ExecuStay allows residents easy access to the public train, bus and rapid transit cars.
The strangest things will sometimes catch my eye when we're traveling, like this quirky little mid-twentieth-century modern building in Cleveland, Ohio.
I don't suppose it's everyone who has a photo of a payday advance business in their travel archives, but it was just too cute to pass by without taking the photo.
Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
Wine and chocolate are the perfect pairing when it comes to romance, and I revisit one of the country's premiere wine producing regions this month for a sweet story at Discovering Ohio.
Midwest Guest readers may remember my previous visits to this region to stay at the lodge, check out the wineries and to visit many of the region's romantic covered bridges.
This time, check in at the Ohio State Park Lodge in Geneva-on-the-Lake, just 50 miles east of Cleveland, and explore several wineries in the Ohio's Grand River Valley wine country just in time for Valentine's Day in my most recent story at the Ohio Tourism Division's Discovering Ohio blog.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
We had to stop when we spotted the castle-like Brumback Library, with its turreted towers and red clay Ludowici roof tiles.
The library, named for benefactor John Sanford Brumback, is an impressive Gothic-Romanesque-style building of Bedford sandstone in a park along Van Wert's Main Street, also known as the Lincoln Highway and the route of America's first transcontinental highway.
Brumback, born in Ohio's Licking County in 1829, lost his father at the age of four. His mother had six young children and 40 acres of undeveloped farmland, and young John developed a solid work ethic and business sense working the farm and taking his family's produce to market.
John left home at the age of 15 with $50 and started a general store in Illinois.
By 1862, he was back in Ohio with a wife and children, using $5,000 in gold to open a dry goods store in Van Wert County near the Indiana state line.
Brumback became a respected businessman and philanthropist as president of an insurance company, and president and major shareholder in the Van Wert National Bank.
In 1890, twelve local women formed the Van Wert Ladies Library Association to establish a 1,400-book subscription library in town. The library became a free public library when the city passed a tax in 1896 for its support.
Brumback felt that all county residents deserved a free public library and pledged the money to make that happen. He got as far as ordering building plans for the project, but became ill and died before seeing the final plans.
Brumback's family built a library in Van Wert County with money in his estate, with the proviso that the county would provide the books and maintain the library.
Toledo architect David L. Stine designed many of the homes in that city's famed Old West End neighborhood and received the commission to design the library. The Brumback family financed construction, sparing no expense to make the building as beautiful and sturdy as possible.
We slipped inside of the library to see the impressive main floor with its cozy sitting area by an open fireplace, a baby grand piano and beautiful architectural touches like massive white pillars and carved-wood trim. I didn't feel it was possible for me to take interior photos without disrupting the quiet of the library that day, but you can see a few interior shots in a virtual tour at the library's site.
An impressive ceremony accompanied the laying of the library's cornerstone in 1899, and the building saw its formal dedication on January 1, 1901.
John Brumback's son, Orville S. Brumback, spearheaded efforts to pass legislation in Ohio approving tax-supported county libraries, and the Brumback Library became the nation's first pubic county library in the nation.
During the mid-1970s, brother and sister Ellen and Orville Reed, grandchildren of John Brumback, began exploring plans to expand the library. Orville had a long career in the insurance industry and Ellen was the long-time Secretary of the Library's Board of Trustees.
The pair left detailed instructions for an ambitious library renovation and expansion after their deaths about 15 years later.
Architect Clyde Henry of the Columbus, Ohio, firm of McDonald, Cassell and Bassett designed the 10,500-square-foot Reed Memorial Addition, which nearly doubled the space of the library to a total of 19,500 square feet.
Viewing the building up close, you can see how seamlessly the addition really is.
The Brumback Library earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and the Ohio Historical Society recognized is as a historic site in 2001.
Check out another great early twentieth-century Ohio library I discovered in my travels at Sandusky, Ohio, more than Cedar Point and see other Highlights along the Lincoln Highway in Ohio at my latest Discovering Ohio blog post.
Want to learn more about Ohio's architectural gems? Check out Building Ohio: A Traveler's Guide to Ohio's Rural Architecture and Building Ohio: A Traveler's Guide to Ohio's Urban Architecture by Jane Ware.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
I like nothing better than a leisurely road trip, taking the back roads and two-lane highways from small town to small town and discovering all sorts of roadside gems that others bypass entirely while barreling down the expressways and superhighways.
The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental road in the United States, the super road of the early 1900s. Much of the old Lincoln Highway became U.S. 30 when the federal government established a standardized numbering system for the nation's highways in the late 1920s, but today you can still exit the expressway and tool down much of the old Lincoln Highway through Ohio.
Check out my most recent story at the Ohio Tourism Division's Discovering Ohio blog, Highlights along the Lincoln Highway in Ohio, where I share some of our discoveries along the fabled route.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:
Looking for Fairy Crosses near Little Falls, Minnesota-I love searching for unusual rocks when I travel (like the red rocks along the Lake Superior shoreline you see in my blog header), so I loved this story at Travels with Children about Linda’s search for staurolite stones on the Mississippi River bank south of Little Falls, Minnesota. Many of these stones are cross-shaped and sought after as good luck charms.
Frankfort North Breakwater Light-I’ve visited this lighthouse many times in the past, and written about it here at Midwest Guest. This post at the Michigan in Pictures blog features a beautiful wintertime photo of the ice-bound lights at Frankfort and an update about the recent transfer of the lighthouse’s ownership from the Coast Guard to the City of Frankfort.
Indy to Repurpose Stadium Seats at Bus Stops-I like seeing innovative re-uses for things that outlive their original purpose. Check out this story at the Urbanophile blog about a cool re-use for seating from a now-closed minor league ballpark in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dr. Ted’s Musical Marvels in Dale, Indiana-One of my favorite things to do when traveling to seeking out unique small town museums, and Dr. Ted’s place looks like a lot of fun. Jessica takes Little Indiana readers through this eclectic collection of large musical instruments like player pianos, calliopes, and orchestrions.
4 Unique & Boutique Museums in Indy-Looking for a fun way to spend an hour or an afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana? Check out unique museums like the home of beloved Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley, the Medical History Museum and more at the Doing Indy Blog.
Discover Fort Wayne’s Burmese Heritage-Burmese cuisine and culture in northern Indiana? You’ll find it at Fort Wayne, home to the largest concentration of Burmese immigrants in the country. Check it out at the Visit Fort Wayne blog.
Shopping Safari at Jungle Jim’s-I’ve always said that one of the best places to shop for souvenirs is the local grocery store. Take a trip with Jill to a fun foodie paradise near Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Discovering Ohio blog.
Shop at the World Famous Lehman’s-Hardware stores can also be a fun shopping stop when you travel. Lehman’s is a 45,000-square-foot hardware (and so-much-store) in northeast Ohio’s Amish Country. Kendra takes Discovering Ohio readers to this Kidron, Ohio, store to shop for hardware, wind chimes, books, kitchen ware, toys and more! (I wonder if Lehman’s is a bit like Yoder Department Store in Shipshewana, Indiana? Maybe I need to revisit Yoder and check out Lehman’s as well!)
Professional Hockey in Indiana? Absolutely!-We often take in a hockey or baseball game when we travel, so I’m keeping Indiana Insider blog list of professional minor league hockey teams in Fort Wayne, Evansville and Indianapolis for future reference! By the way, check back here later this week for a post about the Plymouth Whalers, our Major Junior hockey team here in metro Detroit.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
Today, Tim is allowing me to share one of his photos of Ohio's beautiful Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie with Midwest Guest readers.We've visited this lighthouse many times and particularly enjoy photographing it on a clear winter day with its holiday greenery and red bows.
Want to see more of Tim's great photographs? Check out his online photo galleries at The Wandering Photographer web site or The Wandering Photographer blog.
You can also check out my most recent story about the Marblehead Lighthouse at the Ohio Tourism's Discovering Ohio blog.
And, from our house to yours, here's hoping that the holidays are happy days for you and yours!
Photo © Tim Marks, used with permission
© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved
We enjoyed a serene getaway amid beautiful flowers and birds this past spring at the Inn at Honey Run, and I suspect this country inn tucked into the heart of Ohio's Amish Country would prove equally beautiful and relaxing at any other time of the year.
This bed and breakfast inn sits on 70 acres laced by walking trails, meadows and farmland in central Ohio's Holmes County, home to the world's largest Amish community.
The Amish communities of Millersburg and Berlin are close by, and we found the inn a perfect base from which to tour area cheese and country markets.
The Inn at Honey Run has about 40 guest rooms, suites or cottages. Many of the main lodge's two-dozen rooms have window walls or decks, but we opted to stay in one of the rooms in the Honeycombs, a unique building set into the earth overlooking meadow and farmland.
A soothing instrumental CD was playing as we first entered our room, and we spent time during our four-day stay bird watching and relaxing on our patio.
Bird watchers have identified over 100 species of birds visiting the habitat, bird feeders and bird houses that dot the grounds at Honey Run.
Spring is also a great time for checking out some of the 1,200 plant species folks have identified along the inn's nature trails. We were there just as the trilliums were in bloom, making for some nice photo opportunities.
Most of the nature trails at Honey Run are short, but a few of them can be a bit steep. Taking the trail up to the Honeycombs from the dining room was a bit of a workout after a full meal!
We ate breakfast at the inn every day during our stay and enjoyed dinner out on the deck one evening. Eating in the deck's treetop setting was a special pleasure as it was a bit cool and we had the deck to ourselves--kind of like having our own private dining room.
Tim enjoys dining on the deck
The restaurant recently announced the results of an ongoing renovation and rebranding under the guidance of Executive Chef Scott Fetty.
Fetty arrived at the inn in January 2010 after more than a decade as an instructor at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh. He developed a new menu and new identity for the inn's restaurant, announcing the new name, Tarragon, earlier this autumn.
Tarragon grows naturally in the region, and the name evokes the nature and natural colors surrounding the inn.
The food was great during our visit, but I'd love to go back and check it out again when we could sample meats, fish or cheese from the inn's onsite smokehouse.
The inn is within two hours of Cleveland and Columbus, but it is miles away from the big city in location and in spirit.
Established in 1982, it is one of a handful of Ohio inns on the Select Registry of luxury B&Bs. There are about 400 inns on the registry, which conducts regular inspections of each property. We received a guidebook listing all of the Select Registry inns when we checked out at the Inn at Honey Run.
The Inn at Honey Run is nice for a romantic getaway, special occasion or small conference. Children over the age of 12 can stay in the main lodge, but rooms at the Honeycombs are adults-only.
Wi-Fi is available in the main lodge, but connectivity is pretty much nonexistent in the Honeycombs. That was all right by me, as I had no problem scooting down to the main lobby for quick online check-ins and spending my time out at the Honeycombs with the birds and the stars in the night skies.
Don't expect a hot club scene or neon-lit nightlife in the area, but do expect a great atmosphere to relax and enjoy all that nature has to offer at Honey Run.
Check out the latest news on the Inn at Honey Run's site, which features links to its newsletter and blogs from the inn's chef and horticulturalist. You can also connect with the inn on Facebook or Twitter.
Want to know more about our trip to Holmes County? Read Amish cheese and more in Holmes County, Ohio and Driving in Amish Country.
Learn more about the Amish and Mennonite communities in Holmes County with Holmespun: An Intimate Portrait of an Amish and Mennonite Community by Laura Hurwitz.
© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved
I'm back with my monthly list of Midwest-related stories I read online during the past month:
© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved
