Arch Rock is the de facto tourist stop on Mackinac Island. Rising 146 feet above the shoreline, the natural limestone arch forms a particularly noteworthy appendage to Mackinac Island's bluffs. It has been a place of myth and legend to local tribes and a popular stop for early tourists. Indeed, the arch was a deciding factor in establishing Mackinac National Park back in 1975.*
We rolled into Duluth for dinner. After a day of rushing to make a bunch of stops before leaving Minnesota, we were ready to relax and enjoy a meal in this historic city along Lake Superior.
There are monarch butterflies in Minnesota. To locals, this is no surprise. But to me, I was impressed. Monarchs can travel up to 3000 miles to their winter grounds in Mexico. These are the only butterflies to travel such great distances. And yet, in the summer, many return to Minnesota, where they were born.
No, we cannot get enough of bears. Sure, we saw a couple back in Glacier, but when we were driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota and saw a sign for Bear Country USA, there was little question what we were doing next.
Wall Drug is the consummate tourist trap. If you have come within 100 miles of this massive commercial compound, you have likely seen one of their signature signs advertising their homemade pie, dinosaurs, coffee, donuts, buffet, and the general need to stop in Wall, South Dakota.
When most mines are shut down, they are sealed up and abandoned. When the second largest gold mine in the world shuts down, it is converted into a cutting edge research facility for studying dark matter.
I had always thought the center of the nation was was Kansas. Yet, there is a contender for the title. In driving through Belle Fourche, South Dakota, we encountered a large sign announcing a monument for the geographic center of the nation. We had to stop.
Along with the Museum of the Rockies 300,000 objects spanning 500,000,000 years of history are examples of earlier nomadic equipment that is not that unlike today's features.
Not to be outdone by its neighbor, Virginia City, Nevada City has its own oddity: a collection of music machines. Player pianos to full blown orchestras are on display and some remain accessible to any loose change that you may wish to pop into their mechanized bellies.
Experience a piece of Montana's gold rush history and the oddities that come with it at Virginia City Historical Museum in Virginia City, Montana.