In downtown Columbia, Missouri, a gust of wind catches a rainbow-striped flag, sending it into a swirling dance with a peace flag hanging a few feet away. A shopper looks up to watch the flags, then down to notice the small doorway below them, nearly hidden among the busy shops and trendy restaurants lining Broadway. Curious, she peers inside, then descends a set of creaky stairs, like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, to the Peace Nook.

The Peace Nook is a non-profit store and community resource center operated by Mid-Missouri Peaceworks. Peaceworks, which formed in 1982 to oppose nuclear weapons, works to promote public awareness about peace, diversity, energy and sustainability issues. The Peace Nook carries products that support the organization’s goals, such as fair trade imports and books, T-shirts and bumper stickers promoting Peaceworks’ ideology.

Mark Haim, Director of Mid-Missouri Peaceworks, has been with the organization since shortly after it was founded, when he started as a volunteer. Haim, who studied social science as an undergraduate and did graduate work in economics, said he has spent most of his adult life working on the problems Peaceworks tries to solve.

Council Bluffs, Iowa

From the outside, the museum looks like an average brick building. There is only one peculiarity — bars over the windows.

Built during the 19th century in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the Squirrel Cage Jail housed local criminals in addition to the jailer’s family. Today, the jail is preserved as a museum.

HISTORY AND EXPLANATION OF THE JAIL

In 1884, Cottonwood Jail burned down and the county was forced to house prisoners in a single room in the courthouse basement. The “Squirrel Cage,” as locals know it, is a rotary or “lazy-Susan” style jailhouse, built in 1885.

The rotary design of the jail was chosen for the Pottawattamie County Jail because the facility was designed to hold about 60 prisoners with only one jailer. However, there are accounts of as many as five men being put in each two-man cell. Each cell consisted of two bunks and a small privy, or primitive toilet system, in the inner part of the cell.

In Whittington, Illinois, the Southern Illinois Art & Artisan Center holds a vast array of treasures from pottery, crystal and wood furniture to fiber arts and photography. Every inch of wall is adorned with artwork that catches the eye of visitors, whether they are looking for decorative items or something more functional.

The idea for the center originated with former Illinois governor James R. Thompson’s dream to provide Illinois residents with a rich appreciation for the arts. Thompson viewed artists as small businesses and wanted to develop a way for them to expand and gain more publicity and notoriety. He wanted an art gallery that showcased artwork from Illinois residents to make their work more available to the public.

The Illinois Artisans Program was created with the help of members from the Illinois State Museum. The first artisan center was established in 1985 in Chicago, where Ellen Gantmer, art supporter and Chicago native, took the role as the first manager. The artisan center in Whittington was built in 1990. Today, there are four locations, including Springfield and Dickson Mounds. The program will celebrate its 25th year in 2010.

In December of 1803, Meriwether Lewis set up camp on the River Dubois in Illinois with many of the men who would later make up the Corps of Discovery.

During their stay at Camp River Dubois, the Corps trained to survive the conditions of the wilderness, hired more men for the journey and gathered supplies. Without the months of preparation at the camp, their campaign would not have been a success. The men’s stories during their time at River Dubois are preserved through the care of the volunteers and manager at Camp River Dubois Lewis and Clark Museum.

Museum Manager Brad Winn works to preserve the stories of the Corps. Winn said his goal is to educate people about what really happened at Camp River Dubois and to rebuke the idea that Lewis and the Corps of Discovery left from St. Louis to begin the campaign.

In one of the museum’s rooms, visitors will find a log cabin, barrels of fake food, beads and cloth. Large audio-visual exhibits talk about the history of the camp as well as display letters that the men wrote in their diaries. Winn said this exhibit provides information about the methods Lewis and Clark used to pick the men they wanted on the journey with them.

Downtown St. Louis is monotonous. Grids of office buildings circle other office buildings. A handful of stadiums and high-class hotels inhabit the blocks unoccupied by businesses. The city is gray, except for two green blocks, appropriately named Citygarden.

The garden sits on what used to be two lots of vacant land between Eighth and Tenth and Market and Chestnut Streets. Twenty-four sculptures from world-renowned artists, including Donald Baechler, Niki de Saint Phalle and George Rickey, are scattered throughout the park and surrounded by plants native to Missouri.

The northeast corner of the park features the Terrace View, an indoor and outdoor restaurant that serves Mediterranean, Italian and French cuisine for lunch and dinner to park visitors.

Beijing, China

I was tired as hell. Spending 14 hours in a suffocating aircraft, choking down slimy eggplant will do that.

The hotel bed urged me to sink into its clean white sheets, so I gladly did after a moment’s triumph. “I’ve finally arrived,” I thought, and remarkably so after that verbal struggle with the taxi driver, who didn’t seem to know his way around the city. Head on the pillow, nodding off with the Chinese news screaming H1N1 in the background, I glanced to my left and saw it.

The entire shower was clearly visible through the glass pane next to my bed. My first thought was that I would have to lather up in full view of my roommate, someone whom I met only hours before. But on the outside of the glass, not far out of reach from my position on the bed, was a thick privacy curtain.

The art of storytelling might be dead. Still, in the city of Chicago, the art of telling stories about the dead seems to be quite alive.

In the basement of a nightclub called Excalibur, spooky tales are the substance of the show titled Supernatural Chicago. The show began on Friday the 13th, 2003. Since then, it has run each Friday evening, year-round, with additional shows leading up to Halloween.

On one typical night, the audience gathered in the uncertainty of a candlelit basement and took their seats as an unsure, unacquainted group. Silently, a man descended the winding stairs, his face solemn. The room grew still and eyes strained to catch the first glimpse of the storyteller. There in the center of the room, he held his audience’s attention.

Urbandale, Iowa

The smells of sweet homemade apple pie, harsh print shop ink and woodsy, smoky campfires greet guests as they take a walking tour through Iowa’s history.

Living History Farms is a 500-acre outdoor museum in Urbandale, Iowa. Visitors progress through four time periods in Iowa’s history, including a 1700 Ioway Indian tribe site, an 1850 pioneer farm, a 1900 farm and an 1875 town.

Former Iowa State University professor William Murray created the living museum in 1970 after two unsuccessful runs for Iowa governor. Jennie Derr, marketing and public relations director, said Murray decided to give back to Iowa in a different way.

Grinnell, Iowa

At the Carriage House Bed and Breakfast, a relaxing stay in the dollhouse-like home is served with a warm cup of Irish hospitality.

Victorian architecture epitomized by a sweeping veranda conjures images of the 1890s upper-crust of Grinnell, Iowa — mingling, waltzing house-guests in prim dresses and suits. Almost unnoticed on the side of the house, a small covered entryway evokes images of gussied-up Victorian women stepping out of their carriages and onto the shielded area so as not to muddy their fine footwear.

Dorothy Spriggs, manager and co-owner of the Carriage House with her husband Ray, said running a bed and breakfast was always in the back of her mind while growing up.