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Holiday Travel Packes in the Heartland

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Get and up close view of holiday travel package ideas in the Heartland USA
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66 June 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com T he holidays are a great time for groups to explore the Midwest, where festivities abound in towns large and small. CHICAGO Let’s begin in Chicago, the region’s largest city and one that goes all out for the holidays. The season begins on the Saturday afternoon before Thanksgiv- ing with the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. As the parade travels down North Michigan Avenue, more than one million white lights adorning the trees illuminate the city’s prime shop- ping street. Also lit for the holidays are Lincoln Park Zoo with its ZooLights Dreamy visions of Christmases past come to life at Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee. Holidays in the Heartland john kloster Midwest Christmas shoppers in Chicago make a beeline to North Michigan Avenue. Christmas traditions warm travelers’ spirits in some of the region’s most group-friendly places Courtesy of the Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion
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Page 1: Holiday Travel Packes in the Heartland

66 June 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

The holidays are a great time forgroups to explore the Midwest,

where festivities abound in towns largeand small.

CHICAGOLet’s begin in Chicago, the region’s

largest city and one that goes all out forthe holidays. The season begins on theSaturday afternoon before Thanksgiv-ing with the Magnificent Mile LightsFestival. As the parade travels downNorth Michigan Avenue, more thanone million white lights adorning thetrees illuminate the city’s prime shop-ping street. Also lit for the holidays areLincoln Park Zoo with its ZooLights

Dreamy visions of

Christmases past come

to life at Pabst Mansion

in Milwaukee.

Holidays in the Heartland

� john kloster Midwest

Christmas shoppers in Chicago make a beeline to North Michigan Avenue.

Christmas traditions warm travelers’ spirits in some of the region’s most group-friendly places

Cou

rtesy

of t

he C

apta

in F

rede

rick

Pabs

t Man

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Page 2: Holiday Travel Packes in the Heartland

LeisureGroupTravel.com June 2010 67

and Navy Pier, where Winter Wonder-Fest activities lure crowds to Chicago’smost popular tourist magnet.

Christmas Around the World at theMuseum of Science & Industry hasbeen a Chicago tradition for over 60years. More than 50 trees are decoratedto honor different ethnic groups. Anewer tradition is Christkindlmarket,dating to 1996. Held in Daley Plaza, thisis the largest German Christmas marketin the country. The goods, many hand-made, include glass ornaments, cuckooclocks, toys and nutcrackers. There arealso vendors offering traditional Germansausage and sauerkraut as well as Ger-man beer and wine. (explorechicago.org)

MILWAUKEEA Grand Avenue Christmas, held

Nov. 19-Jan. 9 in Milwaukee, is an an-nual event that showcases the 37-room

Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion,built in the 1890s by a beer baron,whose brewery at the time was thelargest in the world. Interior design-ers, florists and residents are broughtin to make a dozen or so of the opu-lent rooms even more so. Each roomis decorated differently each season,so there’s every reason to make returnvisits. The home also hosts DickensDinners in December. This is a tra-ditional English feast where Dickenshimself reads sections from the clas-sic A Christmas Carol. (pabstman-sion.com)

FRANKENMUTH, MICHIGANThere’s Christmas shopping and

then there’s Christmas shopping!Bronner’s Christmas Wonderlandin the charming German village ofFrankenmuth is the world’s largest

Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood is home

to A Christmas Story House and Museum.

Midwest

Page 3: Holiday Travel Packes in the Heartland

Christmas store. It offers over 50,000different items in a building the size of5½ football fields. More than 350Christmas trees are adorned with 6,000ornaments. The 27 acres of grounds arelandscaped with Christmas displays,and there’s a nightly year-round displayof outdoor lights along ChristmasLane, with life-size Nativity scenes out-side each entrance. Its more than twomillion annual visitors, including morethan 2,000 groups, make it one of thestate’s top attractions. Bronner’s onlyhas snacks, so groups will want to headinto downtown Frankenmuth for aniconic family-style chicken dinner at ei-ther the Bavarian Inn or Zehnder’s.(bronners.com)

CLEVELANDThe 1983 film A Christmas Story had

modest success in theaters but has sincebecome a classic, running around theclock on cable during the holidays. AChristmas Story House and Museum,located in Cleveland’s Tremont neigh-borhood, is the original family homefrom the film in which Ralphie is hop-ing for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christ-mas. The home was purchased by a fanin 2004 and has been renovated tomatch the sound stage of the film so vis-itors can see sights such as the OldMan’s leg lamp in the front window.There are also hundreds of photographsand original props, such as the “I can’tput my arms down” snowsuit. An annualconvention allows guests to meet mem-bers of the cast, screen and discuss themovie, ride on the movie’s fire truck andshoot BB guns in the back yard. Theweekend coincides with Cleveland’s an-nual tree lighting and Christmas parade,this year on Nov. 26-28. (achristmassto-ryhouse.com)

SANTA CLAUS, INDIANAThe town of Santa Claus, in South-

west Indiana, has the only post office inthe world with this name. As a result, itreceives thousands of letters from chil-dren from around the world, and agroup of volunteers answers each ofthem. For three weekends in December,the town’s Santa Claus Christmas Cel-ebration features a traditional Christ-mas with the lighting of the town’sChristmas tree and attractions. Theseinclude a drive through the Santa ClausLand of Lights, Santa’s Great Big LEDTree of Lights at Kringle Place and achance to learn the history of the townat the Santa Claus Museum. Enjoy aholiday arts and crafts show, manythemed restaurants and shops, and visitswith Santa himself. (santaclauschrist-mascelebration.com) LGT

68 June 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

Movie fans in Cleveland flock to the

filming site of A Christmas Story.

� midwest


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