Midwest Guest

Midwest travel links for January 2012

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:

• And That Has Made All the Difference-I remember when Linda first wrote about driving along North Dakota's Old Red Ten Scenic Byway and taking a photo of a beautiful old grain elevator. This story tells the sad fate of the grain elevator, but also is a meditation on how blogging about it struck a chord and created connections among Travels with Children's readers.
  
• Five Favorite Places for Kids on the Sunset Coast, Michigan-Jessie shares her nominations for the top kid-friendly beaches on the western Michigan shoreline. I must just be a big kid at heart as a couple of Jessie's picks (like Manistee, Grand Haven and the Sleeping Bear Dunes) are also my favorite beaches as well.
  
  
  Manistee
  
• Living in a lighthouse-I'm a big fan of Great Lakes lighthouses. Volunteer light keeper programs are popular around the Great Lakes as more and more lighthouses establish such programs. This is a nice round up at Midwest Weekends blog about opportunities to spend a few nights in various lighthouses around the lakes.
  
• Nature's Trading Post-Katie writes about visiting Nature's Trading Post at the Cincinnati Museum Center in the Family Friendly Cincinnati blog. This place looks especially fun for kids who can take some of their own natural treasures in to trade for other cool items like rocks, minerals, magnifying glasses and fossils.
  
• History and Art-Amy visits the Carver County Historical Museum in Waconia, Minnesota, and her story at A Closer Look at Flyover Land takes a close look at this wonderful small-town museum.
  
• Harding Memorial-Ohio is the place to go if you're really into presidential history. Eight U.S. presidents lived in Ohio at the time of their election, and a few of them are buried in the state as well. I've visited the monument and grave site of President James A. Garfield in Cleveland, but I've yet to make it to the Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio. Fortunately, Mike did make the trip to Marion and shares this report at OHventures just in time for Presidents Day.
  
• Building Language: Art Deco-I love art Deco architecture and have written about Midwest Deco gems like Detroit's Fisher Building and the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. So I really enjoyed Raina's tour of Art Deco gems in Indianapolis at the Historic Indianapolis blog.
  
  
  Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum's Art Deco building
  
• Carew Tower in Downtown Cincinnati-The Carew Tower is yet another Art Deco gem in the Midwest, and I loved this photo essay at Visualingual about this great 1929 building. The writer compares the Carew to Detroit's Guardian Building, although photos of the Carew reminded me more of Detroit's Fisher Building.
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright Turns Down Offer of a Life Time, Alters Course of Chicago Architecture-What would have happened had Frank Lloyd Wright accepted an offer from famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham (master planner of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and its legendary White City) to study in Paris and Rome before returning to Chicago to become a partner at Burnham's architecture firm? This is the intriguing question explored in George's story at The Chicago Architecture Blog.
  
• Foodie Finds: Cleveland's West Side Market-Kristin visits one of my favorite farmers markets, the great West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio. Check out the favorite foodie finds of Kristin and her family at her Wandering Educators post, plus check out 6 Favorite Spots at Cleveland's West Side Market at Kristin's own My Kids Eat Squid blog.
  
  
  

© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved

National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

I'm excited to be able to share this story by Wisconsin travel writer Julie Henning with Midwest Guest readers today. Thanks, Julie!

In the heart of Chicago’s “Little Italy” neighborhood, the 44,000-square-foot National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame should be on every sport lover’s itinerary—you’ll have a hard time finding Vince Lombardi’s playbook, Mario Andretti’s “Indy Car”, or Mary Lou Retton’s 1984 Olympic regalia anywhere else in the Windy City.

Originally founded in 1977 by George Randazzo as the Italian American Boxing Hall of Fame, the organization has received support from athletes, coaches, business people, and members of the Italian community. Today, the state-of-the art building houses an impressive collection of sports memorabilia from over 200 exceptional U.S. athletes of Italian descent.

“Success in sports allows an ethnic group to have a great sense of pride in their community and a feeling of equality," said Terry Sullivan, owner of Walk Chicago Tours, a privately-owned walking tour company offering personalized tours throughout Chicago's diverse cultural neighborhoods. "The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame showcases Italian-American athletes and their accomplishments. Sports afforded the immigrant class in Chicago a chance to preserve their nationalistic pride while they anxiously underwent their assimilation into new communities like Chicago."

Unlike any other museum of its kind in the nation, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is an experience to be had by anyone who believes in hard work, perseverance, and the American dream. If you enter the building from the main lobby on West Taylor Street, the Tommy and Jo Lasorda Exhibit Gallery holds the majority of the museum artifacts, including a five screen, 25 foot panoramic video tribute to the athletes inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Take the grand spiral staircase to the second floor for more exhibits, including Mary Lou Palermo, five-time Roller Derby All-Star and 1951 league MVP.

In nice weather, leave time to visit the museum’s fourth floor and the Salvatore A. Balsamo Rooftop Terrace. Available for special events, dinner parties, and receptions, the Chicago skyline is the backdrop with catholic churches, schools, parks, and all of Little Italy in birds-eye perspective. Across the street is the equally picturesque Piazza DiMaggio, a gift from the City of Chicago as an effort to revitalize Little Italy's Bishop Street area. A small gift shop featuring sports memorabilia, clothing, books and collector’s items is located on the main floor by the reception desk.

A nonprofit organization, the museum has awarded over $6 million in scholarships to students from all backgrounds for their academic and athletic endeavors through the Second Wind and A Level Playing Field outreach programs. Read more about the local fundraising efforts here.

The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is located at 1431 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL  60607. Museum hours of operation are Mon-Fri: 9AM-5PM and Sat-Sun: 11AM-4PM.  Admission is $5 (adults), $4 (seniors), $3 (children 12 and under). Free parking is available in the adjacent lot off of Fillmore Street; the museum is handicap accessible. Call 312-226-5566 for more information.

Article © Julie Henning

Photos courtesy of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

Bio: Julie Henning is the Feed Me and Geocaching editor for Road Trips for Families, a site for families who love the open road. An expert in family-friendly Wisconsin, she has written two iPhone apps, Madison Loves Kids and Milwaukee Loves Kids. A member of the Midwest Travel Writers Association, Julie is a regular contributor to her hometown newspaper in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and three young children.

Things To Do
Chicago

Midwest travel links for May 2011

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:

• Ohio: The Ice Cream Capital of the Universe-As you can tell from the title of this post at Discovering Ohio, Joe is pretty enthusiastic about the state’s ice cream offerings. We stopped for a pecan-topped sundae at Taggart’s Ice Cream Parlor in Canton, Ohio, last month, and I’d suggest it as a worthy addition to Joe’s list.
  
  
  The Bittner sundae at Taggart's
  
• Riding on Square Wheels-A tricycle with square wheels? Mathematics students in Wisconsin developed such a contraption in 2007, and Ivars tells readers at The Mathematical Tourist about a surprisingly smooth ride he took on a square-wheeled trike in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Grant Wood Studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa-Artist Grant Wood’s American Gothic is one of the most recognizable pieces of American art and holds a certain fascination for many of us in the Midwest. Join Linda and her family at Travels with Children as they check the studio where Wood created the iconic painting.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art-We’ve visited Cleveland’s Museum of Art a couple of times during recent years for special exhibitions, when only a few galleries remained open during the museum’s ongoing renovation and expansion. I enjoyed this update on the museum’s renovation at What Locals Like About Cleveland Plus and look forward to visiting again now that more of the galleries are regularly open to visitors.
• Milwaukee Art Museum-I love unusual architecture, and I especially appreciated this look at Milwaukee’s museum with this set of photos taken by Carl for Life in the Great Midwest.
• Top 5 Things to Do and See in Chicago-Visiting Chicago? Check out this list of must-see places from Chicago native Rosalind at Farsighted Fly Girl. She and I agree that the Chicago Cultural Center is a must-see when visiting the city.


Tiffany dome detail from Chicago Cultural Center


• Indiana Wind Farms: Wind Turbines-I see a lot of farms when I’m traveling, especially in Michigan’s Thumb region. I enjoyed learning more about these giant turbines in this story at Little Indiana where Jessica interviews her husband Jeremiah (who she describes as a former “wind farm whisperer”).
• Ways to Enjoy Indiana State Parks-Annual park passes or museum memberships have to be one of the best buys for travelers exploring their own state or region. Nicole tells readers at the Indiana Insider why her annual state park pass is a great investment for her family.
• Celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Detroit-Charlie checks out Detroit’s colorful celebration of its 47^th annual Cinco de Mayo parade at Bikes, Books & A Little Music.
• Detroit People Mover: In Honour of Mary Chase Stratton by Pewabic Pottery-Some of Detroit’s most stunning and fascinating public art installations are in the stations along its downtown People Mover route. Check out the beautiful tile work at the Cadillac Center in this post at Visualingual.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for March

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:

• Baseball's First Opening Day-Catch this story at Cleveland Area History about the first major league baseball game. Cleveland Ohio's Forest City team and Indiana's Fort Wayne Kekiongas became the first baseball teams to play in a major league game on March 17, 1871, with the Cleveland team falling 2-0 to the Kekiongas at Fort Wayne.

  
  
  Toledo Mud Hens' ball field in Toledo, Ohio
  

• Civic Iconography Done Right: Chicago's City Flag-Aaron writes about Chicago's brilliant use of their flag as an iconic symbol to strengthen the city's visual identity at the Urbanophile blog.  You'll find this readily recognizable civic symbol everywhere in Chicago--flying in front of city and commercial buildings and displayed as a logo on everything from city police cars to tattoos on a local bartender's arm.

• Millennium & Grant Park-I loved reading this story at the designslinger blog about how Chicago's Millennium Park evolved out of an effort to clean up the lake front after Chicago's devastating fire in 1871 and how the original Frederick Law Olmsted plan for a grand park became even grander as famed architects Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett expanded on Olmsted's ideas and incorporated elements of the City Beautiful Movement into its design.

• Gambling? No.-Stop by The Night Train to wish Amy well as she plans her wedding at the beautiful Casino building on Detroit's Belle Isle. Amy tells us that Frederick Law Olmsted, a champion of the City Beautiful Movement, planned most of Belle Isle, although the city rejected his plan for a sheltered promenade. His son later suggested that the casino building include some of the features of the promenade originally suggested by his father.





• Raise a Glass on 313: National Vernors Day-Kath writes about this day dedicated to Detroit's own "deliciously different" soft drink at Great Lakes Gazette. Detroit area ex-pats often go to great lengths to satisfy their craving for Vernors if they can't find it where they live, and I used to carefully pack and ship 12-packs of the pop (yes, it's "pop", not "soda") to my cousin in California until she finally found a local source for Vernors. Ask any Detroiter--if it's not Vernors, it's not real ginger ale.

• The Oldest Ford Plant Still in Operation-I recently saw a presentation a local history conference by a group seeking to preserve portions of the historic Ford plant in Highland Park, Michigan, which pioneered modern mass production with the first continuously moving assembly line in 1913. Ford closed down operations at the Highland Park plant years ago, but check out this story at the Nokohaha blog about a 1924-vintage Ford factory in St. Paul, Minnesota, that now holds the distinction of being the oldest Ford plant still operating.

• Bridges of Madison County (and beyond)-I enjoyed Linda's story about visiting Iowa's famed Bridges of Madison County at Travels with Children. She also includes a few other useful links for finding covered bridges in the Midwest.

  
  
  Pointing the way to covered bridges in Ashtabula, Ohio
  

• Monkey Business in Rockford, Illinois-I always wanted a sock monkey as a kid (in fact, I still do!), but maybe I just need to visit Nelson the world's largest sock monkey in Rockford. Julie writes about her visit with Nelson at the Midway Village Museum and other Rockford attractions at Road Trips for Families.

• Musings on Museums-Amy writes about visiting one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood homes in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, at A Closer Look at Flyover Land. She found the museum there a little disappointing, but advises that fans of Laura's books will find the Ingalls family dugout home site well worth the stop.

• Keeping the Union (and Ohio's Civil War History) Alive-It was all in the family for Kyle Yoho as he grew up the only child of parents who shared their love of historical re-enactments with him. The 21-year-old still travels the country as a member of one of Ohio's most active Civil War re-enactment groups and shares his thoughts with Discovering Ohio's Ashley about why young people continue to enjoy the hobby as we move into celebrations of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for December 2010

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online during this past month:

• Chilly Bean-I loved photographing Chicago's iconic "Bean" when I visited the city a couple of summers ago, and I loved seeing Sherry's photos of the sculpture and its cool reflective images taken on a sunny (but obviously cold, cold, cold) winter day at Ott's World.


The Bean in black and white

• From Scenic Byway to Movie Star-The Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway in Nebraska proved ready for its close-up when independent film maker Jane Ryan tapped the Byway folks for a supply of Byway branded water in exchange for Sponsors Film Credits. Read about what turned out to be an innovative and fun way for one tourism organization to find the spotlight at the Nebraska Ag Connection blog.
• Painting start-to-finish - Detroit Institute of Arts-Detroit artist John Azoni filmed the process of creating a painting of the Detroit Institute of Art with his Flip, condensed it into a 3:49 minute video, and shared this fascinating look at the creative process on his blog.
• Experience the beauty of Lake Michigan here in Indiana!-I've spent a lot of time at this lake in the state of Michigan, especially in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so I enjoyed Audrey's article about the Indiana Dunes State Park and shoreline along the southern edge of Lake Michigan at the Indiana Insider Blog.
• Rensselaer, Indiana: Impromptu "Flash Mob" Snowman-Making at Milroy Park-I've heard of kazoo-playing flash mobs, dancing flash mobs, singing flash mobs, but a snowman-making flash mob? That's a first for me! Check out Jessica's story at Little Indiana about a fun, free, and inventive event she enjoyed with her family.
• Window Panes-I remember seeing these beautiful, blue stained glass windows by artist Marc Chagall when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago a few years ago. I missed seeing them when I last visited the museum, so I enjoyed this report from the designslinger blog about the reinstallation of the windows-complete with photos of the windows in their new location.
• I want to live on an island-Check out Lake Superior Spirit, where Kathy, who read an article about Wisconsin's Madeline Island, wonders what it would be like to live on an island. We visited Madeline Island many years ago and rode our bicycles around the island, so Kathy's article brought back some nice memories of that trip for me. This post also contains some photos of the Huron Islands and Isle Royale, as well as links to a couple of island-centric blogs (including Bree's Mackinac Island blog, which is always a fun read).


View of Detroit from Belle Isle
• 10 Winter Things to do on Belle Isle-We're lucky here in the Detroit area because, even if we don't live on an island, we can always spend the day out on Detroit's Belle Isle. Belle Isle Home suggests a winter visit as a great way to avoid the crowds and to appreciate the island's unique charms.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Midwest Guest's Top Nine for 2010

This article is the 400th post here at Midwest Guest. I've enjoyed writing all of these stories, but some posts seem to strike a stronger chord than others with readers. Some posts do well at certain times of the year, while others seem to draw visitors month after month throughout the year.

I thought would be fun to go back and see which posts here logged the most visitors, in order, over the past year.

1. Indiana in a jar, Sechler's Pickles factory store-We stopped at this store in an outlet mall when we stopped to look for an athletic shoe outlet on the way home from northern Indiana. We never found a shoe store, but we found this pickle store with its pickle tasting bar. Readers apparently shared my curiosity about pickled products, making this the most visited post this year (by a large margin) at Midwest Guest.

2. Photo Friday: Motown remembers Michael Jackson-Readers also seemed pretty fascinated with singer/dancer/entertainer Michael Jackson and his untimely death. This story about a memorial headstone in a Detroit cemetery, which is also the burial place for souvenirs left at an impromptu shrine at Detroit's Motown Museum shortly after Jackson's death in June of 2009, continues to draw curious readers.

   
   

3. Visit the Libbey Glass Outlet in Toledo, Ohio-This story about the Libbey outlet store in downtown Toledo also includes ideas for other nearby stops like the Toledo Museum of Art and its renowned glass collection, the Toledo Farmers Market, and a neighborhood with one of the nation's largest collections of intact late-Victorian homes.

4. Chicago's Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows-This museum on Chicago's Navy Pier was an unexpected discovery for us, and many readers continue to discover this story at Midwest Guest.

   
   
   

5. Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrates Alexander Calder-I wrote this post as the western Michigan town celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1969 installation of its iconic Calder sculpture.

6. Ghosts of Punderson Manor-This story about Ohio's Punderson Manor and its spooky past was an early Midwest Guest post. The old manor house is part of an Ohio State Park resort lodge and conference center where I attended several writing retreats.

7. Wade Chapel houses Tiffany treasure at Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery-I wasn't sure what to expect when we visited this cemetery in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, but seeing this Tiffany-designed interior and stained glass window in a small chapel there made the visit well worth our time.

8. Back to school at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio-We loved the architecture and history of this southern Ohio university, which was the first university established in the area formerly known as the Northwest Territory just after Ohio became a state in 1803. Ohio alumni and others with connections to the university seemed to enjoy this article, passing the link along among university- and alumni-related groups.

   
   
   

9. Photo Friday: Cherry Bowl Drive-in-There are very few vintage drive-in theaters these days, and this post about the Cherry Bowl Drive-in at Honor in northern Michigan, along with some photos from the quiet winter season, drew a number of nostalgic readers.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for October 2010

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online in this past month:

• World's Largest Toilet, Columbus, IN-The term "go big or go home" takes on a whole new meaning with Julie's post about this, um, pit stop at the Kids' Commons Columbus' Community Children's Museum in Columbus, Indiana on the aptly named Go Big or Go Home blog.
• 20 Things to Do in Grand Rapids Before You're Dead-Great Lakes Guru Tim shares some great ideas for visiting this west Michigan city, including some of my favorites like ArtPrize, the Grand Rapids Art Museum (a.k.a. the GRAM), and the public art-filled campus at Grand Valley State University.
• Art at the Indianapolis International Airport-Stuck at the Indianapolis airport while waiting for a flight? Nicole suggests checking out the airport's great collection of public art and sleek modern architecture in her recent Indiana Insider blog post.
• Rock and Roll of Fame and Museum-Check out this story about the Cleveland, Ohio, museum at What Locals Like About Cleveland Plus. The short video tour gives you a sneak peek inside of the museum, including a quick look at my favorite part of the museum--its collection of performers' stage costumes (something I haven't been able to do on Midwest Guest because of the museum's photography restrictions for visitors).
  
  
• A little trip up north...and Thomas Story Kirkbride-We've enjoyed several photowalks with Photowalks Detroit. I enjoyed seeing Carolyn's story on Michigan in Pictures about a photowalk at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons in Traverse City, a former mental hospital in and ongoing residential/commercial development. Be sure to check out the links in this story to see some great pictures in the Flickr streams from individual photographers involved in this photowalk.
• Drinking and Drawing in Chicago-These informal, after-hours art sessions in several Chicago studios and galleries sound like great fun. Join Rosalind at Uptake as she checks out several events that involve creativity and cocktails!
• Schlitz Fest-Read Designslinger to find out how German-born Milwaukee brewer Joseph Schiltz sent thousands of barrels of beer to thirsty folks in Chicago in the wake of the big 1871 fire. German expats there, grateful for the free beer, probably helped the company's expansion into Chicago and the establishment of these architecturally beautiful Schlitz taverns during the late 1800s/early 1900s.
• A Road Trip to...Brandywine Falls-Anthony of Ohio's Stark County News & Views takes us to Brandywine Falls at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This story brought back fond memories of our visit to this beautiful spot.
  
  
• Road Trip: Finding Oz in South Dakota-Kristen shares the story of author L. Frank Baum's beloved book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and its surprising connection to Aberdeen, South Dakota. This is one in a series of Midwest Road Trip posts at Vera's A Traveler's Library blog involving books and movies with Midwestern connections (including A Road Trip to an Ordinary State: Kansas, where Vera shares the story of Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood, the movie based on the book, and the lurid crime that inspired both of them). Be sure to check out companion posts to this series at Music Road where Kerry suggests musical selections to accompany the Road Trip posts. Here's a link to Kerry's suggestions for tunes to accompany the Nebraska and Kansas leg of the trip.
• It's Buster's Birthday-Classic comedy fans will want to visit Muskegon, Michigan, where the incomparable Buster Keaton and his family called home during summers while preparing to travel the vaudeville circuit the rest of the year. Check out the Great Lakes Gazette where Kath shares the story of the Keaton family, the area's early 1900s Actors' Colony, and an annual festival dedicated to the great silent movie actor and filmmaker.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for September 2010

Check out some of these great Midwest-related stories I read online this past month:

• Watch Detroit Lives with Johnny Knoxville-Living in the Detroit area, we get weary of the pessimism and negativity we see in the media and online about our hometown. I loved seeing see a little love for my hometown coming from, of all places, Johnny Knoxville! Becks at Detroit Moxie shares links to a short documentary film that follows Knoxville around town as he talks with folks who represent hope for Detroit's future.

  
  
  

• Detroit Lives!-Aaron, who focuses on urban revitalization and helping cities thrive in the 21st century at The Urbanophile, shares the links to the same documentary and sees it as a great example of those answering the call to craft their own destiny. This post also contains a nice list of links of thoughtful articles about Detroit and some positive possibilities for the city's future.

• Revisiting ArtPrize's Big Ten-The inaugural ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, generated tons of buzz last year as artists created an eclectic collection of artwork, competing for a $250,000 top prize determined by the votes of viewers. Brian presents a look back at the top 10 placing artists from last year as the 2010 ArtPrize competition continues to generate excitement as it draws to a conclusion this month.  

• A Morning at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge-Nicole shares her family's adventure at the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge near Seymour, Indiana, on the Indiana Insider Blog. Her family especially enjoyed the refuge's toddler-friendly trails, nature center, and a mid-1800s cabin and barn on the grounds.

• The Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Peninsula, Ohio-John shares his photographs of this pleasant little Ohio village near the national park on the Tamron Angle of View blog. Peninsula is part of the larger Akron area and less than an hour from downtown Cleveland, but it retains a nostalgic appeal and historic importance because of its connection to the Ohio & Eric Canal and the nation's westward development in the early 1800s. Read about my own visit to Peninsula at A pleasant Peninsula in Ohio.

  
  
  

• Soldiering On-Detroitblogger John shares the story of one man's effort to bring the story of the African-American Buffalo Soldier units to life. The Buffalo Solider units first formed in the U.S. Army in 1866, serving in military campaigns in the western United States, as well as in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, and the Mexican Expedition.  

• Fifty Fascinating Flour City Facts-Don't know much about Minneapolis? Check out this post at Nokohaha for 50 fun facts about this Minnesota city, its people, and its history.

• Second City History-If you love vintage postcards, be sure to check out this beautiful collection of vintage views of Chicago. Lindsey shares these great images from the Chicago Postcard Museum at Travel Between the Pages.

• The James A. Garfield Monument-Christopher shares some great turn-of-the-twentieth-century views of this impressive monument to President Garfield in Cleveland, Ohio's Lake View Cemetery at the Cleveland Area History blog. It was especially interesting to me to see how different the monument looked in its early days, compared to how it appears today. Check out my stories about Lake View Cemetery and the Garfield Monument to see more photos of them as they appear today.

  
  
  

• 'Around Cincy' video shows off Cincinnati's vibrant Fountain Square-Randy shares a link to a short video tour around the city on a beautiful summer day at UrbanCincy.

• Ohio Caverns in West Liberty, Ohio Review-Go underground with Sandy to explore some caverns at Explore Ohio with Sandy. This short video tour features some amazing images and cool sound effects!

• Clinton, Indiana: Italian Roots Run Deep-Jessica visits this little Italian enclave at the Little Indiana blog, exploring the Italian roots of the coal mine workers who called Clinton home and the little architectural touches that reflect that heritage.

Do you know of any other Midwest-related blogs I should check out?

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for August 2010

Check out these great Midwest-related stories I've read online this past month:

• Colorful Caribbean Floats-Charlie spotted some beautiful flashes of color while riding his bicycle through Detroit recently, discovering a workshop and artists creating floats and costumes for the city's Annual Caribbean International Festival Parade. Check out his story and photos of the workshop and the subsequent parade at Bikes, Books & A Little Music.





• Chicago and Milwaukee: Large Public Art and Placemaking-Public art pieces in Chicago like The Bean and a huge American Gothic sculpture are big tourist draws. Jeramey takes a look at <heh> Chicago's latest piece of public art and argues that Milwaukee could benefit from emulating Chicago's penchant for large pieces of statement art. Oh, and check out Milwaukee's Bronze Fonz, which is exactly what you probably think it is-the Fonz of Happy Days fame immortalized as (you guessed it) a bronze statue.

• Backyard Adventures: 100 Acres at the Indianapolis Museum of Art-Check out this outdoor arts park at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Arrows Sent Forth. Traveling with kids? This story also has some great tips about the terrain, rest rooms, parking, picnicking at the museum, and more.

• Evansville Otters Baseball for Southwest Indiana-There is still a bit of time to take in a baseball game this season, and Erik takes readers to a game with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League at Indiana Insider Blog. I enjoyed hearing about the team's historic 95-year-old ball park and its connection to the movie, "A League of Their Own".

• Thriving in the BWCAW-Join Rob and his family on a canoe adventure in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It's been a while since we visited the area ourselves, but I vividly remember the quarter-mile downhill portage and the quarter-mile uphill portage we did during one of our day trips, so I can feel Rob's pain as he talks about two miles worth of portages during his trip at The Intense Traveler. But it's all worth it!





• Looking at the End of Summer from the Lighthouse Steps- The marble, Albert Kahn-designed William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse on Detroit's Belle Isle is a real beauty, so I particularly enjoyed taking a closer look at this unique tower at Belle Isle Home.

• Road Trip Music: Indiana-Kerry explores the Midwest and its music at Music Road. Check out this profile of Indiana folksinger Carrie Newcomer (born in Michigan, by the way) and other Midwest musician profiles at Kerry's site.

• Discovering Musical History on Race Street-Michael takes us to historic Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, in his Soapbox Cincinnati story. Popular music legends like Hank Williams, Patti Page, Flatt & Scruggs, and Bull Moose Jackson (an early R&B artist whose song, "Big Ten Inch Record", some music fans may remember best as an Aerosmith cover) all recorded at Herzog Studios.

• Highway 100-Travel the length of this Minnesota highway via video in a matter of minutes! I enjoyed this little virtual vacation at the Nokohaha blog.





• 7/79 video takes views on unique visual tour of Cincinnati's center-Driving into the Ohio River? Seeing Cincinnati-area landmarks like the Roebling Bridge or The Ascent in nearby Covington, Kentucky, from the air? Randy posted this virtual vacation on Urban Cincy.

Do you know of any other Midwest-related blogs I should check out?

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: The Bean and Me in Chicago

Chicago's massive "Bean" sculpture, the affectionate nickname for Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture in the city's waterfront Millennium Park, offers endlessly fascinating photo possibilities.

I included a handful of my favorite "Bean" images in yesterday's post, Chicago's Cloud Gate invites interaction, where I wrote about the sculpture, its meaning, and how it draws visitors into interacting with it.

Today, I want to share a few more Cloud Gate images and thoughts about photographing it.

 

There always seems to be a crowd around the sculpture on days best suited for taking photos, so people will invariably be part of any pictures you take. Having the crowd as part of the scene will give your photos a real sense of scale and a good idea of just how big "The Bean" is in relation to its surroundings.

 

 

One of the photos I posted yesterday looked almost like a black and white photo, although I shot it in color. I'm posting an alternate copy of it here that I created as a grey scale image in Lightroom.

 

 

I shot this image from a window in a room on the upper floor of a building across the street from the park. Look closely and you can see the birds perched on top of the sculpture!

 

 

Here I am shooting a quick self-portrait of myself as reflected in the sculpture.

 

 

Some of the coolest shots I got came when I took pictures from underneath the sculpture, where the concave surface created some great abstract-like images.

 

 

One thing that surprised me about my Cloud Gate images when I started going through them was the fact that all but one of the images I posted with today's post and yesterday's post were taken with a trusty little Canon PowerShot point-and-shoot. While I enjoy using my larger Canon EOS DSLR camera, I find that the smaller camera often gives me nice images more than suitable for using with my blog posts.

Check out my story, Shooting photographs for your blog, for a few tips and thoughts about the subject and a quick review of the book Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter: Get Professional Quality Photos with your Compact Camera by Rick Sammon.

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 2010 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Chicago