Travel – Page 6 – Travel Smart With Jodie

Three fun winter happenings

Wisconsin Team 2 of Sculptora Borealis won the National Snow Sculpting Championship in 2021 with “Inoculation”

See snow sculptures. Ice skate, Explore an ice village with illuminated caves or a Nordic village with downhill and cross-country skiing. Put Wisconsin and Michigan on the travel excursion list to catch these events and ideas before winter ends.

Ice castle kingdom

Stay at Geneva National Resort and Club’s The Ridge in Lake Geneva, WI where guests can now explore an illuminated ice kingdom complete with caves, fountains and frozen slides. Opened Jan. 22, 2022. The Ridge guests get the best available tickets to the ice kingdom, including the difficult-to-get Saturday times.

Call ahead about tickets if driving over to Lake Geneva and not staying at Geneva National. Current expectation is that it will remain open through February depending on the weather. The resort also features ice skating, cross-country skiing and fine dining.

For more information visit Geneva National Ice Castles

Winterfest
Walk around and judge for yourself amazing snow sculptures created by 15 state teams from across the county at the US National Snow Sculpting Championship in Lake Geneva.

Held Wednesday when snow arrives through Saturday for the judging, the annual Snow Sculpting Championship takes place at Riviera Plaza and flat Iron Park during the city’s Winterfest, Feb. 2-6, 2022.

Wisconsin Team 2 of Sculptora Borealis won with “Inoculation” last year and Florida’s Less Latitutde, more attitude,” took second with “the Power of the Mind’s Eye.”

Winterfest also includes ice sculptures and entertainment. For more information visit Winterfest 2022.

Crystal Mountain

Downhill ski at award-winning Crystal Mountain that controls snow quality with its own machines, has good cross-country trails and an excellent ski school. Located in Thomsonville, MI, Crystal Mountain is a scenic, Nordic style resort village with several accommodation choices, spa and large, indoor pool.

For more information visit Crystal Mountain.

Illinois State Museum seeks Mother Road items for anniversary exhibition

Maybe you have heard singers croon “Get your kicks on Route 66,” from the iconic travel song composed by Bobby Troup in 1946. Originally, known as the Will Rogers Highway and the Main Street of America, Route 66 was established in November 1926.

In Illinois, there are signs along the famed route beginning downtown Chicago on Adams Street across Michigan Avenue from the Art Institute of Chicago. But this well-traveled road that takes you from Chicago to LA., supposedly started around the south side of the museum.

Now the Illinois State Museum (ISM) which has been chronicling important and interesting Illinois events and places since founded in 1877, is putting together an exhibition on the “Mother Road” to celebrate its 100^th anniversary in 2026.

The museum is seeking collection help to expand what it has related to the Route. What’s needed are both items that bring alive Route 66 history and those that can add to its current story.

According to a State of Illinois press release, the family of Route 66 traveler Bob Waldmire is donating much of his art and personal belongings to the museum. The Waldmire donation includes a roadside display stand for selling postcards and the hood of his 1965 Mustang, hand-painted with a map of Route 66.

The release explained that Waldmire traveled from town to town along Route 66, creating and selling art and postcards in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.

“No one symbolized the freedom and opportunity of the Mother Road better than Bob Waldmire,” said Illinois State Museum Curator of History Erika Holst.

To contribute or learn more visit ISM Route 66 collecting initiative. Also learn about the ISM and its locations in Springfield, Lockport and Dickson Mounds in Lewistown at Illinois State Museum.

Four top ideas for a fun and different holiday gift

Long Grove Confectionery. ( JJacobs photo)

Shopping on-line makes holiday gift-choices COVID safe and fun. Just try to do the shopping now while orders have a good chance to make it to their destinations by Christmas. You also are likely to find some things you would like. Hey, give yourself a gift.

For the traveler or travel wannabe National Geographic has a holiday special – for $39/year that includes immediate digital access, 12 print issues, and a tote bag. Find the details at NationalGeographicHolidayGift.

Find the perfect gift online at a historical or landmark site such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Wisconsin or Taliesin West in Arizona. Both of Wright’s famous homes have books, home décor items, ties, clever socks and jewelry. Visit Shop – Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for Arizona and Shop – Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin (taliesinpreservation.org) for Wisconsin.

Check out the giftshop on-line at a favorite museum such as the Art Institute of Chicago. The shop has great scarves, books, calendars, jewelry and home décor items. Look for gifts at MuseumShopartic.

Share your love of fine foods. Order from a favorite coffee or candy store. A couple of examples are Door County Coffee and Tea which is the go-to place in a Wisconsin vacation spot and Long Grove Confectionery in a historic Chicago suburb.

Visit them at Door County Coffee & Tea Co. and at Long Grove Confectionery Co. and Chicagoland Favorite! Decadent chocolate gifts for business & beyond! – Long Grove Confectionery Co

Art Preserve is short travel trip or part of a larger getaway

New Kohler Art Preserve in Sheboygan, WI. ( J Jacobs photo)

Instead of merely zooming (the old-fashioned sense of the word) in on your fall destination, check out places along the way to stop that you might not get to in a separate trip.

A surprising thing happened as we planned a Door County getaway for October.

Looking at the map ((we use GPS and paper maps) we realized we could break the drive up from Chicago into two destinations with a short stopover in Sheboygan. We know and have been to the American Club in Kohler, but why Sheboygan?

The John Michael Kohler Art Center downtown Sheboygan on New York Avenue has opened an exceptional branch called the Art Preserve over on Lower Falls Road that celebrates intuitive Wisconsin artists. Not only is the building artistic, its contents include large and sometimes full collections from each artist.

P:aintings, jewelry, sculptures and, ceramics are among art collections at the Kohler Art Preserve in Sheboygan, WI. (J Jacobs photo)

I had seen good intuitive exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum so hearing what the Art Preserve would have and that it would open in July I was excited about stopping there on our way to Door County for a fall color trip.

The art work is remarkable!

Fantastical animal sculptures. (J Jacobs photo)

The Art Preserve may seem small on the outside but that is an illusion. The art fills three floors.

Visitors wander around well-placed sculptures and home-made structures that have been taken down and moved there. They then move on to startling paintings on dividers and top notch (I want one) ceramics on tables and in cases. There are also artists’ amazing renderings of animals and people.

Some artists' houses and rooms ar included in the Art Preserve. (A Jacobs photo) — Some artists’ houses and rooms ar included in the Art Preserve. (A Jacobs photo)

To stay within COVID protocols visitors should register their anticipated arrival time before leaving home. Once there, take all the time you want but allow for two hours.

If familiar with the parent museum you probably guessed the bathrooms are tiled with art (yes people go into each).

A good place for lunch is the Café over at the Kohler Art Center where you order at a small counter and the food is brought to your table. My husband and I each had a superb salad.

We spent the day in Sheboygan but it only is about three hours from our destination in Door County so it could have fit into the morning.

However, the Art Preserve is worth a return trip.

The Art P:reserve is at 3636 Lower Falls Road, Sheboygan, WI. find more information at Kohler Art Preserve. The JM Kohler Art Center is at 608 New York Ave., Sheboygan, WI.

Chicago International Film Festival

After cancelling shows and closing theaters due to COVID last year, Chicago has reopened this fall.

The Lyric Opera is back as well as Chicago Shakespeare, Goodman Theatre and Broadway in Chicago. So come enjoy live theater.

But while in town check out the Chicago International Film Festival Oct 13-24.

Begun in 1964 by filmmaker and graphic artist Michael Kutza it promotes diverse subjects and filmmakers.

If in town Oct. 13 try to snag a ticket for the 7 p.m. showing of the French Dispatch or Halloween Kills at 10 p.m., both at the Music Box Theatre.

Or at 7 p.m. go to the Chitown Movies drive-in to see The Velvet Underground. For more film-fest showings visit the presenting organization’s Cinema Chicago – Upcoming Events Calendar and look at the Filmfestt Guide for kickoff ideas.

Wisconsin fall color to peak mid October

Take a fall-color getaway. (J Jacobs photo)

Take a fall color break. Green is a fine summer color but to celebrate the change of season to autumn, drive to northern Wisconsin now or wait a couple of weeks to mid October. That’s when the scenery in southeast Wisconsin blends gold with copper and ruby reds.

But you need to make room or camp reservations now because places such as Door County and even Bay Field further north that are both only beginning to change, are already putting up “sold out” signs. Another popular destination is Eagle River.

The Iron River area Three Lakes show Land O Lakes and Minocqua already have high color

Check Wisconsin Fall Color Report and Travel Wisconsin for updates.

Michigan is bursting with color

Driving in the Traverse City area. (J Jacobs photo)

Don’t wait until you can’t reserve a room or camp site in Michigan. The state’s fall color map is already showing blazing color in the UP and rapidly changing leaves from the middle of the state north.

Here are just a couple of ideas to get you started.

The state, in itself, is a travel destination so you hardly can go wrong no matter where you decide to go but consider where you want to headquarter and when you can go.

The Traverse City area, Leelanau Peninsula and Sleeping Bear Dunes are so popular that you should schedule them for weekdays.

North and slightly east of Traverse City is the beautiful Petoskey -Harbor Springs Boyne area.

Driving along the west coast of Michigan south and slightly west of Traverse City is Frankfort down to Manistee.

Use Michigan’s Destination Finder for more choices

Harvest Moon says fall is here

Full Moon in September is the Harvest Moon. ( J Jacobs photo)

You might not have heard of the Sturgeon Moon in August or the Buck Moon in July but chances are you’ve heard of the Harvest Moon that is appearing overhead now in September.

It’s more than just a popular song.

Harvest Moon is the name some cultures, native tribes and farmers have given to the full moon that usually appears mid to late September because it rises when the sun goes down thus giving famers more light to get the crops in.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the September autumnal equinox. In 2021 that comes Sept. 22 when day and night are about equal in length. (It comes in March in the Southern Hemisphere)

You probably noticed that large golden orb already appearing above the horizon. It will be fullest and brightest Sept. 20, about 6:45 p.m. CDT. but will also appear full the following day.

If listening to TV weather reports, you are likely to hear meteorologists referencing the date as the beginning of autumnal fall but adding that meteorological fall began about 3 weeks before the September equinox on Sept. 1.

Autumnal fall ends at the December Solstice, when astronomical winter begins. but for meteorologists the fall season ends Nov. 30.

Check Time and Date for more more equinox information and go to the Old Farmer’s Almanac for more full moon facts and folklore.

Civilian space travel launches tonight for three day orbit

Inspiration4 crew with their Crew Dragon spacecraft. (Photo credit: Inspiration4)

Watch the first all-civilian space launch and flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida beginning Sept. 15 at Space.com.

Called Inspiration4, the mission is organized by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Isaacman, the mission commander, will be accompanied by three other crewmembers for a three-day flight around the earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission will be using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Lift off is scheduled from Launch Complex 39A at the NASA Space Center during a five-hour window beginning 8:02 p.m. EDT (0002 Sept. 16 GMT). However, the action can be seen at watch launch here and the Space.com homepage starting at 3:45 p.m. EDT (1945 GMT), courtesy of SpaceX. Splashdown is expected to be in the Atlantic Ocean.

Netflix will also stream a live webcast of the launch countdown on YouTube beginning one hour before liftoff, and you can watch that live here.

Also on the mission are geoscientist/science communicator Sian Proctor as pilot, plus physician assistant Hayley Arcenaux as chief medical officer and data engineer Chris Sembroski as a mission specialist.

The mission is expected to pave the way for future private space travel. To see an interview with Issaacman and Arcenaux visit video.

Do a fun visit to a Chicago tourist site

Chicago's Picasso ( J Jacobs photo) — Chicago’s Picasso ( J Jacobs photo)

Local volunteers have been taking visitors and residents through neighborhoods, popular tour sites and lesser known gem locations since 2002.

To celebrate them on the 6th Annual International Greeter Day the city is inviting the public to Explore Chicago Sept 18, 2021 with any of three personalized guided classic tours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT.

The tours: The Loop, Historic Chinatown and Chicago Riverwalk, will meet at Millennium Park at the southwest tent that borders the great lawn. Scavenger hunt experiences will be included at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and at 1:30 p.m. Tours are free and pre-registration is not required. Walk-ups are welcome.

In addition to the International Greeters Day event, Chicago Greeters have launched three new initiatives 2021.

Welcome to Our Neighborhood Walks

Led by diverse groups and organizations, the tours highlight community’s unique stories, top attractions and under-the-radar finds.

Instagreeter Downtown Meet Ups

Designed to offer visitors a quick, flexible tour option, these one-hour tours of Chicago’s downtown Loop neighborhood depart from the Chicago Cultural Center’s Welcome Center on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays with no reservation required.

Self-Guided Greeter Tours

Presented by Bank of America, these self-guided itineraries provide visitors and locals with curated, virtual tours designed by local experts to showcase each neighborhood’s unique history, culture and hidden gems. Through video, blog, and social content, this series spotlights six Chicago neighborhoods.

For more information about the Chicago Greeters program, visit Chicago Greeter.