Off The Beaten Path - U.S. Midwest

We're always looking for new and off-the-beaten-path destinations and since it’s Thanksgiving week, look no further than your own backyard. These Midwestern finds feature great small towns, adventures and more.

Drives
These few suggestions can also be classified as adventures, but just sit back and enjoy the journey with no particular destination in mind.

Smoky Valley, Kansas A 60-mile scenic route winds through gentle, morning mist-veiled central Kansas hills.

Historic Hills, Iowa Follow the Des Moines River through sleepy onetime riverboat stops known as the Villages of Van Buren in southeast Iowa.

Land of the Cross-tipped Churches, Ohio See grand churches built by German and 
other settlers along a 38-mile western Ohio route. 

Outdoors

There is nothing to compare to the great outdoors.

Matthiessen State Park, Utica, Illinois Next to the ravines and waterfalls of Starved Rock State Park, the smaller Matthiessen has some of the same terrain but is less crowded.

Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area, Indiana Trails run through deep woods in Hoosier National Forest, 70 miles south of Indianapolis. 

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area, Manistee, Michigan In this area, you could very easily have a Lake Michigan beach to yourself.

Adventures
Valentine, Nebraska You'll hear Smith Falls before you get a clear view through the foliage. If it's a summer day, you also might hear yelps as other adventurers step into the icy, 70-foot, spring-fed shower, a ritual of canoeing down north-central Nebraska's Niobrara River.

Overlooking the waterway nearly 300 miles northwest of Omaha, this ranch town (population: 3,000) serves as the base for any number of outdoor activities and spectacular landscape--the unspoiled river, its forested valley and the surrounding pine-studded Sandhills.

A cruise on the reliably floatable Niobrara, a National Scenic River, is the centerpiece of most treks here. But lots of outdoorsy types come for fishing, cycling and camping, too. Hikers with binoculars stroll the trails of Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, a haven for some 260 bird species. 

Taum Sauk Mountain State Park, Missouri South of St. Louis, the state's highest point has a network of hiking trails leading to scenery as dramatic as the better-known southwestern Missouri Ozarks. 

Gypsum Hills, Kansas Mountain biking along a scenic byway reveals beautiful red-rock buttes and canyons in the southwest part of the state. 

Small Towns
Arrow Rock and Blackwater, Missouri 
Two-lane highways wind through woods and past farms and you might feel as though you've traveled back in time. Spend some time in Arrow Rock and Blackwater and you'll find a great blend of past and present. The dining room in the restored Iron Horse Hotel, serves some skillful dishes and the historic schoolhouse holds a gift shop. A Gothic Revival church has become the Lyceum Theater, staging Broadway-style productions.

Come enjoy a way of life that's disappeared everywhere else. 

Paxico, Kansas No one really knows how this remnant of pioneer days survived 30 miles west of Topeka, just north of I-70. However, there are some buildings from the 1800s that now hold antiques and specialty shops. 

US-12 towns, Michigan Three Oaks, Coldwater, Jonesville and other pretty, historic towns with shops, inns and even a drive-in theater dot the original Chicago-Detroit road. 

Brownville, Nebraska  located 75 miles south of Omaha on the Missouri River, this village boasts an old-time paddle wheeler that you can cruise the Missouri River. It also has art galleries and a theater. 

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you with all your business and leisure travel needs. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com.

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc.
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona 85308-3793
602-843-5100
rawhidetravel.com