With the World’s Largest Buffalo, World’s Largest Sandhill Crane, and World’s Largest Holstein Cow, North Dakota is known for some pretty big things along I-94. The Enchanted Highway is no exception.
The Enchanted Highway runs from I-94 at Gladstone south to the town of Regent, 32 miles away. The road itself is not spectacular; it’s straight and hilly and somewhat scenic, but the road is not the primary attraction. What is unique about the Enchanted Highway is the series of larger-than-life metal sculptures that line the drive.
“Geese in Flight” greets drivers on Interstate 94, and at 110 feet tall, holds a spot in the Guinness records as the world’s largest metal sculpture. Other sculptures follow, every few miles, between Gladstone and Regent. “Fisherman’s Dream” and “Teddy Rides Again” were our family’s favorites. Read More »
Barcelona’s La Boqueria Market (also called Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria) is a true feast for the senses. As soon as you walk in you can see, smell, touch, hear and of course, taste the wonders and excitement of the city’s best public market. It’s touristy for sure, but it’s also a working market, used every day by the locals who come to shop for supplies for their daily meals.
Here at the market you’ll find everything from brightly colored (and expensive) candy and rich chocolates to recently deceased (and fully intact) animals like bunnies and chickens. You can find every kind of egg imaginable (chicken, ostrich, quail, and more), all parts of the cow and pig from head to hoof, fresh baked breads, brightly-colored fish from all corners of the sea, fresh fruit, spices, and cheese. In short, everything you need to create a multi-course meal or just the perfect Catalan picnic can be found here. Foodies will be in heaven, though vegetarians might not enjoy it so much.
From a wide swath of lawn on the east side of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, a giant carved head gazes out toward Lake Michigan. More than seven feet tall, Olmec Head #8 is a replica of one of the many amazing stone carvings done by the Olmec people more than 3500 years ago in what are now the states of Tabasco and Veracruz in Mexico.
Olmec Head #8
The Olmec civilization has perplexed scholars since evidence of its existence was discovered in the nineteenth century. With no written language to decipher, only their mysterious carvings remain to tell us Read More »
On our visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, we were amazed by the outstandingly creative fiberglass eagles which pepper the downtown area, part of the third installment of public art by the BC Lions Society.
Chicago’s El (or L, depending on who you ask) is the train system that helps locals and residents explore all the great and diverse neighborhoods of the city. It’s called the El because in most spots, it’s elevated above the city, glinting in the sun and making a loud rumble as it moves by overhead. Of course, those who call it the L insist it got its name because it encircles the downtown core known as the “Loop”.
El Train in the Station
Whatever you want to call it, the train is an iconic image of Chicago, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice to visit the city and not take a ride. The El is more than just transportation, it’s one of the top experiences every visitor to Chicago should have.
Just off I-94 in Valley City, North Dakota, is an interesting park. This isn’t a swingset-and-slide park, nor is it a place where many will stop for a picnic. Medicine Wheel Park has a very unique set of features, including a medicine wheel solar calendar, a solar system model, and Indian burial mounds.
When we arrived in the large but nearly-deserted parking lot, we weren’t sure what to see first, but we settled on the medicine wheel horizon calendar that gives the park its name. This wheel is modeled after solar calendars from ancient times.
Horizon Calendar at Medicine Wheel Park in Valley City, ND
Discussions about art in Florida often focus on Miami’s architecture, performing arts venues in Tampa Bay, or gallery row in Sarasota. Yet the small, unassuming town of Bradenton on Florida’s Gulf coast boasts the largest artists’ colony in the state.
Wildly colored houses line gallery row
Back in 1999, the city of Bradenton envisioned an enclave where artists of all disciplines could live, work and prosper together. They established Village of the Arts in an neighborhood just south of downtown that was home to 240 existing residential structures, many of which were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and Read More »
If you’ve driven past Jamestown, North Dakota, on Interstate 94, you’ve likely seen the World’s Largest Buffalo. But did you know that if you pull off the Interstate to see the big buffalo, there’s more to see and do?
Yes, the buffalo is a big attraction (pun intended). For more than 50 years, parents have posed their kids under the buffalo for a snapshot. (And if they’re anything like me, those kids remember that moment for the rest of their lives.) In this land of bigger and better things, the World’s Largest Buffalo is a big deal. Read More »
The Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Around 1.5 million bats live underneath the bridge and on evenings from March to November, they all seem to emerge at once, covering the sky in a pulsating black cloud.
Coming to see the emergence of the bats is a popular activity in Austin. Shortly before the sun begins to set, crowds gather on the grass on the banks of the river and along the Congress Avenue Bridge. Just as the sky starts to darken, they emerge. First it’s just a few black specks and then more and more until it seems like the whole colony has taken to the skies. They move according to hidden instructions or maybe instincts, heading off in the same direction as the crowd points and cheers.
