Walt Disney Ate at This California Restaurant So Often That His Favorite Table Is Still Marked Today
Crooked, storybook rooflines on a Los Angeles boulevard make you grin like a kid, and this building looks like a cottage pulled straight out of a fairy tale. In a way, it kind...
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George Lucas Spent 17 Years Trying to Build His Dream Museum, and the $1 Billion Project Just Opened in California
Spaceships parked next to historic stadiums are not what most people expect to see in a major California city, but this museum looks like it landed from somewhere else entirely....
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This Minnesota Steakhouse Serves More Than 15,000 Steaks a Month Inside a Giant Barn
Fifteen thousand steaks a month means the grill never gets a real break, and it all happens under one enormous roof. Picture...
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This Secret Fabric World In Alabama Features Thousands Of Bolts For Creative Makers
The fabric stash has become a safety hazard. Not physically. Financially. Because once you see thousands of bolts stacked around...
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The Weathered Barracks At This Old Oklahoma Frontier Fort Carry Ghost Stories Locals Still Whisper Every October
I only pulled off the highway to stretch my legs and grab a snack from the cooler, but a row of old brick buildings on the prairie made me stay for the whole afternoon. Oklahoma...
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California Beachgoers Paid 10 Cents to Watch a Live 360-Degree View in 1898, and the Same Device Survives Today
Palm trees rustle overhead, the pier glitters to the south, and a low mid-century building sits on the bluffs above the Pacific. What waits inside is a machine older than most...
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This Historic Bakery Was Just Voted The Most Mouthwatering Sweet-Tooth Destination In Indiana
The first donut is breakfast. The second is tradition. Anything after that is between you and your belt. This Indiana bakery...
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Nearly A Thousand Feet Above The River, This West Virginia Overlook Makes Fall Leaves Look Endless
Some of the best places in West Virginia hide behind a plain road sign and a short walk through the trees. You park, stretch your legs, and figure you will glance at a view for...
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Welcome To Indiana’s Most Tourist-Ruined Town Where Locals Won’t Even Go Downtown Anymore
The downtown parking spot has become the real souvenir. Find one and you may never want to move the car again. That is one...
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Indiana Has A Restaurant & Bakery With More Than 35 Flavors Of Pies
The pie menu has officially become a personality test. Do you go fruit? Cream? Something with enough filling to require structural...
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9 Virginia Bird Sanctuaries Where A Quiet Morning Can Turn Into Something Unforgettable
Birds are easy to overlook until you actually start paying attention. Then suddenly there are colors, calls, and movements everywhere, and a quiet morning turns into something...
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You Get Only Three Nights A Week To Try The Scratch-Made German Dinners At This Tiny Missouri Restaurant
The line already forming outside a narrow brick storefront at 4:25 in the afternoon told me everything I needed to know. I had driven into that small Missouri town expecting my...
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An Ohio Inn Has Hosted 12 U.S. Presidents, but Guests Still Talk About the Little Girl Said to Wander Its Halls
Creaking wooden stairs whisper stories with every step, and this Ohio inn has been welcoming travelers since 1803. It holds the title of oldest continuously operating business...
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Why Book Lovers Are Obsessed With This Giant Texas Literary Wonderland
Some bookstores are places to shop. This one is a place to live. Book lovers are obsessed with this Texas spot for good reason....
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This Oklahoma Off-Road Park Marks Its Trails From Mild To Wild And Stays Surprisingly Clean
I expected a dusty lot, a few rutted paths, and maybe a trash barrel tipped over by the gate. What I found in the hills of eastern Oklahoma was a trail system color-coded like...
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Step Inside An 1860 Missouri Woolen Mill Where More Than Fifty Original Machines Still Fill Three Floors
Three stories of handmade brick with rows of windows watching the road. That is what stopped me in my tracks the first time I looked up at a mill in rural Missouri.
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John Quincy Adams Laid the Cornerstone for This Ohio Observatory in 1843, and Its 1800s Telescopes Still Look Into Space Today
Leafy hilltops in Ohio hide one of the oldest working telescopes on the planet. The building at the top looks more like a cozy college hall than a gateway to the stars, with brick...
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This Peaceful Ohio River Sternwheeler Ride in West Virginia Is the Chillest Surprise Hiding in Plain Sight
Some of the best afternoons in West Virginia start with a boat you almost walked right past. You buy a cheap ticket, climb aboard, and suddenly the whole day slows to the pace...
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This Missouri Restaurant Serves Giant Dutch Pancakes That Nearly Cover The Entire Plate
That tiny windmills tucked around the room and tin ceilings overhead were not what I expected to find in a Missouri city. A friend had told me about a place where breakfast arrives...
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Top Chef Finalist Opens His 27th Restaurant in Oregon
Twenty-six restaurants weren't enough. Number twenty-seven just landed, and it's got a Top Chef finalist's name on the door. Anyone...
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This Missouri Chapel Surrounds Visitors With Floor-To-Ceiling Hand-Painted Murals
Painted angels, bronze fountains, and stained glass stretched across a property in southwest Missouri where I expected nothing more than a quick stretch of the legs. I had pulled...
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Seven Ohio pumpkin patches where the hayride is half the fun this October
I once climbed onto a creaky hay wagon expecting a quick lift to the pumpkins, and I stepped off grinning like a kid with a pocket full of candy. Ohio farms have a sneaky way of...
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This Untouched Oklahoma Battlefield Lets You Walk Where Union And Confederate Troops Actually Clashed
I expected a quick stop, maybe a sign and a parking spot, somewhere off a quiet Oklahoma highway. Instead I found open fields and creek-side trails that look almost exactly like...
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Seven West Virginia Speedways Where Saturday Night Still Smells Like Hot Tires And Funnel Cake
Some of the best nights in West Virginia start on a gravel lot with a paper plate in your hand and a roar rolling down the hillside. You come for a cheap ticket and a hot dog,...
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This Texas Soul Food Spot Serves Fried Chicken with a Side of Serious Comfort
Fried chicken that crackles when you bite into it. Mac and cheese that is creamy and rich. Collard greens with just the right...
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This Missouri Meat Market Makes A Best-Selling Club Loaded With Four Meats And Three Cheeses
An old Tom-Boy sign hanging above a corner market that has been feeding its neighborhood since the 1930s. That is what I found when I turned onto a side street in a Missouri city,...
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Why the Toledo Zoo’s aquarium is the rainy-day trip Ohio parents forget about
Picture a gray Saturday in Ohio, the kids bouncing off the couch, and every indoor idea already used up twice. Most parents reach for the same tired options, never guessing that...
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More Than 175 Homemade Pies, Jams And Candies Fill The Shelves Of This Back-Road Oklahoma Amish Store
The gravel road seemed to go nowhere, and I almost turned the car around twice. Then a plain little building appeared, with a hand-painted sign and a porch that smelled like warm...
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This Oklahoma Garden Lets You Feed Koi For Quarters And Wander Eight Acres Of Blooms
I pulled off the road expecting a quick stretch of the legs and maybe a few flowers. Instead, I found winding paths, bridges over koi-filled water, and a quiet so deep I forgot...
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This Oklahoma Route 66 Diner Inspired A Pixar Movie And Still Serves Comfort Food
Some of the best meals in Oklahoma start with a stomach growling and a small building you almost drive right past. You pull over expecting a quick plate of something fried, and...
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This Hidden West Virginia Swimming Hole Sits Beneath A Waterfall Most Folks Never Find
Some of the best places in West Virginia never show up on a billboard or a brochure. You hear about them from a cousin, a fishing buddy, or an old-timer at the gas station who...
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Seven West Virginia Soup Beans And Cornbread Plates That Taste Like Grandma’s Kitchen
You pull off a two-lane road in West Virginia, hungry and a little tired, and the building in front of you looks like nothing special. Then a bowl of steaming beans lands on the...
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This Texas Pottery Warehouse Is Packed With Cheap Pots and Surprising Garden Treasures
Pots. Planters. Garden decor. And prices that make you do a double take. This Texas pottery warehouse is the kind of place...
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This Small Oklahoma Restaurant Smothers A Green Chili Burrito Worth The Drive Across The State
You pull off a quiet main street expecting a quick lunch, and a plate of green chile somehow rearranges your whole afternoon. That is the kind of surprise Oklahoma still hands...
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This Abandoned West Virginia Lake Park Was Meant for Fun, Now It’s One of the Strangest Sights You’ll Ever See
Some places in West Virginia sneak up on you, tucked down a quiet country road where you would never expect to find anything at all. Then the trees open up, and a rusty Ferris...
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Twelve Dollars Buys A 45-Minute Ride Through Restored Vintage Rail Cars In Oklahoma City
I only meant to kill a slow Saturday morning, and somehow I ended up sitting in a caboose, grinning like a kid. The place looked like a quiet rail yard from the road, nothing fancy...
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10 Texas Delis That Are Worth Every Mile Of the Journey to Get There
A sandwich is just a sandwich. Unless it is a sandwich from one of these Texas delis. Then it is a destination. These ten spots...
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This New Jersey Pizzeria Was Just Named The No. 3 Pizza Spot In America
Pizza bragging rights can start an argument faster than someone reaching for the last slice. Around here, though, one restaurant just received some serious national backup.
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This Reconstructed West Virginia Fort Shows How Settlers Survived The Frontier Behind Timber Walls
Some of the best history lessons in West Virginia are not found in textbooks but tucked along quiet back roads. You pull in expecting a few old cabins, and suddenly you smell woodsmoke,...
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This Massive New Jersey Salvage Yard Is Packed With Architectural Treasures Waiting For A Second Life
Old buildings may come down, but the good stuff doesn’t always disappear with them. Doors, stained glass, claw-foot tubs, mantels, ironwork, and wonderfully odd pieces can get...
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This Indiana Thrift Warehouse Is Where Resellers Go Before The Public Even Knows
The inventory has a short attention span. Bathroom vanities one day. A riding mower the next. Something completely different...
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This Tiny Indiana Tavern Is So Legendary George Motz Named Its Smash Burger One Of The Best In America
The burger has better credentials than some people. One expert wrote a book about hamburgers. Then he tried this one. George...
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This Texas Yarn Shop Is A Creative Wonderland For Knitters, Stitchers, And Needlepoint Fans
Walls of yarn in every color you can imagine. Shelves of thread and needles. A table where people actually sit and stitch together....
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An Entire Oregon Warehouse Is Packed With Architectural Salvage Waiting For A Second Life
A clawfoot tub sits next to a stack of old church windows. Nobody arranged it that way, and somehow it looks perfect. Doors, mantels, faucets, and floorboards fill the aisles,...
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This Abandoned New Jersey Mill Town Has Been Empty For More Than A Century
The forest won this one. Deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, brick walls, foundations, and other remnants mark the place where...
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New Hampshire Has A Farm Bakery With More Than 15 Kinds Of Pies
Pie is one of those desserts that can be perfectly fine or completely unforgettable, and the difference usually comes down to who is making it. This New Hampshire farm bakery has...
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This New Jersey Flea Market Takes Over A Stadium Parking Lot Every Saturday
A stadium parking lot looks completely different when bargain hunters get there before the sports fans. Every Saturday, a huge...
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Maryland’s Coast Hides a Quiet Beach Where You Can Watch the Bay Without Fighting the Boardwalk Crowds
Boardwalk beaches have their energy. The crowds, the noise, the constant motion. But some days call for something quieter....
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This Oregon Restaurant Feels Like a Secret Once You Finally Find It
Finding this restaurant on purpose feels different than stumbling onto it. Either way, the reaction afterward stays roughly the same.
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8 New Hampshire Backroads Made For A Long And Beautiful Scenic Drive
Some of the best views in New Hampshire are not at the end of a trail. They are along quiet roads where the speed limit is low and the scenery does all the work.
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Seven West Virginia Waterfalls You Reach Without Hiking More Than A Few Minutes From The Car
Some of the prettiest water in West Virginia is hiding in plain sight, right beside roads many of us have driven for years. You do not need hiking boots, a trail map, or strong...
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Come Hungry To This New Jersey Bakery Packed With Old-School Italian Sweets
Choosing just one thing at an Italian bakery is an adorable little plan. It usually lasts until the display case comes into view.
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Immigrants Detained on a California Island Carved Hundreds of Poems Into the Barracks Walls, and They’re Still There
Words carved into old wooden walls are what stayed with me long after the ferry ride and the picnic. A detention barracks on a California island holds hundreds of poems etched...
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This Alabama Market Lets You Score a Whole Box of Amish-Grown Canning Tomatoes for Just $20
The recipe was for six tomatoes. The box contains approximately a small mountain. This Alabama market specializes in that particular...
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This Oregon Park Has a Giant Sand Dune You Can Actually Climb
Sand this tall shouldn't exist outside a desert, yet somehow it does, rising just off the coast rather than anywhere near one. Climbing...
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This Massive New Hampshire Thrift Store Is A Treasure Hunt From The Moment You Walk In
Thrift shopping is not for everyone, but for those who love it, few feelings compare to walking into a store and knowing there is something good waiting somewhere in the aisles....
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11 New Jersey Night Parades That Bring Lights And Crowds To The Streets
Parades get considerably more dramatic once somebody switches off the sun. Across New Jersey, nighttime processions turn familiar...
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10 Maryland Towns So Overcrowded by Tourists That Locals Avoid the Center
Tourism can be a double edged sword. It brings money and attention, but it also brings crowds, traffic, and a slow erosion of the thing that made a place special to begin with.
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This New Jersey Campground Sits Along One Of The State’s Most Scenic Shorelines
Waking up near the ocean beats an alarm clock by a ridiculous margin. Waves, salty air, and morning light are simply better at announcing a new day.
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