Midwest sampler: travel America highlights top tourist attractions in 10 states

Travel America, May-June, 2004 by Roberta Sotonoff

Contact: Nebraska Travel and Tourism Division, (877) NEBRASKA; www.visitnebraska.org.

OHIO

THE BUCKEYE STATE

LEGENDS LIVE IN OHIO. IT IS home to eight presidents, the Football Hall of Franc in Canton, National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. To literally rock and roll in Ohio, try any of the giant roller coasters at Sandusky's Cedar Point, Six Flags Ohio near Cleveland, or Paramount's Kings Island outside of Cincinnati. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a major African-American heritage attraction, opens this August on Cincinnati's Ohio riverfront, just two blocks from the Reds' new Great American Ball Park. A little north is Dayton, home of the Wright Brothers and United States Air Force Museum. In Columbus, the state capital, historic German Village exudes an Old World ambience, and COSI is one of the nation's best hands-on science museums. Horse-drawn buggies, home cooking, and crafts highlight northeast Ohio's Amish country. In northwest Ohio, the Toledo Zoo unveils its new Africa! exhibit, and the Toledo Mud Hens minor league team attracts baseball-loving families. The Hocking Hills region of southeast Ohio boasts nine state parks, luring outdoor enthusiasts with waterfalls, caves, and woodlands.

Contact: Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism, (800) BUCKEYE; www.ohio tourism.com.

WISCONSIN

THE BADGER STATE

THOUGH WISCONSIN HAS A lot more to offer than beer, cheese, and cows, brew is plentiful in Milwaukee's authentic German restaurants like Mader's and Karl Ratzsch's and on Miller Brewery tours. The city has year-round ethnic and music festivals, the Milwaukee County Zoo, and a thriving RiverWalk district. Architectural wonders include the Milwaukee Art Museum's world-renowned Quadracci Pavilion, which flaps its movable wings toward Lake Michigan, and Miller Park, a retractable-roof marvel where the Milwaukee Brewers play baseball. Madison, the state capital, has the Capitol Square farmer's market and the modern Monona Terrace, a community and convention center that architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 50 years ago. Wright's boyhood home, Spring Green, is the site of Taliesin, his primary home and studio; House on the Rock, a blufftop house with a wild assortment of collections from music machines and Oriental art to dolls and suits of armor; and the open-air American Players Theatre, where the words of Shakespeare echo through the wooded hillside. Nearby New Glarus is Switzerland without the Alps. Travel north to Baraboo and visit the big top at Circus World Museum and the International Crane Foundation, which is strictly for the birds. Water parks, miniature golf courses, and other amusements compete with boat cruises along the beautiful sandstone cliffs that flank the Wisconsin River at Wisconsin Dells, a family fun mecca. Miles of rocky shoreline dotted with lighthouses and quaint villages define Wisconsin's eastern "thumb," Door County. Far north on Lake Superior, the charming town of Bayfield is the gateway to the Apostle Islands. The state's scenic Great River Road weaves along the limestone bluffs of the Mississippi, threading historic river towns.