One Ohio Man Collected Thousands of Pencil Sharpeners, Then His Wife Donated Them All
Pencil sharpeners shaped like cars, cats, globes, and the Eiffel Tower fill a small Ohio building beside a parking lot. The collection began with two little metal cars his wife...
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This Missouri Sushi Restaurant Serves Omakase, Wagyu, And Robata-Grilled Dishes In A Moody Modern Dining Room
This is not the kind of sushi dinner where you order a couple of rolls and call it a night. This Missouri restaurant leans...
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Thousands of Quartz Rocks Form a 102-Foot Bird in Georgia, and No One Knows Exactly Why It Was Built
White quartz rocks form a giant bird in the Georgia pines, stretching 102 feet head to tail. Native Americans built it somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago, and its wings...
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This Minnesota College Has a Christmas Music Tradition That Dates Back to 1912
Nineteen-twelve called, and apparently its Christmas playlist is still the best one around. Voices fill the concert hall here every December, a tradition that's survived over a...
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This Tiny Coastal Alabama Airport Is Quietly Becoming a Haven for Low-Cost Flights
The annoying part of a beach vacation used to happen before the beach. You would land somewhere else. Collect your luggage. Find...
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Pick Your Own Pumpkin Straight Off The Vine At This Family Farm Near Tulsa, Oklahoma
I only meant to grab one pumpkin for the front porch, maybe snap a quick photo, and head home. Three hours later my shoes were dusty, my cheeks hurt from grinning, and a camel...
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A Jobless Engineer Spent the Great Depression Carving Giant Animals Into California Boulders
Stone towers guarding hillsides full of grinning rock creatures are not what a quick stretch break usually delivers. A carved lizard peeks out from a boulder like it has been waiting...
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This Under-the-Radar Joint Just Scored an 8.1 From Dave Portnoy, Making It the Highest-Rated Pizza in Indiana
A pizza score of 8.1 sounds impressive. Until you realize how many people are going to treat it like a personal assignment. This...
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This Massive Indiana Amish-Country Warehouse Sells Completely Safe “Expired” Food for Pennies On The Dollar
The cart is getting heavier. The receipt is not. That is a beautiful combination. This Indiana warehouse has built a following...
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This Hidden Indiana Gem Serves Unlimited Punjabi Classics, And They Bring the Fresh Naan Straight To Your Table
The naan has skipped the buffet. Good. Because watching a hot piece of bread arrive directly at the table while everything...
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10 Virginia Meat Markets Where Folks Stock Their Freezers Cheaper Than Any Chain Store
Freezers are not just for leftovers. For a lot of families in Virginia, they are the difference between paying full price at the grocery store and buying in bulk at a fraction...
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Five Short Trails Take You Through Prairie, Forest, Glades, And Ponds At This Free Missouri Nature Center
You can cover a surprising amount of Missouri scenery without driving anywhere else. Five short trails branch out from this free nature center, taking you through prairie, forest,...
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Eight Giant Shell-Shaped Gas Stations Were Built in North Carolina, This Is the Only One Left
Laughter comes first when a giant yellow-orange seashell appears on a quiet residential corner. This odd little building once served as one of eight shell-shaped gas stations built...
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This Texas Restaurant Serves A Regional Style Of Barbecue That Deserves More Attention
Everyone knows Texas brisket, but the state has more than one barbecue tradition, and this restaurant serves a regional style that deserves far more attention than it usually gets....
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This Oklahoma Roadside Stop Loads Your Tray With Smoked Brisket, Fried Catfish And A Whole Pickle Bar
Some of the best meals in Oklahoma show up when you only meant to stretch your legs and grab a quick bite. You pull off the highway, walk into a plain little building, and suddenly...
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A 460,000-Pound Bucket Is All That Remains of Ohio’s Largest Dragline Ever Built
Steel buckets so big that two school buses could park inside are not something you see every day, and spotting one along an Ohio road is enough to make anyone pull over. This bucket...
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This Missouri Pizzeria Serves 26-Inch Pies From A Former Gas Station Near UMKC
A pizza this big needs a table with some ambition. This Missouri pizzeria serves giant pies that stretch twenty-six inches across, big enough to turn a casual meal into a group...
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You Can Find A Turquoise Oregon Lake Hidden Behind A 15-Mile Hike
Fifteen miles is a lot to ask for a swim, yet somehow this lake makes every single step feel worth the complaint-free effort. Water...
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This Oklahoma Bookstore Lets You Curl Up By The Fireplace With A Book And A Coffee
From the parking lot, it looked like just another plain building on a busy Oklahoma road. Then the door swung open, and the smell of fresh coffee and old wood hit me like a warm...
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Texas Has A Farmers Market Where Local Vendors Bring Fresh Finds And Plenty Of Variety
A farmers market only works when the vendors show up with something worth buying, and the one this Texas community has built delivers on that promise week after week with fresh...
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Forty Dollars Fills Your Whole Backseat At This Gigantic Oklahoma Vintage Store
I only pulled over because a giant rooster stared me down from the side of the road. Twenty minutes later I was holding a stack of old Valentine cards, a Depression glass bowl,...
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This Oklahoma Pottery Studio Puts You At The Wheel To Throw Your Own Clay Mug
I walked in expecting a quick craft class and walked out with wet clay under my nails and a grin I could not shake. Somewhere in Oklahoma, a small studio is handing beginners a...
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Oklahomans Pack The Car Before Dawn For Brisket From This Legendary Barbecue Joint
My stomach was growling long before the sun came up, and all I knew was that a little smokehouse somewhere in Oklahoma had people lining up before the doors even opened. It looked...
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The Texas Restaurant Where Vietnamese Food Has Become Part Of The Local Food Scene
Vietnamese food has become a familiar part of the Texas dining landscape over the years, and this restaurant has played a real role in making that happen by serving pho, banh mi,...
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This Free Missouri National Park Preserves The Farm Where George Washington Carver Was Born
You can walk the same ground where one of America’s best-known agricultural scientists spent his earliest years. This free...
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Fall Turns This Clear Northeast Oklahoma Lake Quiet, Wild And Almost Empty
I went looking for a quick autumn drive and a snack stop, and I ended up staring at water so clear I could count the rocks below the surface. Most folks in Oklahoma think of lakes...
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Six West Virginia Farms Where Folks Stock Up On Meat Straight From The Family Who Raised It
Some of the best meals in West Virginia start with a gravel driveway, a hand-painted sign, and a freezer full of something special. You pull in thinking it is just a quick stop,...
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A Mother-Daughter Team Brings Vietnamese Bánh Mì And Coffee To This New Missouri Restaurant
A mother and daughter opening a restaurant together already gives this place a good story. Add bánh mì, Vietnamese coffee, and recipes tied to their own background, and it gets...
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A Texas Plantation Became A Historic Site With Multiple Stories To Tell, Including Those Of The Enslaved People Who Lived There
Historic plantation sites used to tell only one side of the story, focusing on the owners and the architecture while leaving out the people whose labor made it all possible.
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Tea Lovers Could Lose An Entire Afternoon Inside This Missouri Shop Packed With Teas, Herbs, And Spices
Tea people know how fast one little jar can turn into a whole afternoon. This Missouri shop is packed with loose-leaf teas, herbs, spices, and blends that make browsing feel a...
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Prohibition Gangsters Once Hid Out In This Quiet West Virginia Town, And Locals Still Tell The Stories
Some of the best stories in West Virginia hide at the end of a long, winding road where your phone signal gives up before you do. You expect a few old buildings and a quick look...
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This Enormous Indiana Buffet Servs Dim Sum, Sushi, and Mongolian Grill Until You Burst
The first plate is a lie. It suggests you have a plan. You do not. Not in an Indiana buffet with more than 200 dishes waiting...
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Indiana Has A Family-Owned Farm Bakery With An Incredible Variety Of Fresh Pies
The crust is doing too much. It looks that good. This Indiana bakery has spent 33 years making pies that turn “just a quick...
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You Can Tour This Missouri Smokehouse And See How Its Famous Bacon And Hams Are Made
Most people only see bacon after it lands in the frying pan. Here, you can actually see what happens before that. This Missouri...
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This Texas BBQ Spot Is Putting Ethiopian Flavors On The Smoker
Texas barbecue and Ethiopian cuisine do not share much common ground on paper, but this restaurant has found a way to bring them together on the smoker, and the result is one of...
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This 1874 Oregon Saloon Serves Italian-American Fare With Live Music and an Award-Winning Patio
A building from 1874 rarely still has people lining up at the door, yet this one keeps doing exactly that, nearly a century and a half later.
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A Gravel Road Leads To This Missouri Ranch Where Visitors Can Walk Among Farm Animals For Free
The county road turns to gravel, and that is when this Missouri outing starts getting fun. At the end is a sprawling Ozark ranch where you can take a free self-guided walk past...
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This New Hampshire Japanese Restaurant Puts Sushi, Ramen, And Hibachi On One Big Menu
Choosing between sushi, ramen, and hibachi usually means picking a restaurant that specializes in one and hoping the others are decent. This New Hampshire spot takes a different...
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A Maryland Lodge With Big Steakhouse Energy Is Calling Your Name
Some restaurants have a vibe that hits you the moment you walk in. This Maryland lodge is one of them. Big steakhouse energy,...
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Oregon Has A Two-Story Building Made From 800 Tons Of Rock
Eight hundred tons is a strange number to casually stack into a two-story building, yet somehow this one managed exactly that. Rock covers every surface here, no detail skipped,...
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These New Hampshire Seafood Spots Serve Oysters With A Side Of Coastal Conservation
Oysters taste better when you know they are helping the ocean rather than hurting it, and a growing number of New Hampshire seafood spots are making that part of their mission....
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15 West Virginia Dairy Bars Locals Swear Taste Exactly The Way They Did In 1965
Some of the best afternoons in West Virginia start with a hand-painted sign on a two-lane road and a sudden craving you did not know you had. You pull into a gravel lot, order...
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Charlie Chaplin Used to Race a Friend to This California Restaurant on Horseback, With Dinner Going to the Winner
Hollywood has always loved a good contest, and one of its oldest involves two friends, two horses, and a dinner bill. The loser paid at a grill that has been standing on the same...
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This Secret Backroad Country Market In Alabama Is Basically The Costco Of Fresh Groceries
There should be a warning at the entrance. Do not shop hungry. Especially not here. This Alabama market turns...
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This Oregon Restaurant Serves Vietnamese Food Until Nearly Midnight
Midnight cravings usually mean a drive-thru and regret. This place offers a much better plan. Pho simmers late into the night...
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Thousands Of Hot Dogs Have Come Off The Grill At This Tiny New Hampshire Diner
Some kitchens measure their history in years, and others measure it in hot dogs. This tiny New Hampshire diner falls into the second category, with thousands of dogs having come...
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Maryland Turned a Historic Bank and Sewing Machine Factory Into This Unusual Restaurant
Adaptive reuse is a phrase you hear in architecture circles, but it is a lot more fun when it involves food. This Maryland restaurant sits inside a building that once housed a...
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This Missouri Pizzeria Has Been Making Kansas City-Style Gourmet Pizza For 50 Years
Fifty years later, people are still arguing over which pizza to order first. This Missouri pizzeria has been making its own version of Kansas City-style gourmet pizza since 1976,...
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This Ohio Candy Factory Turns Out 30,000 Pounds of Chocolates in a Single Shift
Warm cocoa drifts across the parking lot before the door even opens, a smell that wraps around you and pulls you inside. This Ohio chocolate factory turns out thirty thousand pounds...
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This Restaurant Serves a Taste of Scandinavia in the Middle of Minnesota
Somewhere between the sauerkraut and the sausage, Scandinavia apparently relocated straight into the middle of the Midwest. Recipes...
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America’s First Rural Free Mail Delivery Started On A Quiet West Virginia Road Near Charles Town
Picture a farm family in West Virginia, waiting days or even weeks for a letter because the nearest post office was a long wagon ride away. Then one crisp autumn morning, a few...
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This West Virginia Train Turns A Slow River Ride Into Dinner With Bald Eagles Outside
Some of the best meals in West Virginia come with no neon sign and no fancy fuss, just a quiet spot you almost drive past. This one happens to roll.
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A 60-Foot Stone Tower Has Stood on a California Beach Since 1926, Complete With a Secret Staircase to the House Above
Salt air, crashing waves, and a stone castle rising straight out of the rocks. This California shoreline hides a tower that looks like it wandered off a storybook page and decided...
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This Alabama Orchard Turns Autumn Days Into A Mouthwatering Festival Of Food And Family Fun
The apples are not supposed to be ammunition. At least, that is what common sense suggests. Then somebody loads one into an air...
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11 Oregon Restaurants Hiding In Small Towns That Deserve A Detour
GPS says keep driving, stomach says pull over immediately. Trust the stomach on this one. A handful of small towns scattered across the state hide restaurants nobody expects to...
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This Virginia Spot Makes So Many Kinds Of Georgian Khachapuri You Might Need A Second Visit
Khachapuri is one of those dishes that sounds simple until you see the variations. At its core, it is bread filled with cheese, but the regional differences are significant.
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10 Virginia Spots Where Filipino Comfort Food Goes Way Beyond Lumpia
Filipino food has been gaining attention in recent years, and for good reason. The flavors are bold, the combinations are unexpected, and the comfort factor is high.
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9 Surprisingly Affordable Fall Day Trips In Maryland You’ll Want To Take This Year
Fall is the best season for a day trip. The air is crisp, the leaves are changing, and the crowds have thinned out. But a good...
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A Pennsylvania Museum Dedicated to America’s First Coast-to-Coast Highway Has a 25-Foot Gas Pump Outside
Giant vintage gas pumps are not something you see every day, and laughing out loud at the sheer size of one is a perfectly reasonable reaction. The towering pump serves as the...
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This Missouri Farm Has Been In The Same Family Since 1854 And Still Grows More Than 1,500 Apple Trees
There are family farms, and then there are farms where the family story stretches back to the 1850s. This Missouri orchard is still run by the same family today, with more than...
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