Jan 2 2016
Feeling at home while away is a beautiful thing, but definitions of comfort differ. I liked the looks of these places while at work during 2015. Buckingham Inn, 1615 Summit Ave., Madison: Almost in the shadow of Camp Randall football stadium at the University of Wisconsin is bed-and-breakfast lodging in three suites that stay true(…)
Dec 26 2015
Time to review life as you know it, and I’ll do the same as 2015 ends. These restaurants, close to home and many miles away, caught my attention this year. Café Hollander, Madison: The Milwaukee-based restaurateur opened this third location in autumn, but “café” is an understatement because of the array of options is fat.(…)
Dec 19 2015
Wisconsin supper club food is the star in new settings that are casual, stylish and distinctive as winter nears. Factor in an expansion of projects that call attention to supper clubs, and what we have is a food movement or renaissance that shows no sign of fading. Ron Faiola of Milwaukee, whose “Wisconsin Supper Clubs:(…)
Dec 12 2015
Confucius says: You cannot open a book without learning something. Remember that while holiday shopping or treating yourself. Many books cross my desk; count these among my favorites for the year. “Wisconsin Agriculture: A History” ($35) and “Whispers and Shadows: A Naturalist’s Memoir” ($23), both published by Wisconsin History Society Press and written by Jerry(…)
Dec 5 2015
I saw a Lutheran school cafeteria with dozens of church mice a few days ago, but all will disappear by the time many of you read this. It’s that way every year. The too-cute treats – chocolate-drenched, with a maraschino body attached to an Oreo base, peanut halves for ears and dots of icing for(…)
Nov 28 2015
The Milwaukee Art Museum quickly turned into an architectural icon for Wisconsin’s largest city in 2001. That is when an addition with a 90-foot-high glass ceiling and 217-foot wingspan was completed. The wing-like design by Santiago Calatrava stole the show from the museum’s older structures, but now is the time for them to resume co-starring(…)
Nov 21 2015
Last in a series. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Hanoi, shows how wrong it is to presume the country’s culture is homogeneous. Although Viet people make up nearly 86 percent of the population, 53 other ethnic groups call this home. That includes the Hmong, who tend to farm in steep, northern highlands. Nuances in dialect,(…)
Nov 14 2015
Part two of a series. — Several of Vietnam’s top tourist attractions are often-graphic and filtered reminders of armed conflict. Military aircraft, tanks and torture devices tell decades-old stories of strife at the War Remnants Museum, earlier known as the American War Crimes Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. The repository, both thoughtful and grim,(…)
Nov 7 2015
Part one of a series. Humidity nearly matches temperature on a sweltering autumn afternoon, so five of us head to a 20-mile-long beach with persistent breezes and few weekday sunbathers. The two-mile taxi ride costs $4, total. Another buck buys a bottle of beer and cushy chaise lounge seating. Shore-walking vendors hawk handheld fans, hand-painted(…)
Oct 31 2015
Readers, it’s time to lighten the mailbag. Here is a selection of your most recent notes and questions. — Jim and Monica O’Brien of Madison asked for ideas about what to do in Two Rivers. Three unexpected pleasures in this area are: Bernard Schwartz House, a Frank Lloyd Wright design that is based on his(…)
Oct 24 2015
In “The Happiness Hypothesis” (Basic Books, $17), social psychologist Jonathan Haidt notes that the goal of positive psychology is “helping people find happiness and meaning.” My friend Bob Sessions in Iowa made me aware of this 2006 book, and the author acknowledges there is no clear road to happiness in this complicated world of unexpected(…)
Oct 17 2015
Dan Dobrowolski understands the growing curiosity to live large in a small space, and others are noticing his efforts from coast to coast. The owner of remote Canoe Bay Resort near Chetek, the Midwest’s only Relais and Chateaux property, is investing in the tiny house movement and gaining national attention for his new venture: ESCAPE(…)
Oct 10 2015
All-in-good-fun games of bingo keep the church lights on, subsidize school field trips, buy equipment for volunteer fire departments and make countless other charitable efforts possible. Add the fact that 43 percent of people in Wisconsin say they are of German heritage, and at least 25 percent consider themselves Catholic. We know “polka” and “mass”(…)
Oct 3 2015
What started monumental change at the Tom and Cheryl Skelly farm in 1989? Four rows of sweet corn. The crop was more than enough for the family to eat, so they sold the excess for $1 per dozen. Then came 9-year-old son Scott’s plea to carve a path within the rustling stalks, an odd idea(…)
Sep 26 2015
When asked to recommend a scenic Wisconsin drive for USA Today a few years ago, I deliberately veered away from the Mississippi River’s Great River Road and other grand but obvious choices. I favored a five-mile stretch of dirt and gravel that sashays around little lakes and post-glacier forestation, north of Rib Lake in Taylor(…)
Sep 19 2015
Editor’s note: Wisconsin-native Kevin Revolinski is the author of 60 Hikes Madison, Best Hikes Near Milwaukee, Paddling Wisconsin, Best Tent Camping Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s Best Beer Guide. His blog is Revtravel.com. By KEVIN REVOLINSKI You don’t have to go as far as the Appalachian Trail for a fine walk in the woods. Wisconsin’s state park(…)
Sep 5 2015
Supper club fever has persisted ever since Ron Faiola of Milwaukee introduced “Wisconsin Supper Clubs: an Old Fashioned Experience” as a film in 2011 and book in 2013. Filmmaker Holly De Ruyter, an Oneida native, released her “Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club” to raves at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival. For(…)
Aug 29 2015
Beautiful natural settings, culturally unique attractions and comical snapshots all were in the mix of “Only in Wisconsin” photo entries that you shared with me recently. Yes, we have winners, but these were not easy decisions. Good photography is a mix of skill, awareness, planning and luck. The instructions for this exercise: Submit an image(…)
Aug 22 2015
Guest columnist Lynne Diebel of Stoughton is the author of numerous books about the outdoors, and the most recent is Crossing the Driftless (University of Wisconsin Press, $20). The book is both a traveler’s tale and an exploration of the land the glaciers missed, an ancient landscape of bluffs, ridgetops and steep valleys that long(…)
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Pair the book with filmmaker Holly De Ruyter's award-winning supper club documentary! More about the DVD is here.
