Corktown is one of Detroit’s most eclectic neighborhoods, brimming with breweries, eateries, bars, and all kinds of inviting little shops and boutiques — a quaint little city within the city, with downtown’s skyscrapers plainly in view off to the east. While there are all kinds of reasons for visiting this part of Detroit, the true pièce de résistance is the newly-revived Michigan Central Station.
Read MoreFinding accommodations in the heart of a major American city is generally going to be a pricey affair. If you want to stay right downtown where all the action is, that’s usually going to come with a heftier price tag. That makes perfect sense, of course, but what if there was a way to get around the higher cost without sacrificing location or comfort? Freehand Hotels are by no means a magical remedy to this conundrum, but they do offer a digestible solution.
Read MoreIt feels wildly unlikely that I would ever come across a Lake Michigan beach that didn’t tickle my fancy, but the 4.5-mile stretch of sandy shoreline belonging to Beverly Shores, Indiana, is increasingly becoming one of my new favorites. The “town” of Beverly Shores, which is tucked between Gary and Michigan City and surrounded by Indiana Dunes National Park, isn’t much of a town at all — what you will find here on the underside of Lake Michigan is mostly a mix of beachfront, forest, marshland, and sand dunes. But, honestly, what more do you need?
Read MoreWhile Maycomb itself may not have been real, the town was modeled after Lee’s actual hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, the very real and very tiny county seat of rural Monroe County. Home to a population of about 6,000 people, Monroeville would likely be just another blip on the map if not for its association with a pair of the 20th century’s most well-known American writers, Harper Lee and Truman Capote. It was the town’s connection to those two wordsmiths, in fact, that brought me there on a spring day in April 2025.
Read MoreWhile I do not in any way, shape, or form agree with the Confederate cause (because, you know, let’s just make that crystal clear), this was still a chance to see history in person, and I would be loathe to turn such an opportunity down. So, with a few hours to kill, I headed over to Beauvoir, where Davis lived from 1876 until his death in December 1889, to get a glimpse of the way in which the South commemorates the man whom many would consider one of America's greatest villains.
Read MoreThere they went, walking down the street in a straight line, looking like a high school football team warming up before practice with some high knees. There was Andrew, James, Michael, Patrick, Lucy, Bernadette, and, oh my goodness, don’t look now, but it’s Francis of Assisi himself. That’s right: it was Thursday in New Orleans and the saints were marching in. Or was I just hallucinating?
Read MoreOf all the iconic cities in the good ole U.S. of A. — New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville (to name a few) — New Orleans was one that I had yet to check off my list. That was rectified in the spring of 2025 when I ventured once more to the Deep South with my parents and two of my siblings for a little family vacay in the Big Easy.
Read MoreLas Vegas’ Neon Museum is in the business of preserving the stories of those ill-fated ventures, collecting and displaying the neon signs of the ghosts of casinos past — and those of casinos present — making sure their memories live on. Located near the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, the museum invites you to travel back in time through the decades, learning about the twists and turns that helped make Vegas what it is today.
Read MoreStop me right now if you’ve heard this before, but, hand to god(s), we had another major, major year here on the blog, shattering records all over the place. I mean, are you ready for these percentages? I don’t know if you are. I think you’re gonna have to convince me. “Uhh, how the heck am I gonna do that?” you ask, staring blankly at your phone/tablet/laptop screen as you read these words. Well, it’s simple, Fred: …
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