This Giant Blue Whale Has Smiled At Route 66 Travelers In Oklahoma Since 1972
Some of the best stops in Oklahoma are the ones nobody puts on a fancy list. You round a bend on an old two-lane highway, glance to your right, and there it is: a grinning concrete...
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This Oklahoma Dairy Farm Sells Fresh Cheese Curds And Raw Milk Straight From Its Own Shop
Some of the best food in Oklahoma never gets a sign bigger than a mailbox. Out on a gravel-shouldered country road northeast of Tulsa sits a small farm building where the milk...
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The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Traces Family Names Back Generations Inside This Shawnee, Oklahoma Heritage Center
Some Oklahoma buildings look ordinary from the parking lot and then quietly rearrange how you think about the ground you're standing on. I pulled up expecting a quick walk-through...
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Nobody Believes Us When We Say West Virginia Has A Real Castle Built By A Coal Baron
Tell a friend from out of state that a genuine stone castle sits on a ridge in West Virginia, and watch their eyebrows shoot up. I used to give that same look, right up until the...
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Locals Roared A Forgotten West Virginia Dirt Track Back To Life And Saturday Nights Came With It
Some of the best nights in West Virginia don't start at a fancy spot. They start on a hard metal bleacher, with a paper tray of something warm in your lap and the smell of clay...
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A Texas Store Packed With Fossils, Crystals, And Minerals Feels More Like A Museum Than A Shop
A store that feels like a museum. That is the kind of place that makes you stop and stare. This Texas shop is packed with fossils,...
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This Missouri Recreation Area Has The State’s Only Whitewater River And An Old Mining Past
This Missouri recreation area has a little more edge than the usual picnic-and-trail stop. The St. Francis River cuts through the landscape here, bringing fast water, rocky stretches,...
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6 Oklahoma Restaurants Serving Lumpia, Pancit Or Adobo Plates Made The Way Families Make Them
Some of the best meals in Oklahoma come from buildings you would drive past twice without blinking. Behind a few plain storefronts and strip-mall doors, somebody's family recipe...
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Mothman Really Does Have His Own Museum, And It Sits In A Small West Virginia River Town
I expected a quick stop, maybe ten minutes and a silly photo, before getting back on the road through West Virginia. Instead, I found myself leaning close to faded paperwork, reading...
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Down A Quiet Lake Road, This Missouri Steakhouse Has Been Serving Dinner For Fifty Years
Fifty years of serving dinner usually means a place has figured out what people want. This Missouri steakhouse keeps things...
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This Small Oklahoma Museum Keeps Egyptian Mummies And Shrunken Heads And Opens Its Doors For Free
Some Oklahoma road trips end with a photo of a water tower, and some end with you standing eye-level with a 2,300-year-old Egyptian woman. I went in expecting a quiet little art...
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A Texas Smokehouse Is Part BBQ Stop, Part Country Store, And Worth Pulling Off The Highway For
Some road trips are about the destination. This one is about the stop. This Texas smokehouse is part barbecue joint, part country...
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This Missouri Farmers Market Keeps The Local Food Coming Long After Summer Ends
Summer ending does not mean the local shopping has to stop. This Missouri market-style event keeps the weekends lively well into the colder months, with local vendors, food, handmade...
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An Abandoned Carousel Still Haunts The Boardwalk At This New Jersey Beach Town
A carousel without horses feels strangely eerie. The music is gone. The painted animals have vanished. Yet the grand circular...
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Harpers Ferry Hides The Spot Where Thomas Jefferson Said The View Was Worth Crossing The Atlantic
I almost skipped it, thanks to a few stone steps, a steep hill, and a small sign I barely noticed in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Twenty minutes later, I was standing...
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This Nearly Century-Old New Jersey Restaurant Is Still Famous For Its Buffalo Wings
Wings have started arguments over less. Crispy or saucy? Mild or hot? Ranch or blue cheese?
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Owned by a Bestselling Hoosier Author, This Indiana Bookstore Is a Diverse Literary Haven
The neon sign is pink. The disco balls are real. The books are serious. That combination is exactly why this Indiana bookstore...
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This Indiana City Has a Healthcare System So Advanced It’s Ranked Among America’s Best
The roundabouts are only the beginning. There are so many of them that at some point, you start wondering whether the city is secretly testing your driving skills.
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A Full-Size DC-3 Sits On The Roof Of This Missouri Coffee Factory You Can Actually Tour
The airplane on the roof is your first clue that this is not a normal coffee stop. This Missouri factory has a full-size DC-3...
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11 Texas Markets Packed With Foods And Ingredients You Won’t Find At Regular Grocery Stores
The regular grocery store has its place. But it does not have everything. Not even close. These eleven Texas markets are packed...
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This Oregon Restaurant Serves Dungeness Crab Arancini and Lamb Dumplings Under One Roof
Crab and lamb rarely share a menu section, let alone earn equal billing the way they do at this Bend restaurant. The arancini...
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This Missouri Dutch Market Has Discount Groceries, Homemade Buns, And Deli Sandwiches Worth The Backroad Drive
This is the kind of place where lunch and grocery shopping can happen at the same time. This Missouri market has deli sandwiches, homemade buns, bulk foods, produce, and discounted...
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This New Jersey Italian Bakery Is Open 365 Days A Year For Your Pastry Fix
Christmas morning craving a cannoli? Apparently, that is not an emergency here. One family-run New Jersey bakery keeps its...
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This Old-Fashioned New Hampshire Diner Serves The Kind Of Breakfast Worth Waking Up Early For
Most people hit the snooze button when the alarm goes off. This New Hampshire diner gives you a reason not to. The doors open...
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New Jersey Turned A Historic Horse-Racing Estate Into A Gorgeous 667-Acre Park
The horses are no longer thundering around the property, but this sprawling landscape still gives visitors plenty of room to roam.
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Maryland Has a Stunning Latin Restaurant Where Dinner Comes With Panoramic Inner Harbor Views
Some dinners are about the food. Others are about the setting. This Maryland spot manages to deliver both. A stunning Latin...
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Oregon Has the Last Covered Railroad Bridge of Its Kind in the West
Railroad bridges built like this one used to be more common. Now, an entire category of ordinary engineering ends here, permanently, with this bridge as the last surviving example...
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This New Hampshire Garden Feels Like A Secret World Of Flowers Butterflies And Hummingbirds
Some gardens are tidy and formal, and some feel like they grew out of a dream. This New Hampshire garden leans toward the second kind.
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This Unassuming West Virginia Rock Is Where Union Troops Carved Their Names During The Civil War
I pulled off a quiet mountain road in West Virginia expecting a quick stretch of the legs and maybe a sandwich with a view. What I found instead was a hilltop where Civil War soldiers...
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12 New Jersey Restaurants That Still Feel Refreshingly Old-School
Not every good meal needs QR codes, neon slogans, or a dining room designed for somebody's social feed. Sometimes you just...
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An 1850s Georgia Mansion Had Hot and Cold Running Water, Central Heat and an Intercom Before Most Homes Had Plumbing
Georgia has plenty of historic homes where the furniture, portraits, and sweeping staircases do most of the showing off. This one surprised me with what was hiding behind the walls...
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This Alabama Butcher Shop Is So Clean And Fresh You’ll Forget All About Supermarket Meat
The steak is not the thing that gets the attention first. The counter is. Everything is so ridiculously clean that the meat almost...
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This Oregon Burger Joint Has a 16-Foot Fire Pit and Views To Go With Your Fries
Sixteen feet of fire doesn't usually accompany a plate of fries, yet that's exactly what greets guests at this roadside grill. Flames...
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This Massive New Hampshire Fair Has Been Bringing Classic Country Fun To Town For Nearly 150 Years
County fairs have a way of making time slow down, and this New Hampshire tradition has been doing exactly that for nearly a century and a half. The fairgrounds open every fall,...
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This New Jersey Farm Has More Than 35 Fall Activities In One Place
Apparently pumpkins alone weren't enough. This farm looked at fall and decided to cram practically the entire season into one day out.
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This Stunning Maryland State Forest Has A Haunted Reputation That Gets Creepier After Dark
Most state forests are known for their trails, their trees, and their quiet. This one has a different reputation. It is stunning...
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One Sandwich From This New Jersey Italian Deli Could Ruin Ordinary Lunches For You
There are sandwiches, and then there are sandwiches that make tomorrow's sad desk lunch feel like a personal insult. This old-school...
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This Missouri Butcher Shop Makes Nearly Everything In-House, From Sausage To Pastrami
You can tell pretty quickly this is not a grab-a-pack-and-go kind of butcher shop. This Missouri spot does much of the work right in-house, from cutting whole animals to making...
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The Wright Brothers’ Only Airplane Preserved as They Built It Is Sitting in Ohio
Ohio aviation history hits differently when the machine in front of you is not a replica or a clever reconstruction. I walked into this place thinking I already understood the...
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This Hidden Minnesota Speakeasy Serves Upscale Italian Cuisine in a Prohibition-Era Underground Lounge
Finding the entrance here takes a little detective work, nothing obvious marking what's actually waiting just below street level.
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This Free West Virginia Arboretum Hides Miles Of Wildflower Trails Most Locals Have Never Walked
Some of the best walks in West Virginia start somewhere you would never think to look, like the edge of a busy college road. I went expecting a quick stroll and a few trees with...
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This Old-Time New Jersey Flea Market Still Feels Like A Country Treasure Hunt
Rusty signs, old furniture, boxes of forgotten odds and ends, and something completely inexplicable sitting three tables away. Now this is treasure hunting.
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Seven West Virginia Historic Places Where The Buildings Look Just Like They Did A Century Ago
Every so often in West Virginia, you round a corner and time seems to hold its breath. The brick storefronts, the tall porches, the quiet streets all still look the way they did...
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A California Ghost Town Has a House Built From More Than 50,000 Glass Bottles That Refused to Disappear
California does abandoned places particularly well, but this desert stop has one survivor that looks almost too playful for a ghost town. Ruined walls and empty foundations stretch...
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This Iconic Alabama Theme Park Just Reopened Its Legendary Wooden Coaster After Years In The Dark
A roller coaster can disappear long enough to become family folklore. “I rode it once.” “You rode it?” “My dad rode it.” Then one day, the trains start moving again....
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11 Oregon Stops That Deserve Their Own Travel Story
Some stops along a route barely register beyond a quick photo. Others clearly deserve more attention than a passing glance ever gives them.
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9 Virginia Pottery Studios Where Beginners Can Try Something Completely New
Getting your hands in clay is one of those experiences that sounds intimidating until you actually try it. Virginia has pottery studios that welcome beginners, places where you...
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This New Virginia Rail Is Transforming A 49-Mile Abandoned Railroad Into A Scenic Path
Old railroad beds have a way of becoming something new. Across Virginia, abandoned lines are being converted into trails, and the latest project is one of the most ambitious yet.
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Meat Lovers Could Spend A While Choosing Their Next Dinner At This New Jersey Butcher Shop
Choosing dinner sounds easy until you are standing in front of a butcher case packed with enough possibilities to derail the whole plan.
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10 Restaurants Across Rural Maryland Locals Say You Need To Try This Fall
Fall is the season for a good drive and a good meal. The leaves are changing, the air is cool, and there is no better time to explore the quieter corners of the state.
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8 Ohio Places Where the Real History Is Creepy Enough Before the Ghost Stories Even Begin
Ohio has plenty of places where the past refuses to stay completely quiet. Old mansions, theaters, hotels, and lonely stretches near the water carry stories that can feel unsettling...
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Wagon Ruts From Three Legendary Trails Still Cut Through This Missouri Cemetery
You can still see where wagon wheels once pressed into the ground here. This Missouri cemetery preserves old trail ruts tied to the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California routes, and...
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This Small-Town Oklahoma Bakery Turns Out Fruit And Sausage Kolaches That People Order By The Dozen
Some of the best food in Oklahoma hides behind a lit menu board and a row of numbered parking stalls. I drove past this one for years, figuring it was just another burger stand,...
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This Oklahoma County Was Once The Rowdiest Corner Of The Frontier And Its Main Street Still Shows It
I stopped in northern Oklahoma for nothing fancier than a cold drink and a chance to stretch my legs, and I ended up staying half a day. The brick street under my boots was uneven...
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Hundreds of Freedom Seekers Passed Through This Ohio Mansion Before It Became One of the State’s Most Talked-About Historic Homes
Ohio has no shortage of old houses with complicated histories, but this one carries stories far heavier than its brick walls suggest. I came expecting a grand nineteenth-century...
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The Huge Minnesota Farmers Market That Has Locals Buzzing Week After Week
Saturday mornings pull the same crowd back here week after week, enthusiasm somehow never fading no matter how many times they've already visited.
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This New Jersey Museum Sits Where Dinosaurs Roamed 66 Million Years Ago
Well, this certainly beats staring at fossils through a glass case and calling it a day. Here, the prehistoric story begins beneath your feet.
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This North Carolina Steakhouse Serves More Than 20,000 Steaks a Month Inside a Giant Red Barn
North Carolina knows how to do dinner with personality, but this place takes the idea of a steakhouse and supersizes nearly everything. I expected a busy dining room and a serious...
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One North Carolina Man Spent Decades Moving More Than 100 Historic Log Buildings Onto His Own Land
North Carolina backroads have introduced me to plenty of old buildings, but usually one farmhouse or weathered cabin is enough to make me stop. Here, the woods seem to swallow...
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