Route 66 Still Kicks: 3 Sights Worth Seeing Along One of America's Original Highways

Immortalized by John Steinbeck’s 1939 book “The Grapes of Wrath”, as well as the 1946 song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, the highway became one of the most recognized thoroughfares in North America, crisscrossing not just from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, and back again, but also across our hearts (*cue studio audience: “aww!”). And though the highway no longer exists in a technical sense — it was officially removed from the U.S. Highway System in 1985 — stretches of what has become known as “Historic Route 66” in some states are still out there waiting for you.

North AmericaLogan T. HansenJuly 24, 2023travel, travel guide, travel inspiration, travelspiration, travel ideas, travel advice, travel recommendations, travel planning, travel bucket list, Route 66, Uranus, Catoosa, Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, Historic Route 66, Mother Road, U.S. Highway System, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Get Your Kicks on Route 66, Chicago, Santa Monica, Santa Monica Pier, California, Wigwam Motel, Magnolia Gas Station, Blue Whale, Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Hugh Davis, Tulsa, Pinocchio, Animal Reptile Kingdom, World's Largest Gift Store, Redmon's Candy Factory, Redmon's, Phillipsburg, Lucille Ball, Toxic Waste, Uranus Missouri, Louie Keen, Mayor of Uranus, Roadside America, Uranus Fudge Factory and General Store, Moonicorn Creamery and Funnel Cakery, Escape Uranus, Uranus Axehole, Chicken Bones Party Bar & Grill, Uranus Sideshow Museum, World's Largest Belt Buckle, road trip, road tripping, road trips, cross-country road tripComment

The Flint Hills of Kansas Will Shatter Your Definition of Wide Open Spaces

For once in my life, I looked around, surrounded by unfamiliar territory, and though I had the greatest urge to spout that age-old movie reference — “we’re not in Kansas anymore” — the fact of the matter was that, yes, we very much were in Kansas. I mean, in the very heart of America, in that region known as the Great Plains, you have some idea of what you’ll come across, but reading about it or seeing a photo or video is truly not the same as being surrounded by rolling green hills as far as the eye can see.

Ready to Travel Again? Spice Things Up By Taking a Mystery Vacation

If you’re ready to get out there and travel again, why not spice things up on the first go-round? Unless you’ve been itching to visit someplace in particular, it could be the perfect time to surprise yourself with a mystery vacation. And the best part? You don’t have to do any of the planning.

Kayak Has Mapped Out the Ultimate Spooky U.S. Road Trip

Driver beware, you’re in for a scare… because the folks over at Kayak have put together a truly terrifying cross-country road trip stretching from New England to the West Coast. From haunted inns to creepy cemeteries, and old state hospitals to abandoned amusement parks, the 7,500-mile trip truly checks off every spooky box a Halloween-loving traveler could dream up.

North AmericaLogan T. HansenOctober 16, 2020travel, kayak, Kayak.com, kayak.com, travel advice, travel guide, road tripping, road trip, road trips, cross-country road trip, Halloween, travelspiration, travel inspiration, Sleepy Hollow, New York, Philipsburg Manor House, Philipsburg Manor, Old Stagecoach Inn, Waterbury, Vermont, National Register of Historic Places, bed and breakfast, bed & breakfast, Margaret Annette Henry, Fort Knox, Prospect, Maine, paranormal, paranormal activity, Pine Hill Cemetery, Hollis, New Hampshire, New England, Blood Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, Salem witch trials, ghost stories, ghost town, ghost tour, Seaside Shadows, Mystic, Connecticut, Cumberland, Rhode Island, Salem Historical Tours, Abel Blood, Headless Horseman Bridge, Ichabod Crane, Pocantico River, Old Dutch Church, Old Dutch Burying Ground, Old Dutch Church and Burying Ground, Katrina Van Tassell, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving, Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Al Capone, Terror Behind the Walls, Edgar Allan Poe, Salubria Manor, Stevensburg, Virginia, Maryland, Baltimore, Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park, Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, West Virginia, Kegley, Chimney Rock State Park, Bulldog Tours, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Madison Square, Savannah, Georgia, St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, Birmingham, Alabama, Bell Witch Cave, Bell Witch, Adams, Tennessee, The Blair Witch Project, Blair Witch, Ultimate Spooky U.S. Road Trip, John Bell, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, haunted Comment

Being a Travel Blogger in a Year Without Travel

2020 has been one weird year. There we were at the start of a brand new decade on January 1st, looking ahead to a year in which practically every major holiday fell on a weekend, the economy was continuing the upward trend that started back at the beginning of Obama’s first term, and the puns concerning 20/20 vision hadn’t even gone stale yet.

Ontario, We're Onto You: Scoping Out Fall Getaways Along Lake Superior's Northern Shore

Whenever I pull up Google Maps and peer at the vastness that is Canada, I cannot help but wonder what in the world is up there. I mean, just think about it: Canada is the second-largest country in the world by land area (behind only Russia) but when it comes to population density, it ranks very near the bottom at 228th.

North AmericaLogan T. HansenSeptember 26, 2019travel, travelspiration, travel inspiration, travel guide, travel advice, Canada, North America, Ontario, The Great White North, Wikimedia Commons, Agawa River, Lake Superior, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Lorri's Country Kitchen, McCauley's Motel, Goulais River, Havilland, Hiawatha Highlands, Heyden, Trans-Canada Highway, Misty Mountain Fly Shop, Havilland Shores Drive, Airbnb, Stay Canada, Canada Stays, canadastays.com, Hideaway at Lake Superior, cabin, cottage, Cottage Summer Vacation Paradise, Harmony Beach, Harmony Beach Resort, Harmony's Hideaway, Bet-Cha-Wana-Stay Deer Cabin, Bet-Cha-Wana-Stay Moose Cabin, Batchawana Bay, Batchawana River, Batchawana River Provincial Park, Pancake Bay Provincial Park, Ontario parks, Montreal River Harbour, Michipicoten, ontarioparks.com, Mother Nature, outdoors, camping, fishing, rustic camping, rustic, cabin in the woods, fly fishing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fall, autumn, fall travel, autumn travel, road trips, road trip, road tripping Comments

A (Very Brief) Stop in Cincinnati, the Queen City

After working overnight and getting a scant two hours of sleep or so, I piled into my little Chevy Cruze with my brother and my son and we took off from West Michigan. Our route saw us through rural parts of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, as well as a KFC boasting a buffet, before we arrived in the Queen City, home of the Reds, the Bengals, and the Bearcats, not to mention the American Sign Museum and the Purple People Bridge.

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