An Overlooked Gem in Upper Midwest
A tiny pocket of Southwest Wisconsin the glaciers left alone is a must-visit
👋🏻 Welcome to the latest issues of The Jaunt—the newsletter that strives to give you the best-curated content about the state of local travel in America.
✅ If you’re new here, check out some of our past issues. We pull a list of our favorite travel articles each week and do monthly deep-dives on travel-related topics that are impacting domestic American travel.
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Here are our favorite articles about where Americans are exploring the best in local travel this week.
👀 An Overlooked Gem In Southwestern Wisconsin | Upper Midwest | Via: Washington Post
In a tiny pocket of land tucked away in Southwestern Wisconsin, conveniently right where the glaciers stopped moving, you’ll find more organic farms per capita than anywhere else in the country. Here, organic farming was a thing before other places like California. Today, it remains virtually a secret to the outside world. Its narrow valleys and towering bluffs are framed by a statutory dividing line of the Mississippi River to the west. Tiny towns are magnets for good food and producers share their bounty willingly with them. The Kickapoo River that snakes through the 24,000 square-mile region is a haven for fly fishers.
💡Local Tip: Head to the Driftless Cafe in Viroqua, a small and lively Driftless town headed by a James Beared-nominated chef. They rely on local producers for their menu which changes nightly.
🚗 How American Motor Lodges Have Gotten A Change | Nationwide | Via: New York Times
Originally, motels and motor lodges were built to accomodate streams of travelers heading on America’s two-lane highways. Now, most of these one and two-story lodges seem to have fallen into bad luck, desrepair, or completely forgotten by travelers seeking airbnbs or boutique spots. It seems a lot of people have wanted motels — be they shabby orchic — this year. “The technical term is exterior-corridor hotels,” explained Patrick Scholes, managing director of lodging equity research for Truist Securities, an investment firm. Exterior-corridor hotels — simply because their walkways and room entrances are open-to-the-air (and not the coronavirus) — “have definitely had an advantage during the pandemic, especially during the heart of it,” Mr. Scholes said. “They have done better across the board. Well, let’s use the phrase ‘less bad.’ They’ve done far less bad.”
🐘 Iconic Seattle Landmark Lovingly Restored | Pacific Northwest | Via: KING5
The Pink Elephant Car Wash sign was glowing in Seattle since it was first installed back in 1956. The legacy came to an end in 2020 when the company announced it would close its Seattle car wash after more than 60 years. Amazon, also once a small local business, stepped in to lead a refurbish effort that will ultimately return the sign to stand near its original location at the corner of Seventh and Blanchard Street.
🛣 Neon Makes A Comeback…On Route 66 | Midwest, Plains | Via: Tulsa World
Tulsa is embracing the neon glow of its Route 66 past. Neon is a big part of America’s most famous highway, explained Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and former chair of the Tulsa Route 66 Commission. “When you think about Route 66, most people think of neon signs, tailfin Cadillacs, milkshakes—that kind of 1950s, 1960s era,” Martin said. Neon signs—moth, flame—attracted Route 66 drivers to hotels, restaurants and businesses. And, now they’re making a big comeback.
👀 Finding Solitude High Above Idaho | Via: Visit Idaho
“There it is once again, that feeling of surrender. Surrender to the unknown. Once again, the unexpected turns of travel await us. I am at the mercy of the road gods.” Sofia Jaramillo and her good friend and talented photographer Elisabeth Brentano recently set out on a road trip they had been planning for months. They were headed somewhere neither had been: fire lookouts in Northern Idaho. Turns out fire lookouts are a savvy way to combine epic hike and overnight destination and they’re increasingly available as fire lookouts are rendered useless by technology.
🍽 The Five Oldest, Enduring Restaurants in Memphis | Via: Commercial Appeal
Five Memphis restaurants have survived the Great Depression, world wars, changing food trends and, most recently, an unprecedented pandemic. Old-school, legendary, historic, timeless - these adjectives could all be used to describe the five oldest restaurants in Memphis. For a century, these restaurants have been a fixture in the Memphis food scene. While each of these posts is a unique original, the common ingredient is that each is a family-owned, small business known not just for its food, but its hospitality.
Our Favorite Find of the Week
We can thank Mike Rowe, the guy who does all the dirty jobs and the voice of some of the longest-running shows on cable television for unearthing a true literary gem in Sean Dietrich. Multiple times a week, Sean tells a story of his travels, his experiences, and his life. These snapshots of times and places he encounters are splendid and enjoyable pieces, but they also make us think and ponder. This one was about a place we’d never known about, what’s considered one of America’s smallest churches—a roadside shrine where people can stop and pray.
Until next time, we’ll see you out on the two-laners!