A lot of tourist attractions claim to have “something for everyone.” While few actually live up to the billing, Wilstem Wildlife Park in Southern Indiana is an exception.  You like exotic animals from around the world? Wilstem has them. Animals from down under? Got those. You like native North American critters? Wilstem has them …… Continue reading.

If winter’s usual hibernation — now coupled with COVID-19 isolation — gives you a double whammy of cabin fever in the coming weeks, the antidote right up your alley might be antiques … and a road trip to Indiana’s Antique Alley. “There’s never a bad time to antique,” said Beth Leisure, who, with her husband,… Continue reading.

Santa Claus or his stand-ins are everywhere this time of year … on street corners, in parades and in malls. As beloved as he is, seeing Santa has become almost humdrum — as ubiquitous as he is. But seeing his tiny reindeer? That’s a whole other matter! Inquisitive kiddies always ask about the reindeer after… Continue reading.

The restorative power of nature is a recurrent theme in literature, music and art. And if ever Hoosiers could use a little restorative power, it’s right about now. If you are looking to get away this month, but maybe not to a crowded or far away place, Indiana offers a diverse group of public campgrounds…. Continue reading.

The late legendary singer Johnny Cash rode the “train song” genre through his career until he ran out of track. One of his songs lamented the passing of the American passenger train as the main mode of transportation. “In this fast-moving world that we live in, nobody rides them much these days,” he sang.  If… Continue reading.

Long before electric cooperatives began stringing silver strands of singing wire across rural America in the 1930s, the rhythmic chatter of windmills performed many of the tasks needed to make America grow. Every farm, ranch and railroad stop had those mechanical marvels of wood and steel blades and fins to pump water and do other… Continue reading.

Hoosier musical artist John Mellencamp has achieved international fame for over 40 years punching out a unique brand of rootsy rock’n’roll. Mellencamp’s radio-station standards — like “Hurts So Good,” “Jack and Diane,” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” and “Rain on the Scarecrow” — have ranged from catchy Top 40 tunes about teenage romance and rebellion to… Continue reading.

In the hush across Indiana’s wintry hinterlands soon will come a tap, tap, tapping and a drip, drip, dripping as the days get longer and warmer. That’s the sound of spring a-coming. That’s the sound of maple syrup season.  As sap starts running up from the trunks of maple trees this time of year, Hoosiers… Continue reading.

Who doesn’t love the opening of “A Charlie Brown’s Christmas”? Giant puffy snowflakes float from the sky; the Peanuts gang is out skating on a glistening frozen pond. But if you grew up in the lower three-quarters of Indiana, chances are you probably never experienced the exhilaration or beauty of skating all bundled up outdoors… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever If words and phrases like: “You’ll shoot your eye out” “Triple-dog dare” “Fragil-ee” and “Oh, fuuuuuudge!!” immediately bring smiles to your face and visions of BBs ricocheting in your head, have we found a home for you this holiday season! Hammond’s “‘A Christmas Story’ Comes Home” is a holiday exhibit and… Continue reading.

The simplicity of a “Currier and Ives Christmas” may seem long ago and far away. But it can be as near as your breath in the frosty air before you if you plan to spend just a little time in Shipshewana this holiday season. The northern Indiana town and the surrounding LaGrange County, home to… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever Haunted houses and creepy corn mazes are crawling with chain-saw slinging Jasons, razor-fingered Freddy Kruegers, and other gory ghouls from Hollywood this time of year. But as you might expect from a living history museum, Conner Prairie digs a little deeper into American fright night folklore to scare up its brand… Continue reading.