Arena, Mazo: unusual, good rural dining
Two rural and south-central Wisconsin businesses, eight miles apart, cater to customers in unconventional ways. — A mile or two west of Arena, population 685, […]
Midwest
Wisconsin Innovations: new Madison exhibit
Here are a few of the answers: American Girl dolls. Malted milk. The typewriter. Bioluminescence technology. Each solves this question: What has Wisconsin ingenuity […]
Private doors open in Milwaukee, Chicago
Almost underneath Interstates 43/94, one mile west of Milwaukee’s trendy Third Ward retail/nightlife district, illuminating work happens daily. Inside an 1890s building of red brick, […]
Two Ryan Braun restaurants in Wisconsin
The setting: White linens. Delicate stemware. Cartoonish murals. The pizza choices: Pepperoni. Sweet potato pie. Sausage and rapini. Also on the menu: Meatballs. Watermelon-beet salad. […]
Frank Lloyd Wright hotel reopens in Iowa
No one would mistake Tokyo for Mason City, Iowa, but the cities have something big in common: Each has been home to a Frank Lloyd […]
EAA AirVenture, the genius of Burt Rutan
Two wings. One fuselage. Propeller in front. Tail at back. I was content with my presumptions about airplanes in the 1970s, until Burt Rutan began […]
Mount Horeb: home to trollway, tool museum
Trolls rule in Mount Horeb, a peculiar, creative and vibrant Dane County village of 7,000. The scruffy, impish troll carvings – happy-crazed-creepy in expression, dwarfs […]
Devil’s Lake, Vilas Zoo, Taliesin at 100 years
Three major southern Wisconsin attractions this year reach the same milestone – 100 years of existence. Their centennial celebrations stretch through the summer. — Living […]
Chambers Island: open for quiet exploration
Mysterious Chambers Island is a 45-minute boat ride from Door County’s Fish Creek, but most of us only see it from a distance and hear […]
Color them cool: Walldogs to paint Plymouth
Who doesn’t want to leave their mark on the world before leaving it? Hundreds of strangers will do just that in Plymouth this month, and […]
Beloit gains Great American Main St. Award
The Facebook conversation begins in a neutral manner: “Heading to Beloit; seeking your input,” I write. “Head SouthWest – LOL,” responds a high school classmate, […]
Newly noticed in, en route to Door County
I’m waterlogged from writing about lakefront destinations at least a half-dozen times this spring, at the request of magazine editors who know that many of […]