Now called the Willis Tower, the department store giant Sears once owned this Chicago landmark. The stepped-back upper floors were designed to yield a maximum window-to-floor ratio to make it attractive for tenants. Not having a gallery on the architectural ingenuity of the architecture of the tower is a missed Read more…
When the John Hancock Building in Chicago was completed in 1969 it was the second tallest building in the world after the Empire State Building, but only if you include the height of its 350-foot tall spires. Today, it’s roof height of 344 meters is barely remarkable. The observation deck Read more…
The MSI in Chicago is one of the better science museums I’ve visited in North America, it’s probably my second favorite on the continent after the Canada Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa and undoubtedly my favorite along the great lakes. Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit have nothing comparable to Read more…
I had a field day at the Field Museum, it’s basically Chicago‘s museum of natural and human history. The entrance is graced by a titanosaurus skeleton composed of six dinosaurs looking over a pair of fighting elephants. The place is six museums in one. There are three special exhibitions, an Read more…
The iconic salty and fatty pork bricks sold in over 40 countries around the world came from Austin, Minnesota. Each country sells and cooks Spam in their own way and the museum showcases the respective different packaging and recipe from major markets such as Korea, the Philippines, and China. Staff Read more…
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…
The International Professional Rodeo Association based in Alberta held its 2022 Canada finals in St. Tite, a small town of 3,000 in Quebec. I’ve been to the annual Festival Western de Saint Tite in 2021 when it first reopened after the pandemic. The biggest difference between the western festival and Read more…
Not actually a castle in the classical European sense, but still a grand 20th-century home. Casa Loma in Toronto is the only true castle remaining in North America. The museum in the ornate Beaux-Arts home in Montreal records the life of the wealthy Dufresne family and how the rich lived Read more…
A very, very local museum all in French in the heart of Montreal‘s Centre-Sud community is a must-see to learn about how the industrial revolution impacted work conditions and leisure in the city. I can think of no better-suited province than labor-friendly Quebec to interpret the issues of child labor, Read more…
Effectively the Trois-Rivières museum of industry, Boréalis is housed inside the former water treatment plant of Canadian International Paper. There used to be four paper plants in the city with the CIP being the last to close. A long long time ago, it was powered by the water that ran Read more…