Watch Truffles Get Hand-Dipped And Caramel Stirred From Scratch At This Missouri Chocolate Shop
Chocolate is a lot more fun when you can watch it being made a few feet away. This Missouri shop keeps the process right out in the open, with truffles getting hand-dipped and...
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Oregon Has a Place Where You Can Watch Wildflowers Spread Across a Hillside Above The Columbia River
Hillsides don't usually turn into a spectacle worth planning a trip around, yet wildflowers here manage exactly that once the right season arrives.
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This Oklahoma Roadside Stand Hands You a Peach Fried Pie Still Too Hot to Hold
Some of the best food in Oklahoma hides behind a screen door and a gravel parking lot. I pulled off the highway expecting a quick snack from a glorified gas station counter, and...
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Seven West Virginia Comfort-Food Suppers Where A Home-Cooked Plate Still Costs Less Than Fast Food
There's a special kind of joy in pulling open a screen door in West Virginia and smelling gravy simmering on the stove. Somewhere between the red vinyl booths and the second cup...
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Wait, This Is Texas? A Hidden Attraction Feels Like It Belongs Thousands Of Miles Away
You look around and wonder if you took a wrong turn somewhere. This does not feel like Texas. The architecture, the atmosphere,...
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5 Oklahoma Ghost Towns Where Empty Storefronts Still Line The Old Main Street
Some of my favorite Oklahoma afternoons have started with a wrong turn down a county road, the kind where the pavement gives up and a row of brick buildings appears out of nowhere....
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This Oklahoma Sanctuary Lets You Meet And Feed Its Rescued Farm Animals On A Private Tour
Some of the best afternoons in Oklahoma start on a gravel road you almost drove past. I expected a quiet pasture and a few friendly goats, and instead I found a place where every...
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This Longtime Tulsa, Oklahoma Pizza Joint Serves Thin, Crispy Slices You Top However You Like
Some of the best food in Oklahoma hides behind doors you would drive past a hundred times without blinking. There is a little corner shop where the sign is small, the building...
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The Oldest Continuously Running Movie Theater In America Still Shows Films In This West Virginia Town
Some places in West Virginia hold onto their magic quietly, tucked along a small-town Main Street where you might drive right past without knowing what you missed. Imagine walking...
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Deep in the New River Gorge, This Abandoned Coal Town Still Guards Henry Ford’s Forgotten Chapter
Tucked deep in a green gorge in West Virginia, there's a place where a whole coal town once buzzed with life and now stands quiet, waiting for curious folks to wander through....
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This Texas Meat Market Serves Sausage Plates Made In-House
A butcher counter and a hot plate of sausage. That is a combination that works. This Texas meat market makes its sausages in...
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Bulk Foods, Fresh Produce, And Deli Sandwiches Have Filled This Missouri Country Market Since 1972
A good country market makes it very easy to leave with more than you planned. This Missouri shop mixes bulk foods, fresh produce, pantry staples, and deli sandwiches in one simple...
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Drivers Still Slow Down For This Narrow Iron Bridge Left Over From Oklahoma’s Route 66 Days
Some Oklahoma landmarks announce themselves with billboards. This one just sits there, rusting quietly at the edge of a lake, waiting for you to notice that the road narrows and...
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In Ronceverte, West Virginia, A Small Monthly Check Covers A Paid-Off Porch By The Greenbrier River And Neighbors Who Still Know Your Name
Some places in West Virginia don't shout for attention, yet they end up staying with you long after you leave. Picture a slow river curling past brick-paved streets, an old railroad...
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Southern Fried Chicken Meets Mediterranean Flavor At This New Missouri Restaurant
Fried chicken gets a nice little shake-up here. This new Missouri restaurant keeps the crispy, comforting Southern side of the meal, then works in brighter Mediterranean flavors...
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This Missouri Pie Shop Turns Out Around 100 Pies A Day And Has Been Doing It For Decades
This Missouri pie shop has been feeding sweet-toothed regulars for decades, and the ovens stay plenty busy. On a typical day,...
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This All-You-Can-Eat Missouri Buffet Serves Sushi, Hibachi, And Chinese Favorites Near The Lake
Come hungry, because choosing just one thing here is almost impossible. This Missouri buffet brings sushi, hibachi, and Chinese favorites together in one easygoing stop near the...
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A Small Texas Town Surrounded By Lakes And Hill Country Scenery Is Made For A Slow Weekend
Some places are made for rushing. This Texas town is made for slowing down. It sits surrounded by lakes and rolling Hill Country...
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28 Lakes And Hundreds Of Old TNT Bunkers Hide Inside This Missouri Conservation Area
You can come here to fish and end up staring at a World War II bunker instead. This Missouri conservation area mixes 28 lakes and ponds with woods, trails, wetlands, and a surprisingly...
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New Jersey Has A 45-Minute Trail Lit By More Than 6,000 Hand-Carved Pumpkins
Fall apparently decided subtlety was overrated. Once darkness settles in, thousands of glowing jack-o'-lanterns turn an ordinary autumn outing into something much brighter, stranger,...
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Way Out On A West Virginia Ridge, A Trout Farm Lets You Catch Your Dinner From The Pond
Some of the best places in West Virginia are the ones you almost miss, tucked down a winding country road with no billboards to announce them. Out near a quiet mountain ridge sits...
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This Former New Jersey Train Station Is A Paradise For Vinyl And Book Lovers
All aboard, but leave the suitcase at home. This old station has traded arriving trains for shelves of records, stacks of books, and the kind of browsing that can quietly eat an...
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One Of Indiana’s Oldest Family Farms Is Still Bringing Shoppers Back Season After Season
The farm has an answer for every month. That is the problem. Come in spring, and there are strawberries. Come back later, and...
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An Entire Indiana County Completely Transforms Into A Sprawling 10-Day Autumn Goldmine Every October
The map is basically a shopping list with roads on it. Bridge. Food. Antiques.
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Sushi, Hibachi, And Endless Seafood Fill This Massive Missouri All-You-Can-Eat Buffet
You know the kind of buffet where everyone comes back to the table with a completely different plate? This Missouri spot is built for that.
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A Casual Texas Seafood Restaurant Has The Kind Of Old School Charm You Can’t Manufacture
Some restaurants try to look old. They buy vintage signs, install reclaimed wood, and call it charm. This Texas seafood spot...
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Dinner Feels Extra Special At This Gorgeous Oregon Farm-To-Table Restaurant
Farm-to-table gets used loosely by plenty of restaurants chasing the phrase without living up to it. Here, the commitment actually shows on every plate.
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Six Generations Of Butchers Keep Old-World Sausage Traditions Alive At This Missouri Meat Market
Six generations is a long time to keep sharpening the same kind of skills. This Missouri meat market has done exactly that, passing down butchering, curing, and sausage-making...
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Pumpkin Season Turns This New Jersey Farm Into A Full-Blown Country Escape
There is a point every fall when buying one pumpkin from a grocery-store bin simply will not do. You want the fields. You want...
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This Magical New Hampshire Shop Is Filled With Art Treasures And Storybook Charm
Some shops sell things, and some feel like stepping into another world. This New Hampshire spot falls firmly into the second category.
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Come Hungry To This New Jersey Italian Market Where The Sandwiches Mean Business
There are sandwiches, and then there are sandwiches that require a quick reassessment of your lunch plans. Prosciutto, capicola,...
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Step Into a Little Slice of England at This Charming Maryland Tea Room
Some places feel like a vacation without the flight. This charming Maryland tea room is one of them. The moment you walk in,...
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An Oregon Restaurant That Turnes Dinner Into a French-Inspired Tasting Experience
Ordering dinner usually means picking one dish. Here, that decision gets replaced entirely by trusting the kitchen to build an entire evening instead.
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This Hidden New Hampshire Boardwalk Winds Through One Of The State’s Most Unusual Landscapes
There is a boardwalk in New Hampshire that leads into a landscape most people have never seen up close. It winds through a bog, a rare ecosystem where the ground is spongy and...
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Prohibition Bootleggers Once Ran Moonshine Through This Sleepy West Virginia Mountain Pass
Tucked into the folds of West Virginia's rolling hills sits a shady green hollow that feels a world away from the busy streets nearby. Long ago, resourceful mountain folk used...
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This Striking New Jersey Landmark Makes A Surprisingly Good Travel Detour
A wrong turn would be pretty lucky if it ended here. Behind the unusual architecture sits more than 250 years of history, with...
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A South Carolina Man Turned Throwaway Plants Into a 3-Acre World of Living Sculptures
Spirals, arches, and curling green towers rise out of an ordinary front yard in South Carolina, and the shapes start appearing before the brain can make sense of them. Nothing...
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Alabama Has A Hidden Country Farm With Exotic Zebras and Capybaras Just 30 Minutes From Huntsville
The goat wants your snacks. The zebra wants absolutely nothing to do with you. The capybara looks like it has nowhere else to...
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Oregon Has a Giant Sturgeon That’s Become a Local Celebrity
Fish rarely earn celebrity status, yet one enormous sturgeon here draws crowds specifically to see it, name and reputation included.
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This 166-Acre New Hampshire Park Still Holds Pieces Of A Legendary Animal Farm
Some parks are simply open space, and some carry a story that makes them worth exploring more slowly. This New Hampshire park falls into the second category.
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This New Jersey Mediterranean Restaurant Goes Big On Seafood, Steaks And Greek Favorites
Choosing dinner gets complicated when half the menu starts making a convincing argument. Seafood might sound like the plan....
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Maryland Has a 17,000 Square Foot Market Packed With Vintage Finds, Handmade Goods, and Unexpected Treasures
Some markets are quick stops. You run in, grab what you need, and leave. This Maryland spot is the opposite. At 17,000 square...
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Farm Life From Another Era Still Plays Out At This Living New Jersey Estate
History is considerably more fun when it refuses to sit quietly behind glass. At this working historical farm, the past comes...
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This 10-Mile Missouri Trail Winds Through The Land Where A Vanished Town Once Stood
This Missouri trail has more going on than the mileage suggests. The route stretches for about ten miles through woods, rocky sections, creek crossings, and old roads that once...
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More Than 300 Rare American Motorcycles Fill This North Carolina Museum, and Nearly Every One Can Still Run
Rumbling enough to rattle my chest, a machine older than my grandparents coughed, caught, and settled into a steady roar. I had not expected to hear that sound inside a museum,...
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This Might Be The Best Brisket We’ve Found While Exploring Minnesota Backroads
Some backroad detours lead nowhere interesting. This one led straight to a plate of brisket good enough to justify the whole drive.
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These 12 West Virginia Haunted Places Are The Real Deal
There is something about West Virginia that seems to hold onto its stories, especially the ones that make the hair on your arms stand up. Tucked into old mountain towns and forgotten...
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Forget The Supermarket And Stock Up At This Old-School New Jersey Butcher Shop
The supermarket meat aisle suddenly feels a little boring after visiting a proper butcher counter. There is something wonderfully...
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Seven West Virginia Breakfasts Where The Biscuits And Gravy Come Straight From The Kitchen
Some of the best breakfasts in West Virginia hide in plain sight, tucked along back roads and small-town Main Streets where nobody's trying to impress anyone. You pull in hungry,...
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The First Man to Walk on the Moon Grew Up in This Tiny Ohio Town, Where His Spacesuit Came Home Too
White domes in grassy fields look like they landed rather than were built, and that was enough to pull off the highway after years of driving past. Inside waits the story of a...
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This Oregon Steakhouse Is in the Middle of Farmland, but Its Steaks Hold Their Own Against Any Big-City Chain
Farmland surrounding a restaurant usually suggests simple, unpretentious food. Here, that setting hides steaks confident enough to challenge any big-city reputation.
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This Virginia Pottery Warehouse Is Packed With Cheap Pots And Unexpected Garden Finds
Gardeners know that pots can be expensive. A few large planters, some smaller containers, and suddenly you have spent more than you planned.
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There’s A Restaurant Inside A Historic Virginia Mansion And The Interior Is Truly Unreal
Dining in a historic mansion is not something you do every day. This Virginia restaurant offers that experience, with an interior that is truly unreal.
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This New Jersey Wildlife Spot Offers A Closer Look At The State’s Wild Side
Cape May gets plenty of attention for beaches and Victorian charm. Meanwhile, something with wings may be stealing the show overhead.
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Maryland’s Sweetest Road Trip Stop Might Be This Unassuming Bakery Along the Eastern Shore
Road trips are about the stops as much as the destination. A good bakery can turn an ordinary drive into something worth remembering.
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Pack your appetite because these 6 Ohio family diners stack pancakes taller than the kids expect
Some of the best breakfast surprises in Ohio hide behind plain little doors and quiet parking lots. You walk in expecting a normal short stack, and then a plate arrives that makes...
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Missouri’s “Little Grand Canyon” Is Actually A Collapsed Cave With 130-Foot Walls
At first glance, this looks like a canyon dropped into the middle of Missouri. The real story is even stranger. The huge chasm...
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Thousands Of Migrating Waterfowl Gather At This 6,705-Acre Missouri Wetland
You can show up here expecting a quiet stretch of wetlands and end up watching thousands of birds move across the water. This...
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Dig Your Own Hourglass Selenite Crystals For Free On The Salt Flats Near Jet, Oklahoma
Some of the best days start with a gravel road, a shovel rattling around in the trunk, and no real idea what you're getting into. Out in northwest Oklahoma, there's a stretch of...
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A 158-Foot Ironclad Spent Nearly a Century Beneath a North Carolina River Before Its Hull Came Back Up
Charred wood and iron bolts from a Confederate ironclad sit under glass in a small North Carolina city, and they are far bigger than any photo prepares you for. A half hour was...
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