This week, NFL quarterback Brett Favre created a firestorm by asking to be released from his Packers contract so he could un-retire and play for another team. Now a Wisconsin couple has honored the twists and turns of the quarterback's career with a corn maze thanking him for Packers glory.
Corn mazes are a traditional Midwestern early-fall entertainment created by trimming stalks in a pattern and then allowing children to run around inside until they cry. (We would know!) Carlene and Duane Schultz of the western Wisconsin town of Eleva do a corn maze every year, but they started planning this 5.5-acre masterpiece when Favre announced his retirement in April after taking the Pack as far as the NFC Championship game.
When it opens on September 1 we fully expect to find Ted Thompson inside, muttering about how things could have gone so, so wrong.
The weekend's finally here! By now you should've finalized some sort of holiday action plan, but here's one last Fourth of July suggestion: Independence, Iowa. With just over 6,000 residents at last count, the town is certainly small, but as they say, "Everybody observes the Fourth of July, we celebrate it!"
We've spent the last few days touring around Upstate New York, investigating some of our old favorites and finding new places to add to our Upstate Travel Map. It's been going pretty well!
We hope to bring you more on the region later this summer, but in the meantime, here are some wineries that we've enjoyed on our latest trip. Trust us, you won't mind 100-degree heat when you're sipping on a frosty Finger Lakes Riesling.
We spend our days trying to figure out where and how we can experience the world's greatest cultures. But sometimes a person needs to get away from the crowds, lie beneath the stars and contemplate his or her menial existence. Too bad all the bloody street lamps and headlights make catching the untainted night sky more difficult than snapping a picture of the Olsen twins smiling.
In comes Deerlick Astronomy Village in eastern Georgia. The 96-acre site guarantees its guests the darkness and quiet they need to play Galileo on long weekends away:
"It's like a lake house for geeks," said Chris Hetlage, co-founder of the village, as he tromped through the darkness toward his observatory.
Stargazers have bought the 17 plots on the grounds to build their darkness-friendly cabins. Next to the houses is an observation field where non-residents are invited to camp for free.
Residents are required to keep outdoor lights a dim red--it doesn't affect the eyes the same way as white light--and line windows with foam board or other light-blocking materials to prevent rays from escaping. We're not sure how exactly a housing development combats urban sprawl, but it sounds like it's at least keeping rural Georgia in the dark.
There are more fall festivals happening right now than we know what to do with. And the latest crop is perfect for good, clean all-American fun: Flinging gourds in honor of autumn.
The World Championship Punkin Chunkin contest is the grand-daddy of the events, with pumpkins set to fly thousands of feet on November 2-4. (Yes, thousands of feet--these guys don't play around.) And not to be outdone, Morton, Illinois has revamped its big-time contest, October 20-21.
Not into flying squash? Circleville, Ohio's Great Pumpkin Show--and its famous over-sized pie--may be more your speed.
Nothing says fall like ridiculous harvest festivals in small-town America. This week, we'll be mapping the best.
We've done our share of Oktoberfest coverage, from the original in Munich to the far-from-original in LA. But for the most authentic beer-and-brats celebration this side of the Rhine, you've gotta get to Hermann, Missouri. This little hamlet is more German than sauerkraut, and they show it off every weekend in October.
Nothing says fall like ridiculous harvest festivals in small-town America. This week, we'll be mapping the best.
This one may be a bit spooky to be called a harvest festival, but it's too wild to pass up. Salem, Massachusetts is of course famous for its 17th-century witch trials, lampooned in more modern times by everyone from Arthur Miller to The Simpsons. But in one of history's greatest transformations of lemons to lemonade, Salem is now a town for witches, and its Festival of the Dead is the best time to practice the dark arts in New England
Nothing says fall like ridiculous harvest festivals in small-town America. This week, we'll be mapping the best.
Mountain climbing and the outdoors have always been big in Colorado. Just ask Emma Crawford. Or actually ask the 5,000 citizens of Manitou Springs about it, since Emma died in mysterious circumstances at the turn of the century. After being buried high atop Red Mountain, her grave was destroyed by nature, and she now haunts the town.
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by egw
