West Great Lakes Holidays

USA, North America

the great lakes holiday and accomodation guide

The western Great Lakes states of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota have plenty of outdoor recreational opportunities with heaps of areas designated for fishing and canoeing, and plenty of vacation property rentals as well as camping grounds. Go Indy Racing at Indianapolis or visit the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. There are also numerous historical sites and landmarks to visit as well, including the classical Renaissance-style cathedral in St. Paul, Minnesota, and historic landmarks for the Lewis and Clark expedition in Hartford, Illinois.

Western Great Lakes Holidays Planner

For outdoor activities in Illinois, you may want to visit Murphysboro at the Little Grand Canyon Trail and walk down the stone steps cut into the eroded chutes in 300 foot cliffs. At Pere Marquette State Park Trail you can view the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. In Indiana You may want to visit the Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan with its dunes and beaches. While in Minnesota, the land of 10, 000 Lakes, you can visit Itatsca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi, and in Lorain, Ohio you can enjoy kayaking on the Black River and Lake Erie and use the opportunity to spot the abundant wildlife in the region.

In Minnesota at Forestville, you can find Mystery Cave State park which is nice to visit in spring, summer, and fall because the caverns maintain a constant temperature. On the surface in the park there is a restored village, while the caverns underneath, discovered in 1937 reveal a network of passages over thirteen miles long full of fossils, flowstone, and underground pools.

The Birch Coulee Battlefield, three miles north of Morton Town, was one of the more important battles of the Civil War.

In Minneapolis you can stroll through the Sculpture Garden for a view of public art, or see the stone arch bridge, a unique bridge that is 2100 feet in length and spans the Mississippi. In St. Paul Mississippi, you won't want to miss the Winter Carnival in early February with snow sculpting and ice sculpting competitions and parades.

If you find yourself wanting to take it easy and relax by the lakeshore in Illinois, you may want to consider renting a lakefront vacation property in Winnetka. This all-American town has been featured in many blockbuster movies such as Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It is a great place to unwind and enjoy to the lake breezes. Bloomington-Normal has several historic neighbourhoods and a town that has become the corporate headquarters for State Farm and Mitsubishi Motors.

In Wisconsin, a must-see is the Circus World Museum. This museum is located on the original site for the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers Circus and the area still hosts a circus in the summer. Here you can see over 200 circus wagons, old handbills, and posters from the era before travelling circuses were supplanted by televisions and movie theatres as family entertainment.

Head to Madison to visit the sunken garden at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, or see the memorabilia of the Wisconsin Veteran's Museum.

Great Lakes Accommodation Guide
Whether you want to camp, fish, kayak, or canoe, there are few areas where you will find so much freshwater shoreline to explore as these Great Lake States.