Austin, 90 minutes south of Minneapolis, is most well known to be the birthplace of Hormel’s Spam meat invented by George A. Hormel in 1937. His house is now a museum. Along with the Spam Museum, these two locations are the biggest tourism draws to the town. Parking is free Read more
There’s no place to have Buffalo wings like at Anchor Bar in downtown Buffalo which invented the dish. Hundreds of license plates hang on the walls that the restaurant claims are from visitors all over the world – just don’t ask how they drove back home without plates. Be sure Read more
Located in the south of Tacoma and just an hour away from Seattle, LeMay’s America’s Car Museum has over 300 classics on display from around the world. The main level has red Alfa Romeos, then you corkscrew your way down three floors before coming back up. The sloped design of Read more
Like the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, the Washington State Museum in Tacoma isn’t in its state capital but it’s not in the largest city Seattle either. If it weren’t for the museums, there would be no reason to visit Tacoma. The museum starts with a quick overview of prehistoric Read more
Tacoma isn’t just the name of a Japanese pickup truck, it’s a real place – a harbor between the state capital Olympia and the state’s largest city Seattle. The real draw to this city is its museums suck ass the maritime museum, the State History Museum, the LeMay car museum, Read more
The state capital of Washington is a sleepy city called Olympia. It was known as Cheetwood to the indigenous peoples before being renamed by the Europeans. Washington became American territory in 1853 and a wood capitol was built. The current legislative building wasn’t completed until 1928. The Capitol Building has Read more
Admission to the OMSI in Portland is pretty steep at $13 excluding special exhibitions. The main level has a gift shop, auditorium, and a kid-friendly science hall with interactive exhibits in a former power station. The natural sciences gallery upstairs has an excellent display of preserved human embryos from one Read more
The historical society in Portland runs the state’s history museum. Of the three levels, only the top floor is a permanent exhibition on the state’s natural and human history, everything else changes seasonally to keep exhibits fresh. There’s only street parking, so turn up early to grab a good spot. Read more
Salem may be Oregon’s state capital but Portland is the city everyone knows. It’s got that fresh forest air mixed in with salty sea winds. Gulls squawk over progressive neighbourhoods with slogans that wouldn’t be out of place in Southern California. I visited the Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon Read more
The museum in Boise interprets the path and impact Basque people have had in the US, mostly in Mexico and California. The museum building was built in 1912 for Juan Cruz Anduiza for Basque shepherds who spent winter in Boise. Large numbers of Basque moved to California in the nineteenth Read more