Underground Railroad, Alton, Missouri

Among the winding brick side streets and towering Victorian homes of Alton, Illinois, lies a silent railroad.

“There were about seven different lines of the underground railroad running through Alton at different times,” said Eric Robinson, a history professor at Lewis and Clark Community College who gives tours of the city’s most prominent historical sites.

Bordered by the Mississippi River, Alton is only 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, and on a clear day the city skyline is visible from the crests of the hills. Of more interest, however, is the amount of history that exists in and around the spectacular views and stunning architecture in Alton.

Shatto Milk Company, Osborn, Missouri

The products of Shatto Milk Company are vast. Their milk does not just come in the typical whole, 2%, 1% or skim, but includes other uniquely flavored milks such as chocolate, orange crème, strawberry, root beer and banana.

“We just want to make milk fun,” said Leroy Shatto, who even made a batch of cotton candy-flavored milk for Family Day this past year.

What started as a family-owned dairy farm located just north of Kansas City in Osborn, Missouri has grown into an award-winning small business that welcomes thousands of visitors each year.

Shatto said people occasionally are skeptical when they hear of these products, but once they try them, they realize what a treat they actually are. In addition to milk, Shatto Milk Company also produces cream, fruit punch, iced tea, butter and seasonal eggnog.

The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery, Kimmswick, Missouri 

Imagine a homemade apple pie that is so big it takes 18 apples to fill it, was named after a flood barrier, and has appeared on television twice because of its originality.

This is not a typical pie that can be found in an average grocery store. The Levee High Apple Pie is only one of the many desserts created by The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in Kimmswick, Missouri.

Between its irresistible charm and inviting menu, The Blue Owl has taken flight since it began more than two decades ago.

Instead of France, Spain or Egypt, try Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. There’s a plethora of towns in these states that chose to identify with world-renowned cities by picking distinctively cosmopolitan monikers. For whatever reason, the founders of these towns decided against assigning them more destination-appropriate names like Cornville or Hogtopia, perhaps thinking ahead to possible tourist implications. After all, wouldn’t you jump at the chance to hit up historic Brooklyn? Iowa, that is. No skyscrapers in this little corner of the Corn State.

It borders on ridiculous when you begin to actually compare some of these towns with their international counterparts. Take Paris, for example. The Missouri destination had a whopping population of an estimated 1,458 in 2006, not quite the millions you would find in France. I should probably give up on strolling to the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame, at least on this continent. Paris does have a church, St. Francis Cabrini, but that sounds more Italian than French to me.

Can’t get into Cuba? Neither can anyone else, unless you’d like to visit the lovely hamlet of Cuba, Illinois instead. There are many fabulous tourist spots to check out, including the Spoon River Public Library, where many valuable books wait to be checked out. Not exactly on par with Guantanamo Bay, but at least they aren’t ruled by a dictator.

Outside the Steiger Haus Bed and Breakfast, the cobblestone streets of St. Genevieve, Missouri, are silent. Late afternoon sunlight filters through lace curtains onto hardwood floors, illuminating an antique buffet and several bright landscape paintings.

The stillness is broken as the door opens and a small crowd of people filter in, filling the front room and moving back into a dining area with separate groups of tables and chairs. Dave Thompson, one of the first to enter into the sunlit sitting room, laughs and gestures to the staff, saying, “I’ll give someone 100 bucks to tell me who done it.” A few mysterious smiles light in response, but no one can answer.

Within the next few hours, he and the other guests at the bed and breakfast will take on different personas, enact a fictional art auction and witness deception, drugs and murder. By lunchtime the next day, they will have explained it all.

For the last 18 years, more than 55,000 guests from around the world have taken part in one of more than 72 murder mysteries written by the owner of Steiger Haus, Rob Beckerman, who writes under the alias J. Masterson.

Beckerman, who grew up in the original Steiger Haus location (at its peak, the murder mysteries were run out of three separate houses), converted the house into a bed and breakfast and was searching for a way to increase winter reservations when he heard of another hotel running murder mysteries for guests. So he wrote a mystery and tried it.

Although the name suggests otherwise, the City Museum is not a typical museum. It offers a variety of attractions that appeal to a wide range of ages and is helping to breathe new life into the Washington district of St. Louis, Missouri. 

Before entering the Museum, visitors gaze up in wonder at the colossal structure before them: the MonstroCity. The MonstroCity is an outdoor playground complete with tunnels, slides, a ball pit and more stacked on top of each other in an intricate design. This work of art is most spectacular when brought to life by the movement and laughter of the people exploring its great heights.

All of the materials used on the MonstroCity come from various buildings around St. Louis that have been welded together. This play haven also boasts two abandoned planes that were damaged in the ’93 flood of the Missouri River and have been incorporated as part of the structure.

Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival, Adel, Iowa

Although many people only turn to sheep as a last resort on a sleepless night, at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, sheep — and the people who devote their lives to them — are given the chance to shine.

Walking into the Dallas County Fairgrounds on a Saturday morning in early June, the scene is quiet enough to distinguish individual ‘baas’ from barns around the property and the patter of little hooves in the sandy arenas. Visitors soon discover that what at first appears to be a festival in distress is actually an intimate, low-key family affair on the verge of an afternoon explosion of patrons, most of them eager sheep enthusiasts.

Wildlife Prairie Park, Peoria, Illinois 

Tucked away quietly near the urban hub of Peoria, Illinois rests the 2000-acre sanctuary of Wildlife Prairie Park. Home to more than 50 native species of animal such as coyotes, foxes, otters, deer and buffalo, the park offers an opportunity to observe the fauna of Illinois in a naturalistic habitat. The winding forest paths and picturesque scenery are a far cry from the traditional animal zoo, which is exactly why many visitors are drawn to the park each year. It’s a pleasant experience for families, said General Manager Linda Prescott. 

The park was established as an offshoot project of the Brookfield Zoo of Chicago, beginning as a region to host exotic endangered animals. When the Brookfield Zoo decided to cancel its plans for the park, William Rutherford of the Forest Park Foundation, the original donor of the 480 acres of woodland for the project, decided to utilize the land to create “an untapped natural resource to pay tribute to America at the time of the pioneers and establish a zoological park dedicated to Illinois,” said Kelly Stickelmaier, public relations coordinator at the park. In 1977, Rutherford opened the park temporarily as a birthday gift to his wife Hazel.

Rutherford said he originally planned to spend less than $1 million dollars on the project, but since then it has cost the Peoria Park System more than $7 million. His love and dedication to the park extends well beyond monetary means, and the service and care that has been put into the exhibits is visible. 

Hamburg Inn No. 2, Iowa City, Iowa 

Hidden in the depths of downtown Iowa City, the Hamburg Inn No. 2 looked like most other diners – but when Ronald Reagan stopped in for the meatloaf special, everything changed.

“He had been an announcer for sports radio in Des Moines, so there was a history there,” said Dave Panther, owner of the Hamburg Inn. “Unfortunately I wasn’t here when he stopped in – I was out making a balloon delivery as a court jester. By the time I came in, he was out.”

That’s right, Panther also works part-time as a professional clown.

His restaurant started out modestly enough, but it has grown into something of an exception in the world of family-owned, mom-and-pop-type establishments. Its reputation was built by countless appearances in travel magazines, newspapers, even a TV show or two and as local destinations go, it’s a little slice of Midwestern Americana with a twist – part of it due to political star power.