john kloster
MIDWEST
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Midwest Rail and Cruise Options
Hop aboard Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad or take a harbor cruise in Duluth.
irtually every group tour involves a motorcoach, and motorcoaches are convenient and outfitted for sightseeing and comfort. But you should consider getting off the coach and exploring other means of getting your passengers around.
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BY RAIL The Branson Scenic Railway in Branson, Mo. offers a 40-mile trip through the Ozarks from its base at the historic downtown depot. The exact route changes depending on the commercial traffic on the tracks, but either route offers views and territory otherwise inaccessible to visitors. Highlights include tunnels, trestles and extinct communities that disappeared early in the 20th century. Trips are offered daily from March through November, except on Sundays. All excursions are sightseeing only, except for the dinner trains on Saturdays from April through October. (bransontrain.com) The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway outside of Cleveland, Ohio runs through Cuyahoga National Park and along the Cuyahoga River. In the park walk along the Ohio & Erie Canal
Towpath Trail and see the canal lock and Canal Visitor Center, a canal-era structure offering a look into the past. The train also goes to Akron, where coaches are available to visit the Akron Art Museum, Akron Zoo or Hale Farm and Village. The southern terminus of the railway is Canton, where you can visit the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, the Pro Football Hall of Fame or the Canton Museum of Art. Trains operate Wednesday through Sunday June through October and weekends only from November through May. (cvsr.com) In Iowa, the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad traverses the Des Moines River Valley with its distinctive canary yellow locomotive and coaches from the 1920s. The train travels from Boone to the old mining town of Fraser to experience turkeys, deer or bald eagles. The railroad also offers the restored 1915 Charles City & Western electric interurban trolley through downtown Boone. For something different, the valley trip is also available on 1950s-era first class cars for the popular dinner, dessert and pic-
nic trains. Boone is also home to the Iowa Railway Museum, which is in the planning stages for a brand new facility to expand its offerings. (scenicvalleyrr.com) BY WATER Vista Fleet in Duluth, Minn., offers two-hour sightseeing cruises of the Duluth and Superior, Wis. harbor on Lake Superior. The scope of this giant commercial harbor is worldclass. Massive ore boats ply the waters delivering their loads to the commercial docks here. Cruises are offered weekends from May to early October and daily during the summertime. (vistafleet.com) Soo Locks Boat Tours offers a very unique excursion through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The Soo Locks is the largest waterway traffic system on earth and the two-hour narrated trip actually goes through the lock alongside large freighters. The ship is lifted 21 feet up to the level of Lake Superior. The ship then sails under the International Bridge to Canadian waters to see a steel plant and then returns to the lower harbor through the
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Canadian Lock and past the St. Mary’s Rapids before docking back in the city. The line also offers luncheon cruises, dinner cruises and unique lighthouse cruises along the St. Mary’s River. These cruises go past the Cedar Point Lighthouse, the remains of the Round Island Lighthouse and then to the restored Point Iroquois Lighthouse built in 1871. From there the trips enters Canada for the Gros Cap Reefs Lighthouse and on to the Lakeshore-Shallows area and the picturesque beaches and summer cottages at Pointe Aux Pins. (soolocks.com) LGT
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE For more scenic rail and sightseeing cruise ideas in the Midwest, log on to http://leisuregrouptravel .com/?p=23749.
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