The events of May 25, 2020, when a former Minneapolis police officer put his knee on a man’s neck and kept it there until he could no longer breathe, and the summer that followed, when millions marched in the streets of cities not just across the United States but all around the globe — amid a worldwide pandemic the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a century, no less — created a chapter in our collective history that won’t soon be forgotten.
Read MoreLook, folks, here’s the deal: Lake Michigan doesn’t need your approval. It doesn’t need your accolades, or your superlatives, or your constant-but-warranted praise. It doesn’t need you to remind it that it is the greatest of all the Great Lakes, better than Lake Superior or Huron or Ontario... or that other one that we almost don’t even need to mention (because, come on, that’s just laughable).
Read MoreImmortalized 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.
Read MoreOne of Oklahoma City’s unexpected gems is the Plaza District, a quaint little neighborhood just northwest of downtown filled to the brim with vintage shops, various boutiques, a handful of bars and restaurants, and a few other ditties worth checking out. It’s honestly a spot where you could easily lose track of time and end up spending the whole day, if not the evening.
Read MoreFor 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.
Read MoreHere’s the thing about New York: there’s always a new adventure to be had. That is even the case when you only have roughly 36 hours to spend in America’s largest city, needing to cram a number of stops and activities into a short amount of time. But under those kinds of time constraints, what can you feasibly make happen? Well, let me tell you.
Read MoreKey West wasn’t necessarily high on my travel bucket list, but it was on there (as is just about every other destination on planet Earth). Regardless, I figured it was better to visit sooner rather than later; that is, before the Florida Keys succumb in their entirety to the catastrophic effects of unchecked climate change and become the newest version of the Lost City of Atlantis.
Read MoreConsider this your introduction to what may just be the most unique pair of islands in the entire world: the Diomedes. Found in the middle of the Bering Strait, which separates the easternmost portion of Russia from Alaska, this duo of rocky, mesa-like islands is unlike any other for two big reasons.
Read MoreThere are so many cliché ways that a year-in-review post like this could begin. But instead of saying “another year in the books” or “isn’t it funny how time flies” — or even “what do you know, here we are again” — let’s just steer clear of all that gobbledygook, am I right? After all, this is now the sixth year (!) I’m sitting down to write this annual postmortem, and it certainly doesn’t deserve to suffer an indignity like that.
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