Geno's Steaks in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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10 Cities Known For Food & Drink In The USA. BY KAITLYN ROSATI PUBLISHED FEB 17, 2023
Some USA cities are drawing in tourism through an easy way to everyone’s hearts: the local food. These cities do it best.
Who doesn’t love a good bite to eat when traveling? It’s part of the experience to try local delicacies. However, some cities and towns in the USA might even draw tourism specifically for their cuisine or beverage. These 10 USA cities are best known for a specific dish or ingredient they produce and are well worth adding to every foodie’s bucket list.
10For Cherries: Head To Traverse City, Michigan
Not only is Traverse City home to where 40-50% of domestic cherries are grown, but this Michigan city is known to be the cherry capital of the world. Traverse City produces 100-120 million pounds of tart cherries each year. While tart cherries can be found here year-round, the best time to visit for peak harvest is in July. Even their airport is named Cherry Capital Airport. While cherries are the main event of Traverse City, this gorgeous town is also well-known for its wineries and picturesque blue waters of scenic Grand Traverse Bay and is notoriously one of the most popular places to visit along the Great Lakes.
9For Margaritas: Head To Dallas, Texas
When one thinks of food and Texas in the same sentence, their mind likely goes to beef, grilled meats, and barbecue. Texas is not only home to some of the country’s best beef, but one city is home to a favorite cocktail: the frozen margarita. That’s right, the origins of the frozen margarita can be traced back to the fun city of Dallas. Dallas has so many great margarita offerings that they, in fact, are well-known for their margarita mile, which comes in handy since national margarita day is right around the corner on February 22nd, 2023. Some notable spots to grab a marg on margarita mile are Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, Jalisco Norte, Jose, and Beto & Son.
Margaritas aren’t the only boozy concoction the Lone Star state is known for. In fact, Texas is the fourth-largest wine-producing state in the United States of America. Who knew? Fredericksburg is one of the state’s primary wine-producing towns, with over 50 wineries there, donning it the epicenter of Texan wine production. Becker Vineyards in Fredericksburg was named Top All Around Winery and earned Top Texas Wine at the 2023 Rodeo Uncorked International Wine Competition, so though visitors can’t go wrong in choosing, they’d be remiss not to include Becker Vineyards.
7For Kumquats: Head To Dade City, Florida
A town known for the quirky fruit kumquat might seem odd, but Dade City, Florida, is so well-known for their kumquats that they hold an annual Kumquat Festival. Dade City is the largest kumquat-producing city in the USA, and anything from kumquat dressing to kumquat marmalade to kumquat body lotion can be found all throughout the city. Move over oranges; there’s a new tiny orange fruit that’s just as worthy in Florida: the sweet yet tart kumquat.
6For Green Chiles: Head To Hatch, New Mexico
Green chiles are popular throughout the entire state of New Mexico, but one small town does them so well that the green chile has adapted its name: Hatch, New Mexico, where hatch green chiles are produced. Known as the “Chile Capital of the World,” Hatch is notorious for growing a wide variety of peppers. The green chile has been deemed the state vegetable of New Mexico and is a common ingredient in some of the state’s most popular dishes. Green chiles are so popular in New Mexico that there is an annual Hatch Chile Festival held each year in, that’s right, Hatch.
5For Pizza: Head To New York City
Some might argue that Chicago makes the best pizza, and some might even argue that New Jersey is where it’s at, but only the true and tried ‘za lovers know where the best slice, pie, and cheesy late-night snack can be found: New York City. New York has all types of cuisines that knock other towns out of the water, many thanks to being the melting pot of the USA, but there’s no arguing that they really do their pizza right. Throughout each borough, pizza shops can be found on every corner, ranging from humble dollar slices to wood-fired sit-down restaurants to modern slices with toppings such as burrata, ‘nduja, and even pasta. It’s difficult to go wrong when grabbing pizza in New York, but for the best spots the city has to offer, check out this list.
While New York might claim the pizza title, Chicago gives the Big Apple a run for its money when it comes to another favorite cult street food: the humble hotdog. Chicago is worthy of visiting for many reasons, but toward the top of that list is to eat a proper Chicago-style hotdog. A Chicago-style hotdog starts with a steamed poppy seed bun and an all-beef frankfurter. It is then topped with yellow mustard, green relish, chopped onions, tomato, a kosher-style pickle spear, and a few spicy sports peppers, all topped with celery salt. Its origins come from the Great Depression in the 1930s, and to this day, it is a favorite in the windy city.
3For Cheesesteaks: Head To Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A simple concoction made to perfection is perhaps the best way to describe the lush delicacy of the Philly Cheesesteak. Thinly sliced beef is typically griddled with onions, piled into a bun, and topped with cheese. While many variations now offer toppings such as fried onions, sautéed peppers, mushrooms, ketchup, and more, the classic Philly way is kept simple. There’s a big rivalry between two popular hotspots: Geno’s and Pat’s. Both spots are worthy, and hungry visitors to Philadelphia should try both to decide which one is superior.
2For Oysters: Head To Seattle, Washington
The state of Washington produces more oysters than anywhere else in the USA. With Seattle being a coastal town, it’s no surprise they do this aphrodisiac delicacy correct. While it’s hard to find a bad oyster in Seattle, some of the best spots to grab these seafood snacks are at The Walrus and the Carpenter, Taylor Shellfish Farms, RockCreek, and White Swan Public House.
1For Potatoes: Head To Blackfoot, Idaho
Idaho potatoes can be found in grocery stores throughout the United States of America, but it goes without saying that they simply taste better when eaten right from the source. Blackfoot, Idaho, is the state’s largest potato-producing town. There’s even a potato museum here, where curious visitors can learn all about the history of one of the most versatile vegetables. Whatever way visitors choose to eat potatoes in Blackfoot, Idaho, they can’t go wrong: from baked to fried to mashed.
Looking for ideas for what to do with those homegrown beefsteaks or the abundance of sungolds you found at the farmers market? From a savory tomato tart to a sweet tomato chutney, make the most of growing season with these summery tomato recipes that perfectly complement your favorite grilled foods.
Creamy and bursting with flavor, these goat cheese-stuffed tomatoes are juicy and filled to the brim with velvety tangy cheese and the best crunchy breadcrumb topping.
This incredibly simple tomato sauce is Chicago chef Tony Mantuano’s secret weapon in the summer. He marinates peak season tomatoes with olive oil, basil and shallots before spooning the over grilled fish or piling it on grilled bread.
This basic onion tomato chutney is frugal, fresh, and packed with sweet, spicy (optional), tangy flavor with only 7 ingredients and in under an hour. Perfect for serving with snacks, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, and more.
A great road trip is hard to beat. Exploring by car allows you to immerse yourself in the journey rather than hurrying to get to a specific destination. Road trips in the United States are so popular that an estimated 50 million Americans embarked on one in 2019, according to a AAA Travel survey. From cityscapes to untouched wilderness, you can see it all in the country with boundless diverse landscapes. Take a look at the best road trip in each state for some extra travel inspiration.
Alabama – The Gulf Coast
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Take in Alabama’s beautiful white sand beaches on a road trip along the Gulf Coast. Cruise along Alabama State Routes 180 and 182 — which link the state’s borders with Mississippi and Florida. If you need a place to stop and dip your toes in the water, both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are home to plenty of hotels and restaurants, not to mention sandy spots to lay a towel. Make sure you grab lunch at The Hangout, a beachfront seafood restaurant with live music and epic views. Extend your trip by heading north through Mobile, Alabama’s port city, to Montgomery, the state capital.
Road Trip Highlights: Although the entire drive is scenic, stop at Gulf State Park for biking, paddle boarding, and kayaking. Here you’ll find the Gulf State Fishing and Education Pier, the largest on the Gulf of Mexico.
Alaska – Seward Highway
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If you’re looking for a road trip with breathtaking views around every curve, you’ve found it. The stunning Seward Highway starts in Anchorage, which lies just south of the coastal town of Seward, and is an adventurous journey you can’t miss. Pass the dramatic shores of Turnagain Arm, a waterway in the northwestern Gulf of Alaska, before reaching the dramatic Chugach Mountains. Once in Seward, you’ll have the chance to admire Resurrection Bay, a favorite among photographers, and the Kenai Mountains.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop at the Kenai Peninsula, home to Kenai Fjords National Park. The Exit Glacier in Kenai can be reached by road and offers hiking trails with gorgeous overlooks.
Arizona – Monument Valley Scenic Road
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No trip to Arizona is complete without witnessing the iconic red rock formations of the American West. Monument Valley Scenic Road is the nickname for Highway 163 that runs for 27.7 miles through the tall, staggering sandstone structures of northern Arizona. The alien terrain is eerily empty, and this scenic drive is sure to take you on a journey unlike any other.
Road Trip Highlights: Add an additional 17 miles to your trip when you stop at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park to learn about the Navajo people and discover famous red clay buttes. The loop drive features two hiking trails and 11 lookout points. Also be sure to visit Alhambra, a volcanic core on the side of the road and the village of Mexican Hat to see the sombrero-shaped rock formation. Both make for perfect photos.
Arkansas – Hot Springs National Park to the Ozark National Forest
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Start your road trip in the Ouachita Mountains in Hot Springs. Stroll around the historic downtown area and wander through Hot Springs National Park. When you’re done soaking in the natural springs, dry off and hop back in the car to head northwest. There are two different routes you can take. Outdoor enthusiasts should head towards the mountains of Ouachita National Forest to take a hike or even camp for the night. City lovers, on the other hand, should take the route through Little Rock, the state capital that sits on the Arkansas River. Continue north before ending your trip in the Ozark National Forest — an area that spans 1.2 million acres.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop at Mount Magazine to see the best of natural Arkansas. Take the scenic drive to the peak, where a charming stone overlook will greet you.
California – Pacific Coast Highway
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Take the ultimate California road trip and travel the entirety of State Highway 1 — more famously known as the Pacific Coast Highway. Start at the northern border of California near Oregon in Crescent City. Travel south until you reach Redwood National Park where you should stop to take in the unique scenery. Multiple beach towns and both national and state parks litter this route, and you could spend weeks or months exploring every coastal corner. Keep going and you’ll pass through such cities as Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Los Angeles, and San Diego just to name a few.
Road Trip Highlights: While there are many iconic stops along this route, be sure tostop in Monterey, a quintessential Californian beach community located about 100 miles south of San Fransisco. Here you’ll find attractions like Cyprus Point Lookout, Pebble Beach, and the charming town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Colorado – Million Dollar Highway
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Winding through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Million Dollar Highway is a journey through time and nature. Drive through mountain passes and old mining towns as you journey from Ouray to Silverton. The terrain is challenging, but the views are worth a million bucks — hence the road’s name. Many people drive the Million Dollar Highway to earn bragging rights, but exploring the mountain towns of Ouray and Silverton are worth the trip alone too. Located in a box canyon, Ouray is a charming town with a historic street and nearby ice-climbing park. Meanwhile, Silverton is a little sleepier with charming restaurants and antique shops.
Road Trip Highlights: Rest your weary body in geothermal heated mineral pools at Ouray Hot Springs outside of Ouray.
Connecticut – Historic Coastal Drive via U.S. Rte. 1
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First established in the 1630s by the Dutch, this coastal region of Connecticut features plenty of unique historic sites for travelers. Take U.S. Route 1 starting in Greenwich, a classic New England town by the sea. Pass sailboats bobbing in the ocean and lighthouses dotting the coast, until you reach New Haven. There, tour the historic grounds of Yale University, visit a museum, or picnic in one of the many expansive parks. Head up the coast until you reach the Rhode Island border, stopping at the small coastal communities along the way.
Road Trip Highlights: Don’t miss your chance to tour the hallowed grounds of Yale, the third-oldest college in the country and one of only nine colonial colleges that were chartered before the American Revolution.
Delaware – Brandywine Valley Backroads
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Discover the charming countryside of the Brandywine Valley in northern Delaware on the border of southeastern Pennsylvania. Boasting sprawling estates and beautiful gardens, this area was once home to some of the wealthiest families in America and earned the nickname “Chateau Country” due to heavy European architectural influences. The easiest way to explore Brandywine is by taking Routes 100 and 52, which loop through the quiet countryside. Enjoy a slice of American history as you pass through the wildflower-lined roads and proud estates.
Road Trip Highlights: Visit Nemours Mansion and Gardens, a 300-acre classical French estate that will transport you to Europe in an instant.
Florida – Emerald Coast Drive via 30A
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Although Florida has seemingly unlimited road trip opportunities, get off the beaten path and head to the panhandle of the Gulf Coast for a relaxing tour of the Emerald Coast. Named for its shimmering turquoise waters, this coastal region is dotted with small beach towns that will tempt you to pull over mile after mile. Start at Fort Walton Beach and drive across Okaloosa Island on State Road 30A. Observe parasailers, kayakers, and boaters enjoying the sun as you drive over this narrow strip of sand — or maybe park the car and join them on a watery adventure.
Road Trip Highlights:Stop at Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach — exclusive resort towns with delicious restaurants and beautiful homes. Once there, leave the car parked and rent a bike to explore instead.
Georgia – Atlanta to Helen via I-85
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If Georgia is on your mind, head down this rural road trip through the mountains to explore the state’s completely underrated interior landscape. Start in Atlanta and head northeast up I-85 towards the small town of Helen. Along the way, pull over at Lake Lanier, one of the best-kept secrets in northern Georgia which features resorts, live music, bars, and boating. Continue north through the mountains and visit quaint mountain towns before stopping to rent a cabin for the night. Enjoy your morning coffee with views of fog rolling over the rugged landscape as you consider moving here permanently.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop in Helen for a night or two. Known for its Bavarian-style buildings, river tubing, and epic hiking trails through the Chattahoochee National Forest, this town has something for everyone.
Hawaii – Road to Hana
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If you’re looking for adventure in Hawaii then take a drive on the famous Hana Highway around the island of Maui. Start in the town of Kahului and continue east through Pā’ia, stopping at Ho’okipa Beach to catch a glimpse of native sea turtles. Carefully continue along winding roads that hug cliffs and dangle over the sea. This trip isn’t for the faint of heart due to sharp turns and one-way bridges, so make sure you stay alert. Protected forests and state parks will greet you towards the end of your drive. Wai’ānapanapa State Park is a great place to wrap up your trip. With black lava sand and tidal caves to explore, this quintessential Hawaiian beach doesn’t disappoint.
Road Trip Highlights: Make roadside stops for waterfalls like Twin Falls, an easily accessible, secluded area about 20 minutes from Pā’ia.
Idaho – Boise to Idaho Falls via I-84
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See the diverse landscape of Idaho with this road trip through the southern end of the state. Start in the capital, Boise, continuing east on I-84. Leave the jagged mountains and downtown skyline behind you as you head towards the famous Shoshone Falls Park near Twin Falls. Known as the “Niagara of the West,” these falls are breathtaking and measure 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls. Then wrap up your trip in Idaho Falls, which is located on the Snake River.
Road Trip Highlights: Take a short detour north to visit Craters of the Moon National Park. This unique park is known for its vast, dormant lava fields and exciting hiking trails through caves.
Illinois – Historic Route 66
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See the very best of historic small town U.S.A. on this relaxed road trip through the Midwest. The famous Route 66, also known as the “Main Street of America,” begins in Chicago and ends at the Santa Monica Pier in California. The first chunk of the route stays in Illinois, passing charming small towns with antique shops, landmarks, and historic diners. Begin in Chicago on Lake Michigan and work your way south through Springfield, the hometown of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
Road Trip Highlights:Stop in Litchfield to visit the last operating drive-in theater on the Illinois stretch of Route 66. Step back in time and enjoy a movie at Sky View Drive-In Theater for just $5 per person.
Indiana – Fort Wayne to Evansville via I-69
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Enjoy traditional midwestern towns as you travel through Indiana from Fort Wayne to Evansville via I-69. Break up charming countryside views with Indianapolis, the largest city in the state. Check out a museum or tour the striking state capitol building. When you hit the road again, take a detour west towards Parke County and Cloverdale, which is known for its scenic covered bridges and historic farms. Continue down the interstate and end in Bloomington, a charming town in southwestern Indiana and home to Indiana University.
Road Trip Highlights: Take this drive during the fall to enjoy colorful foliage and festivals at local farms. The covered bridges and rustic barns in Parke County set the perfect backdrop for an autumn day.
Iowa – Great River Road
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Take a scenic drive on the Great River Road along the eastern border of Iowa to see the countryside from north to south. Enjoy panoramic views of the Mississippi River along your route, pulling over at protected parks and marshes along the way. For accommodations, be sure to stay in one of the many quaint bed and breakfasts. Along the Great River Road, stop at the Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, and the George M. Verity Riverboat Museum in Keokuk.
Road Trip Highlights: Stretch your legs at Pine Creek Grist Mill in Wildcat Den State Park. Take a relaxing stroll past waterfalls through the forest or try a hiking trail along the canyons and cliffs.
Kansas – Prairie Trail Scenic Byway
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Travel along I-70, the main stretch of highway that cuts directly through Kansas from west to east, which is also known as the Prairie Trail Scenic Byway. This trip will dispel any notions of Kansas being flat and boring, and introduce you to all the spectacular scenery the state has to offer. One of the first stops through this boundless landscape is Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark. Here you’ll find unique chalk formations where 80-million-year-old fossils have been uncovered. Further east along I-70 is Mushroom Rock State Park, which is aptly named for its oddly-shaped sandstone formations.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop in Canton to take a tour of the 2,800-acre Maxwell Wildlife Refuge to view local elk, bison, birds, and native plants. The tram ride through the prairie gives guests a true taste of wild Kansas.
Kentucky – Bourbon Trail
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Take the ultimate Kentucky Bourbon Trail road trip to see the most notable distilleries in the bluegrass region. Even if you aren’t a whiskey drinker, this route also features some of the best attractions of Kentucky. Start in Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city, and home of the Kentucky Derby. Visit favorite distilleries like Angel’s Envy and Rabbit Hole, while sampling and learning the history of the trade. Continue southwest to Owensboro, a small city on the Indiana state border. Just remember, if you plan on sampling the alcohol, designate a sober driver or plan on staying the night in a nearby inn or hotel.
Road Trip Highlights: Take a tour through one of the best-selling bourbon brands in the world at Jim Beam American Stillhouse in Clermont. With a recipe dating back to the 1800s, you’ll learn the history of this successful company and sample some of their best products.
Louisiana – New Orleans to Lake Charles via I-10
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Louisiana is a melting pot of French, African, and American influences due to its creole and cajun cuisine and culture. See this in action with a scenic drive along I-10 from New Orleans to Lake Charles. Spend some time in New Orleans to start your trip with stops at Audubon Park and along Magazine Street. Continue to Lafeyette, the heart of cajun country, for some unforgettable food and local characters. At your final destination, you’ll find Lake Charles to be a lively city home to festivals, casinos, and rhythm and blues music.
Road Trip Highlights: Although each Louisiana city is enchanting, the landscapes are just as scenic. Be sure to stop along the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest marsh and bayou system in the country.
Maine – Bold Coast Scenic Byway
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Traverse Maine’s Bold Coast Scenic Byway, a 125-mile route near the border of New Brunswick, Canada. From Milbridge, watch the rugged coastal cliffs pass by as you visit active fishing harbors and historic towns. Parts of the highway stretch inland, where you’ll experience farmland, blueberry fields, marshes, and lakes. Continue northeast until you reach Lubec, the easternmost point in the United States.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop in the charming town of Machias for delicious blueberries and a history lesson. Not only is this town known for its Wild Blueberry Festival every August, but it was also the location of the first naval battle of the American Revolution.
Maryland – Blue Crab Scenic Byway
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In an area known as “Tidewater Maryland,” you’ll find a remarkable amount of rivers, wetlands, marshes, coves, and beaches and the best way to discover them is by taking the Blue Crab Scenic Byway. Located between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, this 210-mile journey links quaint, coastal villages such as Salisbury and Princess Anne for an imperfect loop. Don’t forget to try fresh-caught crab along the way.
Road Trip Highlights:See the 200-year-old neoclassical Teackle Mansion in Princess Anne and be sure to stop in Crisfield, a town famous for the Crab Derby.
Massachusetts – Essex Coastal Scenic Byway
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Drive along the rocky New England coastline to explore Cape Ann and the charming fishing villages along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway. Travel from Newburyport to Rockport, where you can explore art galleries, amazing seafood restaurants, and charming shops near the harbor in Rockport Cultural District. Then head south to Salem, taking in the seaside views and lighthouses dotted along the coast. It’s the perfect refreshing road trip for when you need to relax and clear your head.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop in Gloucester for a whale-watching tour to catch sight of humpback and blue whales.
Michigan – Lake Michigan via State Route 31
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Appreciate the wonder of Lake Michigan, the third largest of the five Great Lakes, from the coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Starting in Grand Rapids, take Route 31 for 175 miles towards Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where you can see massive sand dunes tower 450 feet above the waters of Lake Michigan. Expansive lake views dominate this trip as you travel north to the Straits of Mackinac — the scenic waterway between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. On the other side of the famed Mackinac bridge are protected parks with abundant hiking, camping, and fishing.
Road Trip Highlights: If you have time, take the ferry to Mackinac Island to experience a picturesque island town completely free of cars and chain businesses.
Minnesota – Minneapolis to the Canadian Border
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After enjoying the cultural landmarks of Minneapolis, hop in the car and head north towards Duluth. The latter half of this journey hugs the coast of Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. Littered with state forests and parks, mountains, and lodges, this quiet drive up holds something new around every turn. Grand Portage is the last U.S. city you’ll reach before the Canadian border.
Road Trip Highlights: Visit Split Rock Lighthouse, precariously perched on a rocky cliff. Take a tour of the historic landmark, dating back to the 1920s, or stay overnight in a cabin overlooking the lake at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
Mississippi – Jackson to Gulf Coast
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Spend some time in Mississippi as you traverse from capital city Jackson all the way to the Gulf Coast beaches. Highlights of Jackson include the Mississippi Freedom Trail, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, and LeFleur’s Bluff State Park. Head south through the rural countryside and marshes, stopping along at small towns to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and to try some delicious Southern dishes. Cruise Route 49 until Gulfport, then head over to the resort city of Biloxi on the Mississippi Sound for a little post-road-trip R&R.
Road Trip Highlights: Sometimes called the “Las Vegas of the Gulf Coast,” Biloxi is worth a visit. There, you’ll find nine casinos, along with lots of restaurants and nightlife. Additionally, Biloxi features pristine white sand beaches.
Missouri – Big City Tour
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See what makes Missouri great by visiting its three largest cities — Kansas City, Springfield, and St. Louis — all in one trip. Start in Kansas City in western Missouri, which is known for its barbecue, jazz, and beautiful downtown fountains. Springfield, Missouri’s third-largest city, is less than 200 miles south of Kansas City and is a great place to visit museums and city parks. Continue northeast for 200 miles to St. Louis, home to the iconic Gateway Arch on the Mississippi River. Breweries, art museums, blues music, delicious food, and botanical gardens are just a few things to enjoy during your stay.
Road Trip Highlights: Many know of the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but few know of its detailed history. After taking pictures at the arch, stop at the Gateway Arch National Park Museum to gain a better understanding of what this arch means to St. Louis.
Montana – The Road to Big Sky Country
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Enjoy the wide-open spaces of Montana and learn why the state is known as “Big Sky Country.” Start in Billings, a town full of western heritage on the Yellowstone River. Travel west on I-90, through winding roads as you transition from the Great Plains to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Once you reach Missoula, take the scenic road and travel north up Route 93 — passing through the Flathead Indian Reservation. Continuing on, you’ll find Kootenai National Forest to your west and Glacier National Park to your east. Both feature fantastic trails, campsites, and sweeping views.
Road Trip Highlights:Glacier National Park is must-see terrain on the Canadian border in Montana. Enjoy historic chalets and untouched wilderness, then travel along the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road for even more photo opportunities.
Nebraska – Oregon Trail Route
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You’ll feel as if you’ve stepped back in time when exploring the Oregon National Historic Trail. Though the route passes through six states, its Nebraska leg is one of the most iconic and features several protected historic locations including California Hill and Fort Kearny State Historical Park. Explore landmarks that travelers used as they crossed the country like the Courthouse and Jail Rocks — massive clay and sandstone rock formations that jut out from the countryside. Enjoy a sunset over these unique sandstone rock formations as you make your way through the state.
Road Trip Highlights:Scotts Bluff National Monument is a must-see landmark on this road trip. This 3,000-acre park is home to remnants of the historic trail and picturesque rock formations.
Nevada – Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe
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Kick off your Nevadan road trip in Las Vegas with all the classics: shows, casinos, world-class resorts, and so much more. Then, leave Sin City behind to travel northwest along Route 95 for about 430 miles through vast desert landscapes. Pull over to stretch your legs and enjoy roadside attractions like the International Car Forest in the tiny ghost town of Goldfield. You’ll eventually reach Carson City, the gateway city to the Nevadan side of Lake Tahoe. Here you’ll end your journey in style, by relaxing along the beach or heading to one of the many area ski resorts.
Road Trip Highlights: Consider stopping at Incline Village and Crystal Bay at the northern end of Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side. Visitors love this spot because of its never-ending list of activities including water and snow sports, shopping, casinos, and restaurants.
New Hampshire – From Canada to the Atlantic
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You can travel the entirety of New Hampshire from north to south in as little as three hours making this a quick yet enjoyable road trip. Start in Pittsburg near the Canadian border and travel south to the shores of Hampton Beach. On your way down Route 3, stop at state parks to get some fresh air and enjoy the state’s forested peaks. You’ll also pass through Concord, the state capital, and quaint mountain towns on your way to the rocky shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
Road Trip Highlights: Visit White Mountain National Forest and drive along the Kancamagus Scenic Highway, a 35-mile stretch featuring classic New England views. Fall is especially beautiful when foliage decorates the landscape in fiery hues.
New Jersey – Atlantic City to Cape May
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A traditional Jersey Shore road trip can be just the ticket for some summertime fun. Start in resort-filled Atlantic City for gambling and nightlife before traveling south to iconic Ocean City, the location that most locals call the true Jersey Shore. Further south you’ll find Sea Isle City and Cape May — both are idyllic seaside retreats. Dip your toes in the water, grab some ice cream, and soak up a little sunshine.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop at the Ocean City Boardwalk for some family-friendly fun. Go for a ferris wheel ride at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier or walk to Playland’s Castaway Cove for more amusement rides.
New Mexico – Santa Fe to White Sands National Monument
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Plenty of adventures are to be had in this southwestern state, and you can travel along I-25 from Santa Fe in the north to White Sands National Monument in the south to hit all of the essential New Mexican stops. Along the way, admire outstanding Pueblo-style architecture, devour some excellent Mexican food, and marvel at the state’s stunning natural landscapes. Spend some time in Old Town Albuquerque, which was founded back in 1706 as a Spanish colony. Continue south through Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge or Gila National Forest to see New Mexico’s diverse natural terrain, ranging from deserts and prairies to forested mountains and waterfalls.
Road Trip Highlights: White Sands National Monument in the Chihuahuan Desert offers unparalleled beauty in southern New Mexico. The dramatic views of the expansive white gypsum dunes are unforgettable.
New York – Finger Lakes Tour
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The Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York is home to some of the finest lake views in the northeastern United States. This family-friendly region has something for everyone, from amusement parks to winery tours. Cruise along the winding roads from Rochester to Syracuse, bypassing the 11 lakes that make up the area. Each lake has its own unique set of attractions, such as the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail or the Canandaigua Lake Boat Cruise.
Road Trip Highlights:Visit Letchworth State Park for its whitewater rafting and hot air balloon rides.
North Carolina – Blue Ridge Parkway
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Immerse yourself in Appalachian beauty as you wind through North Carolina along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although the entire journey is 469 miles and stretches through neighboring states in the region, the North Carolina leg is especially stunning. This leisurely mountain road is dotted with endless vistas and overlooks that make it one of the best ways to experience what some call “America’s Favorite Drive.”
Road Trip Highlights:Along the parkway, you’ll get to discover some of the world’s oldest mountains including Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the eastern United States. The Linville Gorge is also located along the Blue Ridge Parkway and is the deepest gorge east of the Grand Canyon.
North Dakota – Fargo to Theodore Roosevelt National Park
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Take an authentic American road trip through North Dakota — a western state that boasts eclectic roadside attractions and a serene national park at the edge of the Badlands. Start in Fargo and take I-94 directly through the center of North Dakota, before stopping in the capital city of Bismarck. Continue until you reach Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the western border of the state. Throughout your journey, you’ll find unique roadside attractions such as the National Buffalo Museum and the Frontier Village.
Road Trip Highlights: Visit the charming town of Medora, just off of I-94, before entering Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Home to a variety of wildlife to encounter, take the Scenic Loop Drive for easy access to overlooks and trails.
Ohio – Ohio Waterfalls Route
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Ohio is full of stunning waterfalls just waiting to be discovered by road trippers. Embark on a journey to chase waterfalls across the state, from Columbus to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Spot urban waterfalls that are an easy walk and stunning natural springs that require a more extensive hike. Map out your own journey to check waterfalls off you list, or follow this pre-mapped route which takes around 10 hours.
Road Trip Highlights: The 65-foot Brandywine Falls are perhaps the most famous of Ohio’s waterfalls, and can be found in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio’s only national park.
Oklahoma – Talimena National Scenic Byway
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Winding 54 miles along Rich Mountain and Winding Stair Mountain in Ouachita National Forest, the Talimena National Scenic Byway is home to stunning valleys and historic towns worthy of your time and attention. Though Oklahoma is considered a relatively flat state, you’ll find rolling hills and scenic overlooks along this route.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop in Broken Bow and visit nearby Beavers Bend State Park for canoeing, bird-watching, camping, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities.
Oregon – Historic Columbia River Highway
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Adventurous travelers in search of the towering trees that make the Pacific Northwest famous should make their way to Oregon. Start 13 miles east of Portland on I-84 to travel along the Historic Columbia River Highway. This 70-mile highway runs through the Columbia River Gorge, home to the famous Multnomah Falls. The lush, green fir trees and ferns stretch on and on, and while you can see everything from inside the car you’ll want to pull over to breath in that tranquil air for yourself.
Road Trip Highlights:Wahkeena Falls, located just 30 miles east of Portland, is well worth the stop. This 242-foot waterfall is surrounded by hiking trails that extend from the overlook parking lot to Lemmons Viewpoint for a 1.4-mile hike.
Pennsylvania – The Big Four
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While Pennsylvania is often overlooked, it’s home to some fantastic major cities. Visit the four largest cities in the state — starting in the southeastern corner in Philadelphia. An icon of American history, Philadelphia is home to the Liberty Bell, Philadelphia City Hall, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, which includes the famous “Rocky Steps.” The state capital of Harrisburg is 100 miles west. Stop at the National Civil War Museum, or for chocolate lovers, Hershey Park. Head further west until you reach Pittsburgh, the city of bridges. Boasting nearly 450 bridges, this city is home to lively arts, culture, and food scenes. End your trip by heading north of Pittsburgh to Erie, the fourth largest city in the state. Here, you can enjoy the best sunset you’ve ever seen on the shores of Lake Erie.
Road Trip Highlights:Visit Presque Isle State Park in Erie for coastal fun at Pennsylvania’s only “seashore.” This 3,200-acre protected peninsula is home to a high concentration of the state’s endangered, threatened, and rare species — making it a perfect spot for nature lovers.
Rhode Island – Providence to Newport Mansions Loop
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Known for its colonial-era towns and Atlantic beaches, Rhode Island is the perfect place for a seaside road trip. From Providence, the historic capital city, take a drive south and stop in coastal communities along the way. Enjoy a peaceful lunch along the beach as sailboats dot the shimmering waters. Soon you’ll reach Newport, which is home to impressive mansions from the Gilded Age. Your journey south will end at Narragansett Bay by the Castle Hill Lighthouse — a granite lighthouse built in the late 1800s.
Road Trip Highlights:Spend some time in Newport exploring stunning mansions from the Gilded Age. As a summer home for the Vanderbilt family, this estate is worth stopping for a tour. Cruise along Bellevue Avenue to see the rest of the mansions in all their glory.
South Carolina – Charleston to Hilton Head
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Slow down to take in the sights with a Lowcountry drive along the South Carolinian coast. The region, known for its strong cultural and historical roots, boasts Spanish moss-laden oak trees, exceptional cuisine, and Southern charm to boot. Significant stops on this route include Charleston, the port city with cobblestone streets, and Beaufort, known for its antebellum missions and historic district. Hilton Head Island is often considered the southern cut-off point in the Lowcountry region, so make sure you head in that direction to get the full experience. Enjoy some time at the quiet, expansive beaches in the area, while taking in the cool breeze and sweet smell of seagrass.
Road Trip Highlights: Take a detour 30 minutes north of downtown Charleston to see Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, the most visited plantation in the state.
South Dakota – Highlights of I-90
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Take the nearly 400-mile stretch of I-90 through the entirety of southern South Dakota to enjoy the diversity of this underrated state’s landscape. Begin in Deadwood, a classic Wild West city with Gold Rush roots. Rapid City is only a short drive east and is known as the gateway to Mount Rushmore, which lies just 20 miles south. Drive straight through Badlands National Park, admiring more than 244,000 acres of craggy terrain and prairies. Sioux Falls will greet you in the east, where you can end the trip observing the Big Sioux River tumble over the rocks in Falls Park.
Road Trip Highlights:Go back in time and experience the Wild West of the 1800s in the historic town of Deadwood. Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, this quirky stop boasts gold mine tours, a dinner theater, a casino, and traditional old west saloons.
Tennessee – Nashville to Gatlinburg
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The bright lights and music of Nashville will send you off on your Tennessee journey in style. After the nightlife and excitement of the big city, slow down with a relaxing retreat to the mountains. From Nashville, head east on I-40 towards Gatlinburg near Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We recommend renting a cabin in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, the home of Dollywood.
Road Trip Highlights: Before leaving Nashville, stop at The Gulch, a neighborhood between historic Music Row and downtown Nashville. Visit Two Old Hippies for shopping and live music, then head to the rooftop bar at L.A. Jackson for stunning city skyline views.
Texas – Willow City Loop
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Although it’s short, the historic, 13-mile scenic drive through Texas Hill Country is the best place to spot Texan wildflowers such as bluebonnets, yellow and white daisies, Mexican poppies, sunflowers, and Indian paintbrush. The narrow road is only two lanes and runs from just outside Fredericksburg toward Llano.
Road Trip Highlights: Stopping to smell the flowers is worth taking the drive, but the charming German town of Fredericksburg is also a great place to pass the time. Despite its proximity to big cities like Austin and San Antonio, Fredericksburg has small town charm. Home to more than 40 wineries and tasting rooms, antique stores, and charming restaurants, this small Texan town is a must-see highlight.
Utah – Moab to Kanab
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Want to see as many national parks as possible on one giant road trip? Utah might seem a little intimidating if you’re unfamiliar with the desert terrain, but the trip from Moab in the east to Kanab in the south will make sure you don’t miss out on those spectacular landscapes you’ve yet to explore. Red-rock formations galore and riveting red sunsets make this road trip one to remember for the rest of your life. Along the way, make plans to stop in Arches National Park, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Road Trip Highlights: If you find yourself a little dry driving through the arid Utah desert, stop off in Lake Powell. This reservoir on the Colorado River straddles the border between Utah and Arizona, and features plenty of opportunities for boating and jetskiing.
Vermont – Burlington Loop
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Vermont is home to some of the best road trip views in the country. Take a loop through northern Vermont to stop at two of the most populated cities in the state, Burlington and Montpelier. Start in Burlington, a vibrant city on the shores of Lake Champlain, known for its Church Street Marketplace and freshwater beaches. The small town of Vergennes is a short drive south, where you’ll find Button Bay State Park. Heading east towards Montpelier on Route 17, enjoy a 50-mile stretch of charming countryside. The city of Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the country and is home to just under 8,000 people. Take back roads on your return trip to Burlington and stop at Camel’s Hump State Park, the third tallest mountain peak in Vermont.
Road Trip Highlights: Head to the town of Waterbury for a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory. Then, take a detour 10 minutes north to visit Cold Hollow Cider Mill, a charming spot with a bakery known for cider donuts.
Virginia – Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail
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Fun fact: Virginia comes in at number five on the list of the states with the most wineries. Couple this with the scenic Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the state, and you’re in for a picturesque Wine Trail road trip. Enjoy the art of winemaking — a craft that has been around since the colonial era in Virginia. Barboursville Vineyards and Linden Vineyards are two premiere wineries to add to your list of stops. Some wineries are modern while some are more rustic, and many even have lodging, so that you don’t need to worry about finding a safe ride home (you can find the full list of wineries in the region here). Enjoy sunsets over the rolling hills and vineyards as you make your way through the countryside.
Road Trip Highlights:Veritas Vineyard and Winery should be at the top of your list for must-see stops during this tour. They take pride in their “European heritage meets Southern charm” atmosphere, while offering casual and fine dining options as well as charming accommodations at The Farmhouse.
Washington – Puget Sound on I-5
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Full of must-see locations, this route should be your first choice if you’ve never been on a road trip through Washington state. Take a journey along the shores of the Puget Sound on I-5 from Washington’s southern border near Portland, Oregon all the way north to Bellingham, near Vancouver, Canada. Along the way, you’ll stop in must-see cities such as Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle. Take a detour further west to Whidbey Island, a rugged island on the Sound. For outdoor enthusiasts, Olympic National Park is also right next door.
Road Trip Highlights: Make a stop at Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands — both accessible by car via bridge or ferry. Travel across the iconic Deception Pass Bridge that connects the islands while enjoying the misty canyon views.
West Virginia – Wild, Wonderful Loop From Morgantown
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Home to exciting caverns, picturesque mountains, and rolling valleys, this scenic loop drive will show you the very best that West Virginia has to offer. Trek through the Appalachian Mountains on your drive through West Virginia starting in Morgantown — home of West Virginia University. Continue southeast towards the Monongahela National Forest, a 900,000-acre forested region known for its camping and skiing. Continue your journey west towards Charleston, the capital city of West Virginia with its stunning, gold-domed capitol building. Head northeast up I-79 to complete your loop to Morgantown.
Road Trip Highlights:In Lewisburg, take a detour to the Lost World Caverns, where you can descend 120 feet into the caves.
Wisconsin – Milwaukee to Madison
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A fall foliage road trip through southern Wisconsin might not be an obvious choice — New England usually gets all the attention — but you’ll be amazed at the beauty of the backroads in this midwestern state. Take a relaxed drive between the two largest cities in Wisconsin, with small-town stops along the way. Start in Milwaukee on the western shore of Lake Michigan, known for its breweries and Milwaukee Riverwalk District. Head southwest on rural back roads to Lake Geneva before heading northwest towards the capital city of Madison. Stretch your legs on the scenic Capital City State Trail along Lake Monona.
Road Trip Highlights: Stop at Lake Geneva where you’ll find Big Foot Beach State Park, Yerkes Observatory, Black Pointe Estate and Gardens, and Fontana-on-Geneva-Lake, a charming lakeside village.
Wyoming – Beartooth Highway
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Wyoming is home to some of the most beautiful wild terrain in the country. Witness this stunning state in all its natural glory by driving Beartooth Highway. This 68-mile journey begins in southwest Montana, but travels through northwest Wyoming to the Northeast Entrance at Yellowstone National Park. Top attractions at this famous park include Mammoth Hot Springs, Steamboat Geyser, Old Faithful, and the Grand Canyon.
Road Trip Highlights:This road trip is the perfect opportunity to enjoy swimming in natural hot springs in the region. Yellowstone National Park has a few areas where you can soak in the springs, including Boiling River, Firehole River, Madison River, and the West Thumb Area. The John D. Rockefeller Parkway Hot Springs are also located just two miles south of Yellowstone.
Graham Cracker Pudding. When we go to certain Amish or Mennonite restaurants, I cannot resist the Graham Cracker Pudding. Below is a great Recipe I found.
Graham Cracker Pudding takes me back to my childhood when picnics and church potluck dinners had every imaginable dessert – including this dish – from which to choose.
Dave and I had only one prenuptial agreement, and that was about graham crackers. You see, I grew up on Honey Maid graham crackers, and it’s the only brand I eat – if I can help it.
A few months before we were married, we were in a grocery store. I picked up a box of these graham crackers. I told him that if I ever sent him to the store to pick up graham crackers, there was only one kind I expected him to come home with – Honey Maid. He has never let me down.
[No, the company isn’t paying me anything for this blurb.]
I suppose you could say I’m partial to graham crackers over vanilla wafers. I’m partial to this graham cracker dish over banana pudding. That’s because I grew up right by the Mason-Dixon line, and banana pudding just wasn’t a common dessert. Graham Cracker Pudding was (and still is).
The Pudding
You’ll need a box of Honey Maid graham crackers – or at least one pack of the crackers. You choose the flavor of pudding you like, grab some bananas and whipped topping, and have enough milk on hand to whip up the pudding, and you’re all set.
start by cooking the pudding according to the directions on the box
I’ve used three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and butterscotch. On occasion, I’ve mixed a box of chocolate with a box of vanilla and cooked them together. It’s a lighter flavor of chocolate, which suits some folks better.
getting started
cooked over medium heat, it’s done in about 5-10 minutes
I prefer using the cooked pudding over instant, but I’ve resorted to instant pudding when I didn’t have much time or didn’t have any other choice on hand. You can make your own from scratch if you prefer that.
How to assemble
In place of whipped topping, you can use Dream Whip or whip your own cream. This dish is about as versatile as you can get. For this recipe, I made the butterscotch pudding, so that’s what you’ll see in the photos.
After the pudding is cooled, you add crumbled graham crackers and whipped topping, and slice bananas into the mix.
I usually mix the whipped topping into the pudding and then add the crackersafter adding whipped topping & crackers, mix in sliced bananaslookin’ good, eh?put it into a clear bowl – it makes a pretty dish
Next, you top the dish with a thin layer of whipped topping, like this:
Crush some graham crackers – in the blender, with a rolling pin, or let your kids stomp on a bag filled with crackers. Then put the crumbs on top. Lookin’ good . . .
I always wait to put the bananas on the top until I’m nearly ready to serve the dessert.
Use thin banana slices for the top – it’s prettier that way, and you won’t need as many bananas (can you tell my mother grew up in the Depression?!)
The recipe
Graham Cracker Pudding
My Windowsill
So easy to make, a child can do this, especially after the pudding is cooked. This dish has folks coming back for more.
2boxes cooked pudding: chocolatevanilla, or butterscotch OR mix vanilla with a butterscotch or chocolate
4cupsmilk
1+ package graham crackers
16oz.whipped topping
3-4bananas
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook pudding according to package directions
Cool completely
Save enough whipped topping for the top, and mix the rest into the pudding
Add crumbled graham crackers and mix into the pudding
Slice 2-3 bananas and mix into the pudding
Place pudding into a nice serving dish
Top with whipped topping
Spread graham cracker crumbs across the top
RIght before serving, slice a banana and put on top of the pudding
*This is a repost from five years ago. I thought it was time to share it again – for those of you who are new to this blog. This is definitely one of my favorite desserts. It can be whipped up and put together in minutes if you use instant pudding. For cooked pudding, give yourself an hour minimum.
For most 12-year-olds, any free time after school is spent hanging out with friends, competing in sports, or playing video games. But budding entrepreneur Alejandro Buxton, from Fairfax County, Virginia, has another pursuit on his agenda each week: making all-natural candles that he sells online and at a local mall.
The idea was inspired by his mother, Patricia Buxton, who had to give up many of the scented candles she’d filled their home with after realizing the chemicals within them were exacerbating her allergies, causing her frequent headaches.
“My mom really loved candles, like really really,” the seventh grader told The Washington Post. “It was hard to see her sad.”
So, in 2019, at just 9 years old, he started experimenting with making his own, mixing ingredients like soy and coconut waxes with essential oils. He dubbed his first iteration “Jurassic Orange,” for its color and fragrance. Though his mother was a big fan, and the scent didn’t cause her head to ache, Buxton wanted to improve upon his work.
Within the next few months, the Post reported, he’d developed a line of six uniquely scented candles. By the following year, in the midst of worldwide lockdowns, he’d created his own Etsy shop. (How’s that for making the most of a pandemic hobby?)
Soon after, Alejandro began selling his products on his own website, “Smell of Love Candles,” where shoppers can find offerings with creative names like “Sage the Day!” and “Alexa, clean the house.” He also lists hand-dipped incense, reed diffusers, and room sprays for sale.
According to the site, his younger sister Valentina serves as assistant of operations (her contributions include “helping pass the bubble wrap during shipping operations [and] keeping everyone laughing”), while his mother assumes the role of assistant to the CEO.
Now, the enterprising youngster is operating his business in a brick-and-mortar location as well. This past September, he opened a stand in D.C.’s Tysons Corner shopping center — making him the youngest leaseholder at the mall.
Speaking to ABC 7 News at the time, his mother held back tears of pride: “I have no words, to be honest. It’s so hard to express.”
Besides inspiring fellow kids with his entrepreneurial spirit and talent, Alejandro is also a positive role model for giving back and making a difference: He donates a portion of his profits to a local charity.
He told ABC, “We can change the world by helping each other.”
Why Do We Paint Windsor Chairs? And other goodies. Recently someone who follows this website as if it were a religion was worried that by painting Antique Chairs, the value would be next to nothing. Well I think that this article explains it best.
Folks online tend to get in a tizzy when it comes time to paint my Windsor chairs because they want to see me “stain or oil the natural wood.” But here’s why we paint Windsor chairs…
If the chair were a single species of wood, or two species that made for a beautiful contrast (like maple and walnut, for example), I’d be right there with them loving those natural wood tones and being wary of covering them up.
I generally steer clear of stains of any kind though, because call me a purist, but I want the wood I’m using to build to look like the wood I’m using. Pine just can’t passably be made to look like walnut and vise versa. But I digress.
The real reason we paint Windsor chairs is because that’s how they were traditionally finished. That’s in big part because they’re made from three white-ish (in color) species of wood that are too similar in color to contrast well, and yet too dissimilar in texture and pore structure to oil without the chair ending up looking, well, tacky.
Types Of Wood Used For Windsor Chairs
MAPLE
The smooth maple used for the legs, rockers, and armposts is used because of its rock-hard nature; it can stand up to the abuse of leaning and tipping that is common in chairs. Maple’s ability to show crisper turning details and take a really nice finish right off the lathe tool with little to no sanding is definitely a plus when it comes to production turning (think of having to turn 56 baluster style chair components for a set of 8 chairs). Maple develops a nice natural polish with oil and tends to stay pretty “white” in color, though it does “yellow” and darken over time.
PINE
The seat of a Windsor chair is pine, which grows big enough to make solid seat blanks, is soft enough to carve and it also tends to compress around the harder wood components during the joining process, making for tighter, longer-lasting joints. Pine soaks up a lot of oil initially, giving it a more immediate “yellow” tone with oil.
OAK
The spindles and chair backs are traditionally made from white or red oak, which is a really stringy, porous wood. Oak, however, grows really straight and tends to split really well, giving us the opportunity to get really thin, refined-looking spindles that have some “give” as you sit in the chair, but retain the full-grain strength of the tree within their length, so that “give” doesn’t result in “snaps” as you lean back in the chair.
Were we to use maple for the spindles, we’d be forced to leave the spindles much thicker which would make for a much more “top-heavy” looking chair. Red oak gets very red as it ages, and white oak turns more of an amber color when oiled.
Now the several antique and reproduction chairs are made of the 3 different wood. To stain them would just ruin them and the value of the chairs would be cut by 90% if I were to sell them.
Make this cherry tomato basil salad for a dish that’s healthy and loaded with flavor! Featuring mouthwatering mozzarella cheese, fresh vegetables, and a basil oil dressing, this salad is great with an entree or by itself!
Cherry Tomato Basil Salad Recipe
Ingredients you will need:
1/4 C. olive oil
3-4 basil leaves
Squeeze of lemon
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2/3 C. fresh mozzarella, cubed
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper
First, chop 3 or 4 basil leaves. Place most of the basil in a mixing bowl, saving some for later.
Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the mixing bowl with the fresh basil.
Squeeze lemon juice into basil mixture.
Stir.
In a separate bowl, toss together 1 pint cherry tomatoes sliced in half, 2/3 cup cubed fresh mozzarella, and the remaining sliced basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Drizzle basil dressing over the salad, saving more for later if you wish.
Make this cherry tomato basil salad for a dish that’s healthy and loaded with flavor! Featuring mouthwatering mozzarella cheese, fresh vegetables, and a basil oil dressing, this salad is great with an entrée or by itself!
Ingredients
1/4C.olive oil
3-4basil leaves
Squeeze of lemon
1pintcherry tomatoessliced in half
2/3C.fresh mozzarellacubed
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper
Instructions
First, chop 3 or 4 basil leaves. Place most of the basil in a mixing bowl, saving some for later.
Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the mixing bowl with the fresh basil.
Squeeze lemon juice into basil mixture.
Stir.
In a separate bowl, toss together cherry tomatoes sliced in half, cubed fresh mozzarella, and the remaining sliced basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Drizzle basil dressing over the salad, saving more for later if you wish.
Helping those in need.
Photos courtesy of Morgan's Wonderland
Acts of Kindness.
Views: 47
This Dad Built a Fully Accessible Theme Park for His Daughter With Disabilities.
AUTHORRebekah Brandes
In San Antonio, a one-of-a-kind theme park has welcomed visitors from all 50 states and across the globe — but the main attraction isn’t a sky-high roller coaster. Instead, people flock to Morgan’s Wonderland because it’s a fully accessible space designed with people who have special needs in mind. And it all began with one dad who wanted to make his daughter happy.
Morgan Hartman, now nearly 30 years old, was born with cognitive and physical disabilities and would eventually be diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome. On a family vacation back in 2006, her father Gordon noticed Morgan being excluded by a group of children she was trying to play with at a hotel swimming pool.
Morgan and Gordon on a ride togetherPhotos courtesy of Morgan’s Wonderland
“It almost puts a lump in your throat because it gives you a sad feeling that, all Morgan wanted was to participate,” Gordon said when recounting the moment to CBS News. “She just wanted to play.”
So, like any good father who sees his child being hurt in some way, he set out to fix the problem — and in a big way. A philanthropist and former house builder, he resolved to create a space where everyone felt welcome: those with disabilities and those without. Four years and $35 million later, Morgan’s Wonderland opened to the world. The nonprofit theme park features 25 rides and attractions and offers free admission to anyone with a disability.
Photos courtesy of Morgan’s Wonderland
Morgan’s Wonderland is “Ultra-Accessible,” meaning all visitors have the same opportunity to participate and be included. Ultra-Accessible standards surpass those put into place by the American With Disabilities Act, the nonprofit notes, and all compliant accommodations must “blend in seamlessly to the surroundings and never attract unnecessary attention to their use or existence.” It’s a model the organization is actively encouraging the wider community to adopt as well.
Photos courtesy of Morgan’s Wonderland
At the theme park, those above-and-beyond accommodations include sound-absorbing floors and pink noise to reduce disturbances for those with sensory sensitivities; a specially designated outdoor service animal area; and quiet rooms where visitors can seek repose when feeling tired or overstimulated.
“It’s the small things that make the big difference: having fun,” Gordon told CBS. “And for too long, I think, individuals had to watch and say, ‘I wish I could.’ Here at Morgan’s Wonderland and all the different Morgan’s venues, you don’t watch. You participate.”
But the Texas native is clear that Morgan’s Wonderland and its 2017 water park addition, called Morgan’s Inspiration Island, welcome all individuals, encouraging the kind of interactions he saw his daughter denied of so many years ago.
Photos courtesy of Morgan’s Wonderland
“That’s the beauty of this place is that it’s an opportunity for everyone to truly enjoy playing together. But also, no matter what their condition may be, that’s not a question anymore,” he said.
In addition to rides and games, Morgan’s Wonderland also offers an experience called the Home Lab, where visitors and their families can practice daily activities — like preparing food, getting dressed, housekeeping, and socializing— in a safe, comfortable setting using regular materials and assistive technology.
Morgan and GordanPhotos courtesy of Morgan’s Wonderland
For out-of-towners who cannot afford the trip to the Lone Star State, the park works with another nonprofit, Project Angel Fares, which was set up specifically to provide children who have special health needs or disabilities the chance to visit Morgan’s Wonderland with their families.
To find out how you can volunteer with or donate to the theme park, click here.
Good morning.Saturday morning in June = BIG time to hit up a farmers market. Yesterday, Matty asked everyone: Which vendor at the market do you always go to first? Our answers…
Molly: pickle stand
Sam: the closest one that’s giving out free samples
Abby: bread, because they always run out if you don’t get there early
Cassandra: compost drop-off
Neal: eggs for those marigold yolks
Matty: hummus vendor
In my area, North east Ohio, we have mostly Georgia and Florida corn and peaches. Some California fruit and vegetables. How about you? Below are just a few Ohio Crops.
Looking at a timeline of Kirstie Ennis’ life, it’s clear that to call her a go-getter would be a considerable understatement. The 31-year-old has completed three master’s degrees, worked as a Hollywood stuntwoman, earned a real estate license, walked 1,000 miles across England, and climbed six of the world’s tallest mountains. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, she accomplished it all after a tragic accident that resulted in the loss of one of her legs.
The former U.S. Marine sergeant — she enlisted at just 17 years old — was riding in a helicopter above Afghanistan in 2012 when the aircraft went down, a crash that nearly killed her and left her with brain, spine, and ankle injuries. She underwent 40 surgeries over the next three years, and in 2015, a severe infection required her left leg to be amputated. Forced into medical retirement, Ennis needed to figure out a way to both process her trauma and continue to protect people, one of her main motivations for joining the armed services in the first place.
She found the answer in the great outdoors. She began snowboarding and climbing, participating in sponsored events to raise money for nonprofits. Soon, she had a more specific goal in mind: She would scale all Seven Summits — the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Since beginning in 2017, she’s checked six of them off her list, according to Axios. Next spring, she’s set to tackle her final frontier, and the most difficult climb, Mount Everest.
If you have any doubts at all about her abilities, Ennis would love to hear them. “I like people looking at me and being like ‘She’s small, she’s a woman, she has one leg,’ and me being like ‘All right.’ I like being the underdog,” she said on an episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Besides her lofty climbing goal, Ennis is on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible — and, from this vantage point, there is seemingly nothing she can’t do. According to her Instagram page, the intrepid young woman is flying planes, riding motorcycles, and scuba diving.
She’s also set up the Kirstie Ennis Foundation, which helped earn her the Pat Tillman Service Award at the 2019 ESPYS. The organization partners with nonprofits, offering educational and healing opportunities to veterans and people who have lost limbs and introducing medical device technology to underserved parts of the world. Its mission is fitting: “To inspire individuals to stubbornly climb the mountain in front of them.”
Charlie White, photographed in 2008 at age 103. Doug Dalgleish
Views: 42
Early one August morning during a heat wave in Kansas City, Mo., I stepped outside to fetch the Sunday newspaper — and something stopped me in my tracks.
My new neighbor was washing a car. In my memory (this detail is a matter of some disagreement around the neighborhood), it was a shiny new Chrysler PT Cruiser, the color of grape soda pop. It belonged to my neighbor’s girlfriend, and I couldn’t help noting that the vehicle in question was parked in the same spot where she had left it the night before. I deduced that a Saturday night date with the glamorous driver had developed into the sort of sleepover that makes a man feel like being especially nice the next morning.
My neighbor was bare-chested, dressed only in a pair of old swim trunks. With a garden hose in one hand and a soapy sponge in the other, he flexed his muscular chest with each splash and swirl, his wavy hair flopping rakishly over one eye.
Charlie, I soon learned, was an extraordinary specimen: hale and sturdy, eyes clear, hearing good, mind sharp. His conversation danced easily from topic to topic, from past to present to future and back. Even so, one does not expect, on meeting a man of 102, to be starting — as we did that day — a long and rich friendship.
Actuarial tables have no room for sentiment or wishes, and this is what they say: According to the Social Security Administration, in a random cohort of 100,000 men, only about 350 — fewer than one-half of 1 percent — make it to 102. Among those hardy survivors, the average chap has less than two years remaining. After 104, the lives slip quickly away.
Yet on that muggy Sunday morning, it was clear to me that Charlie wasn’t close to done. In fact, he would live to be 109.
Life seemed somehow to rest more lightly on him than on most of us. I wanted to know the why and the how. As our friendship grew, those questions deepened, for I learned that life had dealt Charlie some heavy blows: grief, victimhood, helplessness, disruption.
I came to realize Charlie was not a survivor. He was a thriver. He did not just live. He lived joyfully. He was like a magnet, pulling me across the street and into his confidences, where I discovered something about life’s essentials. The sort of something one wants to pass on to one’s children.
Charlie as the author knew him. (Family photo)
When my children were young and learned Daddy was a writer of some kind, they began asking me to write a book for them. I wanted very much to deliver, to pull a bit of magic from my hat and spin it into a tale of brave and resourceful young people making their way in a marvelous, dangerous land. But every stab I took at writing a children’s novel failed. Gradually, I saw this would be one more in a catalogue of ways in which I would disappoint them.
Telling Charlie’s story might be my redemption. Although he was not a superhero — no wizards or talking spiders populated his tale — his was a story my children needed. A story many of the world’s children might need.
Today’s children, yours as well as mine, will live out their lives in a maelstrom of change and upheaval. Revolutionary change — which has the power to remake societies, cultures, economies and political systems — can be hopeful and might sound exciting. But it can quickly turn downright scary. For many young people, the future is less a fresh field at dawn than a darkling plain at twilight, ominous and fragile.
Parents of children living through such a time want to give their kids the tools they need. What does it take to live joyfully while experiencing disruption? What are the essential tools for resilience and equanimity through massive dislocation and uncertainty?
That hot August morning, I began to understand that Charlie was the embodiment of this vital information. To my unending gratitude, he welcomed me in, waving hello as his girlfriend’s car sparkled.
Charlie was always game for an adventure. (Family photo)
Charlie was a physician. He knew how the human body goes — and how it stops. And he was the first to say his extraordinary life span was a fluke of genetics and fortune.
Born Aug. 16, 1905, in Galesburg, Ill., Charlie began life at just the moment that (in the words of Henry Adams) history’s neck was “broken by the sudden irruption of forces totally new.” The setting of his childhood was a world recognizable to farmers from the age of Napoleon. Civil War veterans were a part of daily life, their battles closer to Charlie than Vietnam is to a child born today.
Charlie and the future grew up together. With one foot planted in the age of draft animals and diphtheria — when only 6 percent of Americans graduated from high school, and even middle-class people lived without electricity or running water — Charlie planted the other foot in the age of space stations and robotic surgery.
He lived to be among the last surviving officers of World War II, among the last Americans who could say what it was like to drive an automobile before highways existed, among the last who felt amazement when pictures first moved on a screen. He lived from “The Birth of a Nation” to Barack Obama. From women forbidden to vote to women running nations and corporations.
Still, as I’ve reflected on this remarkable friend, I have come to see that he was more than a living history lesson, more than the winner of a genetic Powerball. He was one of the few children of the early 1900s who could tell my children of the 2000s how to thrive while lives and communities, work and worship, families and mores are shaken, inverted, blown up and remade.
Charlie’s love of cars spanned nine decades. (Family photo)
Charlie was a true surfer on the sea of change, a case study in how to flourish through any span of years, long or short. Or through any trauma.
For his incredibly long life, I came to understand, was indelibly stamped by a tragically shortened one. He learned early — and never forgot — that the crucial measure of one’s existence is not its length but its depth.
How early? At just 8 years old.
Around 10 a.m. on May 11, 1914, Charlie’s father rose from his desk in the downtown Kansas City office where he worked selling life insurance, donned his coat and hat, and set out on an errand. When he reached the elevator in the corridor — one of the early electric passenger cars — he might have noticed that the usual operator was not at the controls. The door was open. A substitute stood with his hand on the lever.
As my friend’s father moved into the car, the operator unexpectedly put the elevator in motion. The box lurched upward, doors still open. This created an empty space between the unmoving floor of the hallway and the rising floor of the elevator, which was now waist-high. It happened so quickly that instead of stepping into the car, the unlucky man put his foot into the open space beneath.
His upper body pitched onto the elevator’s floor, his legs dangling in the abyss of the shaft. In an instant, the climbing car crushed his torso against the upper door frame so violently that the impact left a dent. Horrified, the inexperienced operator panicked and threw the elevator into reverse. When the compartment lurched downward, Charlie’s father slipped loose, his body following his feet into the shaft, where he plunged nine stories to his death. He was 42 years old.
Over the course of our friendship, I heard Charlie tell this story at least half a dozen times. Not once did he indulge in the sort of “Why, God?” or “What if?” questions that so naturally follow a freak accident. He never remarked on the apparent injustice of a good man’s premature death in a world where history’s most murderous despots — men such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao — had decades of life ahead of them. He never asked: What if an experienced operator had been at the elevator controls? What if my father had set out on his errand five minutes earlier or later?
Yet whenever he talked about his childhood, I noticed a tone shift between the tales of his early, carefree childhood and those that came after his father’s death. In the earlier stories, he was light as a lark. After the tragedy, the boy was armored in self-reliance — as independent as Huckleberry Finn, as resourceful as the Artful Dodger.
As I reflected on this subtle change, it occurred to me that after suffering a loss so enormous, and surviving it, Charlie decided he could get through anything. Brought face to face with the limits of his ability, of anyone’s ability, to master fate or turn back time, Charlie began reaching for the things he could control — his own actions, his own emotions, his outlook, his grit. As he put it: “We didn’t have time to be sad.”
Charlie was not a student of philosophy. Yet in those words, I recognized the essence of a credo that has served human beings for centuries: Stoicism, one of the most durable and useful schools of thought ever devised. It has spoken to paupers and presidents, to emperors and the enslaved. It’s the philosophy of freedom and self-determination, one that seeks to erase envy, resentment, neediness and anxiety. Its pillars are wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. It is a philosophy of radical equality and mutual respect.
Stoicism can be equally as compelling to a grieving boy in the early 20th century as to an abused slave such as Epictetus, who smiled as his sadistic Roman master twisted his leg until it snapped. It teaches that a life well lived requires a deep understanding of what we control and — more difficult — all that lies beyond our control. We govern nothing but our own actions and reactions.
A true education, Epictetus taught, consists of learning that in our power “are will and all acts that depend on the will. Things not in our power are the body, the parts of the body, possessions, parents, brothers, children, country, and generally all with whom we live in society.”
For the enslaved Epictetus, this insight spoke to the resolve to live with purpose and dignity, even as a master controlled his body and actions. He could be bought and sold and worked like an animal, but he could not be made to think or act like an animal.
For the same reasons, Stoicism spoke to Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Nazi slave labor camps. From his observation of prisoners who maintained their self-respect and goodwill even in those hellish circumstances, Frankl concluded that “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way” of meeting what life presents.
Nelson Mandela was stripped of his freedom by injustice and hatred for more than a quarter-century and emerged from prison stronger than when he went in. “The cell,” he said stoically, “gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you.” What he made of himself inspired the world.
Charlie often counseled his friends and family in times of anger or annoyance: “Let it go.” But the same spirit — which underlies the qualities we now speak of as grit and resilience — is celebrated in the famous Rudyard Kipling poem that urges:
… force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
Let it go and Hold on! — in the way of so many great philosophies, those apparent opposites prove to be two sides of the same coin. To hold securely to the well-formed purposes of your will, you must let go of the vain idea that you can control people or events or the tides of fate. But you can choose what you stand for and what you will try to accomplish.
You can choose, when hopes and fears are swirling in your head, to clutch at hope. Amid beauty and ugliness, to fasten on beauty. Between despair and possibility, to pursue the possible. Of love and hate, to opt for love.
These are choices, entirely in our power to make. Charlie showed me how.
Charlie in the Army Reserve. (Family photo)
The year I met Charlie was also the year Apple introduced the first iPhone. I didn’t immediately understand the fuss. Perhaps because I write for a living, and started so long ago that I used a typewriter, I’ve always related to computers initially as fancy typing devices. The iPhone’s tiny touch screen struck me as a lousy substitute.
This was an epic example of missing the point. If I had been around when humans harnessed fire, I might have complained that the early adopters were burning up perfectly good wooden clubs.
Charlie wouldn’t have made that mistake. This was a man who understood that thriving through change begins with an eagerness for The New, even — especially — when it comes along unexpectedly.
His career is Exhibit A. Charlie’s medical education, which began in 1925, came at the threshold of modern medicine, when quacks hawking miracle potions were the norm, and genome sequencing was beyond imagination.
Charlie learned before antibiotics, when the leading causes of death in America weren’t heart disease and cancer. Today, those maladies kill mostly older people; when Charlie was a student, most people didn’t grow old. They succumbed to the same viral and microbial illnesses that had stalked humanity for ages.
Charlie didn’t cure disease in those early years — no doctors did. His stock in trade was his bedside manner, a mixture of knowledge, common sense, kindness and confidence that comforted and encouraged patients and their families while natural immunity won (or lost) its battle. Without a pill or injection to work a cure, the general practitioner was wellness coach, motivator and grief counselor in one. “All we could really do,” Charlie admitted long afterward, was “sit by our patients and pray.”
Charlie’s first doctor’s office. (Family photo)
This was the case when World War II interrupted the medical practice Charlie had struggled to build through the Great Depression. Commissioned in the U.S. Army Air Corps., Capt. White was assigned to a windswept plain by the Great Salt Lake, where Camp Kearns airfield and training base took shape in a frenzy of construction. His tasks at the base hospital ranged from ambulance maintenance to the personal care of the camp commander.
The war was one of history’s most powerful engines of innovation in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, communication, computing, physical science — and medicine. Two major medical advances directly affected the midcareer doctor, turning his world upside down. In Charlie’s response lies a lesson for today: He adapted cheerfully to both of them.
The first was the mass production of penicillin, the breakthrough antibiotic medicine — an immediate blessing on humanity after which medical science would never again settle for nature’s natural course. Charlie was smart enough to recognize that penicillin spelled the death of his brand of doctoring. Physicians of the future would not be generalists making house calls. They would be specialists, masters of a narrow set of treatments or procedures. Specific expertise would rule.
The end of house-call doctoring might have demoralized Charlie, who had spent years building exactly such a practice. Instead, this curious, stoical man eagerly scanned the horizon, where he caught sight of the second major advance.
World War II, with its awful violence, transformed the use of painkillers and anesthesia. Advances in trauma surgery accelerated the use of endotracheal tubes to open airways, support breathing and administer anesthetics. Doctors perfected the use of numbing drugs administered through intravenous lines, and realized the value of local and regional blockers that could shut off pain in one part of the body without putting a patient entirely under.
These head-spinning changes came so quickly that the War Department was suddenly seeking anesthetic specialists.
Charlie reached out and seized his future.
Having earlier mentioned to his Army supervisors that he had experience administering ether, Charlie was Camp Kearns’s designated expert in anesthetics. Now, with so much urgent attention to the long-neglected field, he was promoted and given a new assignment: Report to Lincoln Army Air Field in Nebraska to serve as chief of anesthesiology at the new base hospital.
This is how Charlie found himself in 1943 in Rochester, Minn., at the Mayo Clinic, for a three-month course to turn general practitioners into anesthesiologists. The “90-day wonders,” these instant anesthesiologists were called. Charlie breezed through, then traveled to Lincoln to finish out the war.
Just like that, Charlie had turned the threat of change into an opportunity to grow. No longer was he an endangered generalist trying to hang on to a precarious piece of a dying field. Instead, when the war ended, he returned home as a pioneer in a new and rapidly growing specialty — one of the first anesthesiologists in Kansas City, and with a Mayo Clinic seal of approval.
To me, this episode contains the essence of Charlie’s life. And a crucial lesson for the rest of us.
It’s natural to feel anxiety and even fear amid looming change and intense uncertainty. My own field, journalism, has shrunk by half over the past 15 years. Artificial intelligence might finish off the other half. What will self-driving technology do to truck drivers? What will contract-writing software do to attorneys?
But it helps to understand that change is nothing new. Nearly 40 percent of Americans lived on a farm when Charlie was born. Today: 1 percent.
The fact that the future is full of uncertainty doesn’t necessarily mean it is full of gloom. Realism and optimism fit together powerfully. Too many people believe that realism — seeing the world as it is, with all its pain and threats — demands a pessimistic response. The optimist is deluded, they believe, a Pollyanna moving blindly through a bleak existence with a dumb smile.
Charlie was realistic about the professional dead end he had reached. Yet he was optimistic about new beginnings. So, when he saw a door closing up ahead, he didn’t stop and walk away. He pushed it open and strode through.
Charlie as a young man. (Family photo)
Charlie’s new life as a specialist allowed him to indulge his bottomless curiosity and zest for experiments. Horse-tank heart surgery, for instance.
After the war, one of the riskiest frontiers of medicine — and therefore among the most exciting to Charlie — was open-heart surgery. Like penicillin and anesthesia, the idea got a boost from World War II. Battlefield soldiers arrived at hospitals with shards of shrapnel in their hearts. Conventional wisdom held that the heart was inviolate; therefore, there was no way to extract these metal fragments. A heart wound was a death sentence.
But an Iowa-born doctor named Dwight Harken, billeted to a London military hospital, reasoned that if soldiers were going to die anyway, there was no harm in trying to save them. He experimented with finger-size incisions in the heart wall to allow him to reach quickly inside and remove the shrapnel. The gamble was a huge success: Harken saved more than 125 lives.
After the war, Harken and others realized that the same technique might be useful in treating mitral valve stenosis, a potentially fatal condition that often resulted when a youthful strep throat infection worsened into rheumatic fever. Fibrous tissue inside the heart caused the mitral valve to narrow, leading to high blood pressure, blood clots, blood in the lungs and even heart failure.
Charlie and his colleagues in Kansas City were intrigued to read in medical journals about experimental surgery to repair stenotic valves. “The surgeon could reach in real quick,” Charlie said, and with his finger probe for the fibrous tissue, stretch the valve, break the adhesion and get out. “The whole thing could be done in under an hour.”
But even a relatively brief valve surgery ran a high risk of death unless the flow of blood through the heart could be slowed dramatically. Researching the matter further, Charlie learned of experiments in which patients under anesthesia were chilled to thicken and slow the flow of blood. To pioneer open-heart surgery in Kansas City, he simply needed to figure out how to safely chill an unconscious patient.
Historic Kansas City (Family photo)
Enter the horse tank.
After work one day, Charlie was tending to some horses he had purchased along with a little plot of land. As he worked, his eye fell on the large oval trough that held water for his livestock. In a flash, he realized this was just what he needed.
A horse tank was big enough to hold a sleeping patient. “I bought a horse tank and we put the patient under anesthesia and packed him in ice,” Charlie told me. When he was cold enough, “we lifted him from the tank full of ice, placed him on the operating table, and quickly the surgeon opened the chest and made an incision in the heart. He went inside, broke up the fibrous tissue, sewed him back up, and it was done. In an hour, the patient was all thawed out.”
Charlie’s horse tank served as the leading edge of cardiac surgery in Kansas City for some time. “We never lost a patient,” he said.
People familiar with the lingo of Silicon Valley might recognize in this story what is known as IID — iterative and incremental development. It is a supremely practical, pragmatic approach to change, a philosophy that recognizes that great transformations rarely come as single thunderbolts.
There is a Stoic flavor to the approach, because it works with the material and the moment at hand, rather than pine after something better beyond one’s grasp. IID says: Don’t demand a perfect solution before tackling a problem. Move step by step (that’s the incremental part), improving with each new learning experience (that’s the iterative part).
Thomas Edison tested 6,000 filaments to find the best one for his lightbulb. Charlie understood that open-heart surgery wouldn’t arrive in fully formed glory, like a Hollywood ending. First, progress had to spend a year or two in an ice bath rigged from farm equipment.
This is how we live with change: step by step. This is how even elderly and change-resistant people have learned to pump their gasoline with a credit card reader and watch their great-grandchildren take first steps on social media. Charlie embraced that he would be learning new things as long as he lived, and he moved forward by accepting that he would advance in small increments.
He was also willing to make mistakes. Charlie told me he was glad to have worked in an era before malpractice lawsuits were common — when he could participate in what he estimated to be about 40,000 surgeries and “be innovative and not fear the stab of the lawyers, you know?”
And mistakes didn’t come only in the operating theater. After the war, when a buddy suggested that Charlie invest in a fledgling Colorado ski resort called Aspen, he scoffed: “That’s just a ghost town!”
Definitely a mistake.
A salesman by the name of Ewing Kauffman once tried to interest Charlie in a start-up business he had launched in his basement. “He was cleaning oyster shells in a washing machine and grinding them into antacid powder,” Charlie said, still slightly incredulous. Charlie held on to his money. Kauffman’s business, Marion Labs, became a major pharmaceutical company worth billions.
Another mistake.
I once commented on the various fortunes Charlie had missed, and he cheerfully replied that I didn’t know the half of it. He seemed to derive as much delight from recalling these blunders as he did from remembering his triumphs.
Mistakes can have virtue, Charlie knew. They show we’re making the effort, engaging with life, “in the arena,” as Theodore Roosevelt put it. Or as Epictetus, that marvelous Stoic, said: “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
An avid skier, Charlie missed out on investing in Aspen. (Family photo)
A very long life is like a very large mansion. There are many rooms and all the rooms are big. Charlie had not one but two careers as a doctor: years as a general practitioner, followed by decades as an anesthesiologist. His retirement was as long as most careers. He had not one but two long marriages, plus years as a single man.
Everywhere he went, of course, people asked him for his secret to longevity. His answer was deflating: just luck, he insisted.
His genome, over which he had no influence, had not betrayed him with a weak heart or a wasting disease. Unlike his father, Charlie never saw his number come up in the cosmic lottery of freak accidents.
Luck.
His mother started a May morning in 1914 as the married parent of five children and by noon was a widow with no job and no prospects. She didn’t go to pieces. She turned her home into a boardinghouse and encouraged her children to pitch in. She taught them to be independent and self-sustaining simply by “putting the responsibility of life on us,” as Charlie remembered fondly. Because she believed in them, they believed in themselves.
Luck.
Charlie was also, of course, fortunate to have been a White man in the 20th-century United States, free to go where he pleased and dream as big as he wanted. The same Midwest of the 1920s that nurtured his optimistic spirit was a hotbed of populist nationalism and the Ku Klux Klan. Unlike women and people of color, he could seize opportunities because doors were open to him that were closed to so many others.
Luck.
Charlie’s stepdaughter began feeling poorly after a vacation at age 66. A scan disclosed tumors throughout her body and she was gone within months. A few weeks after she died, Charlie turned 102.
Luck.
That’s the age Charlie was when I met him.
My luck.
In 2012, when he was 106, Charlie slipped on a patch of ice outside his front door one frigid day, and his ankle broke with a pop. In typical fashion, he shrugged it off.
At 107, he was hospitalized with pneumonia — a disease so efficient at bringing long lives to relatively merciful ends that it has a nickname: the old man’s friend.
Nope.
Then, at 108, Charlie at last lost his independence. He moved into a nursing home, and one day word came from his family that he was fading fast, telling loved ones that death was near and assuring them he was ready. His wide circle of friends and admirers braced for fate to catch at his collar. But springtime blossomed again, and Charlie had a change of heart. His birthday was near, and having come so far, he decided he might as well keep going to 109.
How unlike Charlie, I thought to myself — to imagine he had control over something as powerful and capricious as death. One of the core teachings of Stoicism is that death keeps its own datebook; it can come at any time, and the only certainty is that it will eventually get to you. Therefore, “let us postpone nothing,” said the amiable Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca. “Let us balance life’s books every day.”
The glories of May warmed into June, sweltered into July. On the day my phone finally rang — Charlie was gone — I checked a calendar, then shook my head, which swam lightly in a flood of amazement and delight. It was Aug. 17, 2014. Quietly, in the wee hours after his birthday, Charlie had let go.
In the end, Charlie defied the actuaries to become one of the last men standing — one of only five fellows from the original 100,000 expected to make it to 109. By the time he was done, he had lived nearly half the history of the United States.
Among Charlie’s things after he was gone, his family found a single sheet of notepaper, on which Charlie had boiled 109 years into an operating code of life. He filled the sheet front and back in flowing ballpoint pen, writing in definitive commands. Among them:
Think freely. Practice patience. Smile often. Forgive and seek forgiveness.
Feel deeply. Tell loved ones how you feel.
Be soft sometimes. Cry when you need to. Observe miracles.
Charlie with Mary Ann Cooper, his final romance. (Family photo)
As I studied Charlie’s list, it seemed to me that each directive, by itself, was like a greeting card or a meme. Charlie’s takeaways from more than a century of living were things we already know, for we have heard them a thousand times.
But after a few years to think about it, I have arrived at a theory that a life well-led consists of two parts.
In the first, we are complexifiers. We take the simple world of childhood and discover its complications. We say, “yes — but …” and “maybe it’s not that easy.” Nothing is quite as it seems.
Then, if we live long enough, we might soften into the second stage and become simplifiers. For all the books on all the shelves of all the world’s libraries, life must in the end be lived as a series of discrete moments and individual decisions. What we face might be complicated, but what we do about it is simple.
“Do the right thing,” Charlie remembered his mother telling him.
“Do unto others,” a teacher told his disciples, “as you would have them do unto you.”
Charlie lived so long that the veil of complexity fell away and he saw that life is not so hard as we tend to make it. Or rather: No matter how hard life might be, the way we ought to live becomes a distillate of a few words. The essentials are familiar not because they are trite, but because they are true.
Centenarians are an oft-celebrated population for their remarkable longevity and wisdom. But how do some people live so long? A study published in The Lancet this past March has identified unique immune system characteristics that enable certain individuals to live to age 100 and beyond.
“We assembled and analyzed what is, to our knowledge, the largest single-cell dataset of centenarian subjects that allowed us to define unique features of this population that support the identification of molecular and lifestyle factors contributing to their longevity,” senior author Stefano Monti, an associate professor at Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, said in a press release.
According to the researchers, the immune system generally declines — becoming less responsive and adaptable — as we age. But the immune profiles of the centenarians studied seemed to buck that trend.
Henrik5000/ iStock
The study sought to identify “immune-specific patterns of aging and extreme human longevity,” first performing single cell sequencing on immune cells circulating in the blood of seven centenarians. The subjects are enrolled in a concurrent study of long-lived individuals called the “New England Centenarian Study,” led by Thomas Perls, who is also among the new study’s authors.
The information obtained by the single cell sequencing was then integrated with two publicly available datasets, and researchers used advanced computational techniques to analyze the combined data and see how the cells change as subjects age. Per the study, the results pointed to “the presence of elite immunity that remains highly functional at extreme old age.”
Senior author Paola Sebastiani explained in the release, “The immune profiles that we observed in the centenarians confirms a long history of exposure to infections and capacity to recover from them and provide support to the hypothesis that centenarians are enriched for protective factors that increase their ability to recover from infections.”
Jeremy Poland/ iStock
However, the study could not pinpoint whether this increased ability to recover is due to genetics or a confluence of factors.
“The answer to what makes you live longer is a very complex one,” Monti told USA Today. “There’s multiple factors, there’s the genetics — what you inherit from a parent — there’s lifestyle, there’s luck.”
What the study did accomplish is providing the researchers and other scientists a foundation for studying the immune resilience of centenarians and using that knowledge to develop healthy aging therapeutics.
“Centenarians, and their exceptional longevity, provide a ‘blueprint’ for how we might live more productive, healthful lives,” another senior author, George J. Murphy, said in the press release. “We hope to continue to learn everything we can about resilience against disease and the extension of one’s health span.”
The 4 Dumbest Things We Keep Spending Too Much Money On.
You’ve done what you can to cut back your spending.
You brew coffee at home, you don’t walk into Target and you refuse to order avocado toast. (Can you sense my millennial sarcasm there?)
But no matter how cognizant you are of your spending habits, you’re still stuck with those inescapable monthly bills. You know which ones we’re talking about: rent, utilities, cell phone bill, insurance, groceries…
So if you’re ready to stop paying them, follow these moves…
1. Stop Overpaying at Amazon
Wouldn’t it be nice if you got an alert when you’re shopping online at Amazon or Target and are about to overpay?
Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it’ll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the item’s price history.
Let’s say you’re shopping for a new TV, and you assume you’ve found the best price. Here’s when you’ll get a pop up letting you know if that exact TV is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, they’ll also automatically be applied to your order.
In the last year, this has saved people $160 million.
Here’s the thing: your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
3. Get Paid Up to $140/Month Just for Sharing Your Honest Opinion
It sounds strange, but brands want to hear your opinion. It helps them make business decisions, so they’re willing to pay you for it — up to $140 a month.
A free site called Branded Surveys will pay you up to $5 per survey for sharing your thoughts with their brand partners. Taking three quick surveys a day could earn up to $140 each month.
It takes just a minute to create a free account and start getting paid to speak your mind. Most surveys take five to 15 minutes, and you can check how long they’ll take ahead of time.
And you don’t need to build up tons of money to cash out, either — once you earn $5, you can cash out via PayPal, your bank account, a gift card or Amazon. You’ll get paid within 48 hours of your payout being processed, just for sharing your opinions.
They’ve already paid users more than $20 million since 2012, and the most active users can earn a few hundred dollars a month. Plus, they’ve got an “excellent” rating on Trustpilot.
4. Ask This Website to Help Pay Your Credit Card Bill This Month
No, like… the whole bill. All of it.
While you’re stressing out over your debt, your credit card company is getting rich off those insane interest rates. But a website called Fiona could help you pay off that bill as soon as tomorrow.
Here’s how it works: Fiona can match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every credit card balance you have. The benefit? You’re left with just one bill to pay every month, and because the interest rate is so much lower, you can get out of debt so much faster. Plus, no credit card payment this month.
If your credit score is at least 620, Fiona can help you borrow up to $250,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 5.99% and terms from 6 to 144 months.
Fiona won’t make you stand in line or call a bank. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online. It takes just two minutes, and it could save you thousands of dollars. Totally worth it.
All that credit card debt — and the anxiety that comes with it — could be gone by tomorrow.
NEWELL, W.Va. — Dave Springer stands alone in a sea of lids, jars, dishes, cups and bowls. One hand, in a dark blue rubber glove, holds a jar lid, while the other holds the scraper he’s using meticulously to smooth away every mark and imperfection. Then he places the casting on the boards to dry, and picks up another.
Meanwhile, nearby is an oversized bin filled with dishes, cups, jars, lids and saucers that didn’t make the cut.
The clay molds are so moist, I have an overwhelming childlike urge to squeeze the clay between my fingers.
Willie Jones, a second-generation caster, stands beside the bin of castoffs wiping down hundreds of teapots with a damp sponge. Some of them he will add to the bin of misfit pottery.
“Nothing goes to waste here; we just mix all of that together and recast them into new pieces,” Mr. Jones explains.
Mr. Springer says he has been an artisan for the Fiesta Tableware Company for 17 years — before that, he spent 23 years at the former Hall China across the river in East Liverpool. “I’m proud of being a caster, to be able to touch the product — and perfect it — knowing it is going to be used and enjoyed by a family, or admired by a collector or used over and over again in a diner,” he said, looking up from his task with a broad smile.
“I know it is a cliché to say we don’t make things in America anymore, but the truth is we don’t. I like that I am part of a craftsmanship that still does, that still takes pride in making things here knowing they are appreciated, used and enjoyed,” he says. Then he goes back to the task at hand.
Both Mr. Springer and Mr. Jones are working inside the former Homer Laughlin China Company’s cavernous building located along a ridge overlooking the Ohio River. It’s a company that began in 1871 when neighboring East Liverpool’s city council offered $5,000 to anyone who would agree to build a four-kiln factory that produced white ware.
Brothers Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin won that competition and proceeded to build a pottery factory in East Liverpool. While the brothers had worked in the pottery industry — at one time over 300 pottery companies (yes, 300) were in this area — they weren’t naturals at the technical aspects of manufacturing.
But they pressed forward, broke ground and within two years opened for production with two kilns. When their first batch of cups were cooled, all the handles fell off.
Within a year, however, they had over 100 employees; two years later, they earned a medal for the best white ware at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. By 1877, Shakespeare wanted out, and Homer renamed the business “Homer Laughlin China Company.”
At the time, all American china companies — despite being more expensive than the European imports — were seen as inferior to English china, to the point that many American potters would add the word “royal” to their trademark to fool buyers.
Not Homer. He designed a mark that showed the American Eagle on top of the British Lion.
Liz McIlvain, president and CEO of Fiesta Tableware, and daughter Katie Bricker, the general marketing manager, are the great-great- and great-great-great-granddaughters of W.E. Wells, Homer Laughlin’s one-time bookkeeper, who became head of the company in 1896 when Laughlin sold his interest. They are standing near the very office where Wells fell ill in 1931, and later passed away, after running the company for nearly 40 years.
“When Wells took over, they moved operations here to Newell from East Liverpool on the former Newell farm. When they finished this factory, it immediately became the largest pottery plant in the country,” explained Ms. Bricker.
Designer Frederick Hurten Rhead, hired in 1927, made the company iconic: He created the “Fiesta” collection, introducing the colorful dinnerware to the American public in 1936 at the Pittsburgh China & Glass Show.
The American public was enthralled with the colorful, sturdy and inexpensive dinnerware in green, cobalt blue, yellow, red and ivory. Within a year, the company added a sixth color, turquoise, and had sold over a million pieces.
Ms. Bricker said the first line of Fiesta pottery had 34 different pieces that included bowls, plates, pitchers, candle holders, pots and trays. “What made American families want them wasn’t just the simple and sturdy design — they loved the bright colors. Remember America was in the midst of the Great Depression. Those colors made them feel good about themselves,” she said.
Ms. Bricker said uranium dye played a big part in why the colors achieved such brilliance. “Right after World War II began, the Homer Laughlin China Company had to discontinue using the compound because the military needed uranium for the war effort.”
She explains that peak employment here at the factory came in 1948, when over 3,000 workers created pottery in the building that still stands today. Since then, however, American industrial domination has vanished thanks to automation, bad trade deals and lack of investment.
Today there are 370 employees here, in one of the last major American pottery factories.
The people who work here are often second-, third- and fourth-generation craftsmen and artisans who hail from here in Newell and from across the river in East Liverpool, while others live in suburban Pittsburgh, Steubenville and Wheeling. To a person, they all expressed deep pride in their craftsmanship — and concern that what they do will soon be a lost skill.
Springer said he tries to encourage young people to take an interest, “but it’s sad to say, I haven’t had much luck.”
The prolonged staffing issues cause by the pandemic, along with their inability to keep up with inexpensive imports, forced the family in late 2020 to sell their East Liverpool-based Hall China, which made Homer Laughlin and Hall China food service items. Everything is now made under the Fiesta Tableware Company marquee.
To say Fiestaware — old, new and rare — has a cult following would be an understatement. Their tent sales, held several times a year, attract collectors, bargain hunters, fine restaurant owners as well as diner operators from around the world, all sifting through bins stacked with slightly imperfect dishware in dozens of hues.
At the last tent sale I attended — I have been collecting since finding four original green saucers in one of my late grandmother’s boxes of china — I met a Latino restaurateur from Chicago, a diner owner from South Carolina and a collector from England all filling carts with dishware. There are also annual Fiestaware conventions, scores of Fiestaware Facebook fan and collector pages, as well as several non-profits dedicated to the collection and purchase of old, new and rare Fiestaware pieces.
Ms. Bricker said with the exception of the years 1973 through 1985, Fiestaware has been made continuously since 1936. In that time, they have made nearly 600 million pieces, including 3 million last year alone. And Rhead’s original designs haven’t changed: Fiestaware remains immediately identifiable by its Art Deco styling and concentric rings.
One shopper leaving the factory store explained that she had spent the day at local antique stores looking for vintage pieces, then came here for the new Jade. “Here is what I love about Fiestaware: When you find it in the wild, you are holding a piece of American history, and you wonder who used it before you; when you come here, you are buying something made in your own backyard, and you hope that ability never goes away,” she said. “It’s a real national treasure.”
North Side native Salena Zito is a national political reporter for The Washington Examiner, a New York Post columnist and co-author of “The Great Revolt”:
WE ARE UP AND RUNNING TOURING AMISH COUNTRY! WE TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION TO SANITIZE OUR VEHICLE AND MAKE SURE YOUR TRIP TO AMISH COUNTRY IS SAFE! ALL TOURS ARE PRIVATE! NOW MORE THAN EVER IS A GOOD TIME TO VISIT A WORLD THAT HAS DIFFERENT VALUES, A MORE SIMPLER LIFE, AND IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! 724-923-9730 IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO A SIMPLE LIFE REPRESENTATIVE.
Simple Life Amish Tour Company
We welcome you to join us on our Amish Adventure into the Simple Life of the Old World Order Amish Community.
Each tour begins in the heart of Amish Country of New Wilmington, Pa located just 60 miles North of Pittsburgh, 15 minutes from the Grove City Outlets and Just five minutes from the town of Volant, Pa. We meet at an Amish Store called Byler’s Quilts and Crafts located at 435 Quilt Shop Lane, Volant, Pa 16156 There you will meet Susan, your personal tour guide. Step into Susan’s vehicle and let her lead you through a backroads tour of our Amish villages. You will be transported into another world as we explore the Amish Countryside. This is a private, non commercialized scenic back roads tour that takes you off the beaten path. Susan will teach you about the Amish lifestyle as we drive past horse and buggies, homes, dairy farms and even an Amish schoolhouse. You never know what you will see along these backroads! Visit Amish farms, greenhouses, an Amish bakery, grocery store. Watch Amish men build furniture and plow their fields with horse and plow!
You will be amazed at the knowledge, friendliness and warmth of this tour and tour guides. You will be able to meet and speak with our Amish friends and discover the beauty of the Amish culture and lifestyle.
Tours are approximately 2 hours long. Each tour is a non-commercialized private tour made by appointment. You can book online or call us.
This tour is perfect for individuals, families, couples and even groups.
For Larger Groups: Try the TASTE AND TOUR AMISH COUNTRY TOUR. Let Susan come as a step on tour guide, or lead your group on a two hour tour that includes and Amish meal at a local restaurant.
Are you ready for your Simple Life Tour? Please call us @ 724-923-9730 or book now online.
Photo by: Jim Fisher
Shop at Amish Marketplaces
There will be as many stops as we can fit in, on our Simple Life tour. First stop may be an Amish produce and bakery stand. Meet Andy and his family and tempt your taste buds with their delicious wares! The next stop is an Amish Grocery store, where you will meet the Byler Family. Located in the basement of the Byler’s home, this grocery store is lit with a gas lamp. Purchase old fashioned sodas kept cold in an the Byler’s “Ice box” and wait until you see the antique adding machine! You will be able to purchase local honey, fresh tapped Maple Syrup, Homemade noodles, cheeses a variety of Amish jams and jellies and homemade candy. Our third stop is Cornerstone Furniture where you will get to see how and Amish furniture shop works with no electricity! Watch the Amish men build furniture and meet Rudy, who will show you his hand built tables and chairs. Our fourth stop is an Amish Quilt shop. Meet Sam and Lizzie Byler who own New Wilmington’s only Amish Quilt Shop filled with beautiful Amish handmade quilts, rocking chairs, and many other Amish made items from our local Old World Order Amish community.
Our Location
We are Located in New Wilmington, and Volant, Pennsylvania
60 Miles North of Pittsburgh
70 miles South of Erie
15 Miles from the Grove City Outlets
Right in the center of Volant and New Wilmington, Pa
Simple Life Tours
Tour is led by Susan Hougelman, author of the new book: Inside The Simple Life, Finding Inspiration Among the Amish!
Or call: (724) 923-9730
Ask to speak with a Simple Life representative
Tour Schedule
Monday-Saturday: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tours Start at:
435 Quilt Shop Lane
Volant, PA
16156
We meet in the parking lot of Byler’s Quilts & Crafts. Look for the Simple Life Tour vehicle! Bring Cash in case you want to buy something from the Amish. They don’t accept Credit Cards. Thank you!
Voted Best of The Burgh: Things to do around Pittsburgh!
The Miniature Railroad and Village at the Carnegie Science Center includes scenes from all four seasons of live in Western Pennsylvania. Here, like right now, fall fades into winter. (Shannon M. Venditti photos)
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Salena Zito: A tradition unlike any other
A conversation with the 29-year-old curator of the Carnegie Science Center’s Miniature Railroad and Village
Salena Zito
PITTSBURGH —
Americans love to cleave to cultural traditions that have stood the test of time — especially ones that tell stories of the people who formed their communities, stories that reflect the craftsmanship, sacrifice and hard work of those who came before us.
When inventor and master tinkerer Joshua Lionel Cowen designed an electric fan operated by dry cells — and then, using the same motor that drove the fan, built a miniature railroad car — he began a business and a movement that has enthralled millions of people young and old. Hobbyists not only bought trains and track, but also often created elaborate homemade displays enjoyed by family and friends over the Christmas holidays.
One of the people Cowen inspired was Charles Bowdish, a young World War I veteran and cabinetmaker who lived in Brookville, Pa. He made his first miniature display at Christmas 1919, and to his surprise and delight, 400 people showed up at his home to see it.
Word quickly spread of the Bowdish display beyond Jefferson County, and the young artisan decided early on to keep track of the visitors to his home. In 1953 — the year before he moved his display to the Buhl Planetarium — the family counted 314,874 visitors from every state and 41 foreign countries over 34 years.
It was a tradition Bowdish continued into the 1980s at the Buhl Planetarium, where the line to enter often wrapped around the iconic North Side. Each year, Bowdish spent months painstakingly expanding the display and crafting new scenes that celebrated the lives and livelihoods of Western Pennsylvanians and our industrial, cultural and agricultural impact on the country and the world from the 1880s to the 1930s.
Today, that tradition is in the capable hands of 29-year-old Nikki Wilhelm, who until a few years ago had never picked up a tiny paint brush — or been to half the places depicted in the Miniature Railroad display at the Carnegie Science Center, where most of the Bowdish materials were relocated in the 1990s.
Ms. Wilhelm, a Lancaster native, is the manager of the Miniature Railroad & Village. She has embraced the craft and the history and the storytelling in the same way Bowdish did 100 years ago.
Ms. Wilhelm explains that she started working at the Carnegie Science Center as a part-time program presenter: “It was an entry level, part-time job. I was in grad school at Duquesne studying public history, and I had no background with model trains or modeling or anything like that.”
Her boss at the time, curator Patty Everly who had been with the Carnegie Science Center for three decades, taught her everything she knows, beginning with miniature modeling. Her first piece was the interior of the iconic Strip District Primanti Brothers restaurant.
It was a craft Ms. Wilhelm admits came naturally to her, to her surprise.
Her office is located right outside the 83-foot-long, 30-foot-wide O-scale railroad exhibit. Walking inside is an astonishing step into the past, where the magic of Bowdish’s Jefferson County basement lives on 103 years later, as she often uses common household items to recreate history for the exhibit.
Ms. Wilhelm picks up a red covered bridge from a shelf and turns it upside down. “I’ll show you something cool that Charlie Bowdish built. You see this bridge? Well, it was made from a Milk-Bone box,” she said, pointing to the label from the dog bone company inside the bridge.
“You really just have to let your imagination run wild because you wouldn’t believe the things you can use to make something: the row houses that we have from the Liverpool streets in Manchester, the intricate detail work on the porches — that’s just made from angel hair pasta,” she explained. “The trees are made from dried wild, hydrangea flowers.”
Ms. Wilhelm’s desk is filled with historical documents for research, a magnifying light, branches from the hydrangea bushes used to make the trees every year — all surrounded by three walls of shelves filled with people, homes, buildings, street lights, trains and paint for a craft that requires year-round care.
The popularity of model railroading has stood the test of time in part because hobbyists each bring a different skill set to the craft, which in turn helps develop others: Artisans love building the model scenery; history buffs enjoy researching and recreating places long gone; engineering types enjoy designing the tracks; and techies love the technological advances in electronics, wiring and the ability to run your train from an app on your smart phone.
Ms. Wilhelm says the models for the exhibit are selected by the leadership team at the Science Center. “We always try to pick something that’s historically, culturally or architecturally significant to not just Pittsburgh but the region. We have scenes from as far north as Brookville. We have Titusville and the Drake oil well, and of course Altoona,” she said.
“We try to diversify it; it’s easy to get stuff with city buildings because there’s so much exciting stuff going on in the city, but we try to branch out — like when we did Cement City a few years ago, that was from Donora,” she said.
What she loves most about the exhibit is watching the expressions on people’s faces, especially older people who appreciate the research required to capture a scene accurately. “One thing that’s really helpful is that our staff, basically everyone was a history major, so we put a lot of effort into making sure everything looks as it did,” she said.
One of her favorite creations was the Kaufmann’s Department store windows. “I just looked up old window display photos in the newspaper archives,” she said of her inspiration to get it perfect.
“Once you’ve worked with the miniature railroad for a while, you kind of get the vibe of the exhibit itself. I mean, many people have worked on it over the years, but it still really has kept its integrity. It looks just like it did when Charlie Bowdish was working on it. So we try to use all those same techniques that have been around since he started it over 100 years ago. Everything that Patty Everly has taught me, I now teach the new people. So we just keep the tradition going,” she said.
Royce Beacom is one of the 17 volunteers available for curious children, parents and grandparents to explain each display and detail to visitors. At home, he says, he does modeling for himself and for his grandchildren: “I have five grandsons between the ages of three and ten who love the train; I am trying to pass that tradition on.”
It’s easy to worry the next generation won’t be interested in carrying forward the baton of tradition — the stories and crafts and ideas that bridge the past, present and future of the places we call home. Ms. Wilhelm is a great example of someone who embodies that spirit, carrying forward a magical tradition that began with a kid from Brookville over 100 years ago.
When Bowdish was asked, in one of his final interviews before passing in 1988, why he continued the exacting, painstaking work year after year, he said: “Everyone regardless of their status in life, reaches out towards life’s ultimate achievement — happiness … privileges, money and possessions are useless unless they make a man happy. To those who have been bored and sickened by the monotony of work in offices, sales, fields and factories, where the only evidence of a day’s work is a headache, nothing to exhibit to friends, nothing to view with pride as an example of skill or handiwork — to those people I say ‘You should have a hobby.’”
Forty years later, Ms. Wilhelm’s answer was pretty similar: “When you have a hobby, any hobby, whatever it may be, you need to have the love and passion to really bring that extra spark, the extra ingredient to bring that fulfillment. When you have that, that is a happiness you earn and that is the most meaningful kind.”
An Oakdale family is praising their teenage son for helping free his father earlier this month after being trapped underneath the truck they were working on.
Matthew Wilkinson said despite getting home late on what should have been a normal Monday night, he couldn’t put off working on the brakes on his work truck. When his teenage son came out to check on him, he enlisted his help, he said. Working on the vehicle, he said, was something they’d done many times before. This time, however, the rotor was stuck.
“I couldn’t get a good angle, so I slid my body underneath the truck and was hitting it,” he said. “The second it popped off, the truck fell. I know it rolled forward because I saw it roll forward and it fell right on top of me. All I could think about was the breath coming out of me. I was just squished. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t yell.”
The family’s home security camera captured the terrifying moment. The accident left Wilkinson with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a separated shoulder, KCRA reported. But while he was in the hospital, he said he couldn’t figure out how he had managed to free himself.
“All this time in the hospital, I’m trying to figure out how did I get out from under the truck,” he said. It was then, he said, he remembered the surveillance cameras.
“I called my kid and had him look at them look at the surveillance camera and they realized that he had lifted the truck enough for me to roll out,” he said.
At 15, Dalin Wilkinson is a freshman at Oakdale High School. He regularly helps his dad out with work on the vehicle.
“It just dropped right on him. I was scared. I heard him make a noise like his soul was leaving his body. It was crazy,” Dalin Wilkinson said. “I just ran over and tried as hard as I could to get it up enough to get him out.”
It was enough.
“My son is my hero. He saved my life,” said his father.
On the morning of November 18th, 7-year-old Keegan Sinclair woke up his parents when he noticed his home was filling with smoke. The family immediately evacuated and noticed a fire on the exterior of the home. The fire was caused by an apparent electrical issue.
Yesterday evening (11/23), White County Fire Service personnel joined by media, community members and the Sinclair Family, recognized Keegan Sinclair at a ceremony held at White County Fire Station Four.
“During this time of year we reflect on things we are thankful for. This Thanksgiving season we are thankful for this young man (Keegan Sinclair) and his quick actions that ultimately saved his family and home,” states David Murphy, Director of the White County Office of Public Safety.
White County Fire Services Division Chief Michael LeFevre states, “All of these firefighters and first responders have gathered this evening to recognize the true hero on this call. If it wasn’t for Keegan and his quick thinking, this call could have ended in a tragedy.”
During the ceremony, Keegan was presented with a Certificate of Recognition by White County Fire Services and a gift basket donated by Chick-fil-a Cleveland. This was followed by Firefighters leading Keegan on a tour of the Fire Engine and Rescue Truck.
There’s very fascinating science behind understanding the depreciation of cars. When a new car is bought, its tendency, almost always, is to decrease in value over time. This is called depreciation, and different cars depreciate at different rates, depending on any number of factors, things as simple as quality, brand, and model, to things as complex as the economy, the market, how many cars sold, its vogue popularity, how many were made, and so on. There are a lot of variables that go into the depreciation rate of a car. These variables are so vastly different that it’s possible for a car to not only never actually depreciate, but instead escalate in value, sometimes drastically, over the years. These are collectible cars, the kind that age, and can be sold at auction for millions.
Updated June 2022: While some new cars may seem like they offer great features, performance, and overall value for the money, their depreciation rates often tell a much different story. We’ve updated this list with even more models proven to have some of the highest five-year depreciation rates.
It’s a mystery, though, because, on the other hand, some cars will lose almost all their value over the course of many years, then with the flip of a switch they rise in value, becoming collector cars. This is why investment in cars can be a risky game to play, but a very rewarding one as well. Some cars hit a baseline and will hold value at that baseline for decades, but some cars seem to have absolutely no bottom at all, plummeting in value year after year. That subject is what this article is all about. The kinds of cars that won’t hold any value, prices crashing drastically.
Here’s a look at 20 cars that will probably be worthless in 5 years.
20/20 Cadillac ATS
Via: Cadillac
The Cadillac brand of cars, from their SUVs to their sedans to their performance cars and sports cars, are all subject to depreciation, the kind of depreciation that makes these cars worthless after 5 years. Of all the cars on this list, Cadillac is one of the ones that face the steepest depreciation values in regard to American cars. They aren’t bad cars, either, so if you’re looking for a good second-hand car, you’ll be able to find an older Cadillac in good shape at quite a good steal, especially compared to their price new.
19/20 Volkswagen Passat
Via: Volkswagen USA
The Volkswagen Passat is one of the most common and prolific Volkswagen models you can buy. It’s marketed for the average car buyer, family, or single person. Naturally, that lends to its tendency to depreciate a lot – very steeply, actually, even though it’s a great, mid-class sedan. It’s safe, it’s reliable, it’s practical, and it’s reasonably priced, even new. You can buy them second-hand for quite cheap, and they’ll still have a lot of longevity for the price.
18/20 Buick Enclave
Via Buick
The Buick Enclave is a car that you should probably never buy new. It’s not a very good car, to begin with, sold new with any number of price increases to cover not only the cost of manufacturing, but also the costs to cover the other facets of the Buick company and give them profit, plus the costs to cover the dealerships and all the car salesmen who sell them. But as soon as you buy one used, all that is stripped away, leaving you with the actual value of the car. Which isn’t a lot, considering they aren’t good SUVs.
17/20 Chrysler 200
favcars.com
Chrysler, while attempting to be a luxury line of cars, really isn’t quite up to par. The company can’t quite get the gumption to actually build their cars with genuine quality, so while they may have features, and look modern, nice, and luxurious, the fact of the matter is that they aren’t built to last, therefore they don’t hold their value.
They don’t hold it at all, depreciating as fast as drivers are able to pay it down. Buying them used may seem like a steal, but beware of the maintenance costs…
16/20 Volkswagen Jetta
via NetCarShow
The Volkswagen Jetta is basically the twin sister of the Passat. It’s a little smaller and starts at a little lower of a price point than the Passat, but it’s one of VW’s most popular models. This, of course, means that they don’t resell for very much money at all. The depreciation is just as steep as the Passat, so after a few years, you can buy them for a lot less than the selling point new.
15/20 BMW 3-Series
Via BMW
A 3-Series BMW is a great car to buy. It really is. It’s sporty, fast, has a great engine, great handling, it’s also practical, and somewhat of a reliable car, too. So you’ll be safe buying one new because it’s a really solid car. But, due to depreciation, you can buy one aftermarket second-hand for significantly less. Yet, you won’t get significantly less quality, because of how well they’re made, and due to the steep depreciation rates. It just makes sense to buy one of these used.
The great new frontier in the car industry is electric. Governments are trying to eliminate combustion engines entirely, even trying to outlaw them, which means that the era of gasoline is quickly coming to an end. For better or worse. But that means that the electric industry is going to begin advancing in leaps and bounds, leaving behind the pioneers in the dust. Soon enough, Tesla cars will seem like dinosaurs, and they won’t hold any of their value. They will depreciate, and who knows if they’ll even have a floor, but there’s no denying the new Model X Plaid is blisteringly fast!
Almost all cars made and manufactured in Germany are subject to some of the steepest depreciation rates of all cars. The best thing about the German cars, though, is that they are made with integrity, no corners cut, and they aren’t cheaply manufactured, unlike some American models that depreciate only because they immediately become unreliable. So if you want to buy an Audi, it’s pretty easy to find one for less than half its selling value. If you find a well-maintained one, that’s good, but if not, you’ll be paying a lot in repairs.
12/20 BMW 5-Series
Via BMW
Buying a BMW new means that you make a lot of money each year, and can afford a pretty expensive car payment each month, and you only care about having the nicest thing possible, no matter how good of a value it is (or isn’t). Buying a BMW used means that you’re a pretty smart person because you can have a model that’s only a couple of years older, almost the same quality, yet less than half the price of the new one. This means you can have that suave, luxurious, powerful, German-engineered sedan for a lot smaller monthly payment than the new one.
11/20 Fiat 500L
via netcarshow.com
The biggest factor leading to the depreciation rates of the Fiat 500L is more than likely due to the fact that it isn’t desirable. It’s ugly, lumpy, has no track record for being reliable (yet, at least) and it’s a bad sign when it doesn’t sell well new because it’s so ugly. Within the first year, it depreciated significantly. Now, at some point in the far future, we could see this car maybe spiking back up again, being a funky, retro, vintage car. But, then again, it seems like the kind of car that may need to just be forgotten in the annals of time.
10/20 Cadillac CTS
source: favcars
The Cadillac CTS is a car that will plummet in value over the next five years, and it’s almost guaranteed that this car will be worth well below half its selling price very, very soon.
All Cadillacs are subject to very steep depreciation rates, due to the fact that they don’t really have longevity, or much allure once they’re no longer new. A CTS is a pretty fast car, especially the CTS-V, and it’s possible for it to be yours on a budget, as long as you do the shopping right and pick a good one.
9/20 Kia Sedona
Via Carpixel
Minivans never do all that well in the used car market, not when it comes to retaining their value, anyway. The Kia Sedona has been on a trend of pretty steep depreciation for all of its past models, so it’s fairly safe to say that the newest models will be subject to the same thing. The Sedona will however be replaced by the Kia Carnival, and only time will tell if they both face the same demise.
There are just so many different minivans in the market, once they’re second hand they just don’t sell for much. If you’re looking for a minivan, and you’ve got a big family with not-so-big of a budget, second-hand is the way to go.
8/20 Range Rover Evoque
Via: NetCarShow
One aspect that drastically influences a car’s depreciation rate is reliability, and unfortunately, all Land Rover products are prone to break way too often, so it’s no surprise to see the Evoque end up on this list. The Evoque is a compact SUV meant for those who crave parking on sidewalks more than conquering rough terrain – a pavement princess if you will. Buying one of these gorgeous SUVs today isn’t cheap either coming in at a base price of $44,000, and that’s excluding any options.
7/20 Audi A8
Audi
As we move through this list, you’ll see a common pattern start to form: German luxury cars. While they may be exquisite to be the passenger or even the driver, they’re prone to losing value fast over a short period. These large Audi-built limousines are seriously underrated, especially if you have your hands on an S8, but buying a new one is as good as flushing money down the drain. Well, that’s of course assuming you like spending your wisely, but if you’re really rolling in the cash, go ahead and buy this one, we’ll take it off the used lot in a few years
6/20 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Via: Caricos.com
There’s nothing quite like realizing you can have a six-figure car for the price of a Toyota Corolla. It has an electrically satisfying, palpable excitement. Or, it’s the dreaded, twisting, dark knot of anxiety in your stomach knowing that your car is depreciating faster than you can even pay it down. Which, if you buy a Mercedes new, that is a serious concern and worry.
Mercedes sedans will be virtually worthless within five years of their being manufactured, especially compared to their selling price. Unless it’s a unique model, then it might increase in value, like the E63 Wagon.
It’s an unfortunate sight to see such amazing cars as the BMW 7-Series subject to such precipitous depreciation values. These cars are extraordinarily well-made, they are quite reliable, they are luxurious, good to drive, and powerful.
Electric cars have aggressive depreciation values, worse than a lot of gasoline cars on the market right now. The Nissan Leaf is just one of these electric cars, and while it’s one of the most beloved electric car models out there, it doesn’t insulate it from depreciation. The market for second-hand electric vehicles isn’t very high, which means that you’ll find these cheap.
The issues of battery life and battery longevity are really something that becomes a big problem fairly soon after manufacture. Pair that with the soon-to-come advancements in the industry, and you’ve got two nails in the coffin.
3/20 Lincoln MKZ
Via: Lincoln
You’ll find a lot of cars pretty similar to this one in this list. There’s just nothing that really is valuable about a Lincoln MKZ because there’s nothing special about it. Even if it’s made nicely, and even if it’s reliable and safe, that doesn’t mean it’s safe from depreciation. There are a lot of cars like this in the market, and so as soon as they’re not new anymore they lose any scraps of value they had new. Things only get worse if the MKZ proves to be unreliable or poorly made.
2/20 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz, one of the leading car manufacturers in the world, makes and sells some of the greatest, best performing, and most luxurious sedans, sports cars, and SUVs that you can buy, especially if they have an AMG badge. Since they are a luxury brand, they can get away with selling their cars for high prices new. High quality = high price. But they won’t keep that high price for long, as Mercedes by and large falls prey to some of the worst depreciation rates a car can face. If you’re dreaming of a Merc, just wait a couple of years and that dream will be within reach.
1/20 Maserati Quattroporte
via Maserati
To end off this list, we have the worst of the bunch, a superfast, striking, Italian sedan produced by Maserati, the Quattroporte. If you happen to find one of these on the used market with relatively low mileage and clean service history, it might not be a bad idea to pick one up, especially considering it had a screeching Ferrari-derived V8 under its hood. But ownership is where the problems begin as Maserati couldn’t fully figure out what to do with the electronics, and if something were to go wrong with your Ferrari engine… that’d be a costly matter to attend to.
Marnus Moolman is a young aspiring automotive writer from South Africa who is making a name for himself, despite his young age. Currently, he is studying to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting to pursue his lifetime dream of running
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