MIDWEST WEEKEND: Afoot in the Porkies
Just up north, there's a vast wilderness of lakes, virgin forest and wild rivers lined by waterfalls and rapids. It isn't like Itasca, or the North Shore or the St. Croix — not as they are in this century, anyway. It's a wilderness unto itself, and though it's no farther than Grand Marais on Minnesota's North Shore, it seems a world away.
( BY BETH GAUPER, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 09/09/2002 08:03 AM PDT)

In 'City of Broad Shoulders,' a look at a tummy pleaser
It's the unmistakable, universal scent of chocolate that draws you in, past the fabulous collection of pearls and the T-Rex named Sue, to the Field Museum's aptly named exhibit, Chocolate.
( BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH, aburch@herald.com, 09/03/2002 08:23 AM PDT)

Going with the flow on the Dowagiac River through Niles, Mich.
Don't do this trip if you ever want to go down a lazy river ride at a water park again. Because after about 10 seconds of floating down a real river under real trees and past real islands, those turquoise-painted concrete streams will seem like a barbarity and the genuine article will seem like the secret of life itself.
( BY BARBARA BROTMAN, Chicago Tribune, 08/19/2002 11:47 AM PDT)

Corny idea? Maybe, but tourism outpays farming
Corn prices are low but corn stalks are eye-high on the land Mike Shryock's family has farmed since 1889. So the Shryocks are making a low-risk venture into agricultural tourism. ''Beats taking a beating on corn prices,'' Shryock quips.
( BY SCOTT CHARTON, Associated Press, 08/12/2002 10:02 AM PDT)

Popular state park is just one of the lures of Lake Michigan town
The still-warm sand of the city beach would have been a fine place to catch a summer sunset over Lake Michigan.
( By EDWARD M. EVELD, The Kansas City Star, 07/29/2002 09:38 AM PDT)

Wine - and the other pleasures - of Leelanau and Old Mission
Otis was making a nuisance of himself. Until he padded up, I'd had the patio, the vineyards and the flight of wines to myself. It's not so much that I minded sharing: What are a few morsels of cheese and crackers when you're making friends? But all the same, I did think it was just a bit presumptuous of him, seeing as how he had barked at me earlier when I drove up.
( BY TONI STROUD, Chicago Tribune, 07/29/2002 10:22 AM PDT)

Dunes, woods and plenty of sparkling water make Michigan's Saugatuck area shine
So, where's the beach? I had made my way through this resort city's downtown, filled with art galleries and ice cream shops, to the waterfront park. It was all very pleasant, bordering on precious.
( By EDWARD M. EVELD, The Kansas City Star, 07/22/2002 11:40 AM PDT)

Hometown remembers driver
It may be hard to convince folks here that NASCAR is something out of the ordinary: They live amid its lore. This bedroom community on the southwest side of Milwaukee -- just beyond earshot of State Fair Park, site of the venerable Milwaukee Mile track -- was the home turf of driver Alan Kulwicki, who died in 1993.
( JOHN BORDSEN, Travel Editor, 07/22/2002 10:11 AM PDT)

Wright skyscraper to open as hotel
Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper will open in December as Price Tower Hotel in Bartlesville, Okla. Wright was 89 when he was hired by H.C. Price to build the 19-floor tower in downtown Bartlesville. Wright called it ``the tree that escaped the crowded forest.''
( Associated Press, 07/22/2002 10:08 AM PDT)