Best Midwest USA
The Chicago Marathon is one of the world’s premier marathon events held annually in October. It traverses the city's diverse neighborhoods offering a relatively flat course suitable for runners of all abilities. The race attracts over 40,000 participants including competitive athletes and recreation...
Washington University in St. Louis is a leading private research institution located in Missouri. Established in 1853, it’s notable for its extensive research programs across diverse fields including medicine, engineering, and business. The university serves faculty, students, and researchers seekin...
Northwestern University is a leading private research institution established in 1851. Located in Evanston, Illinois, it’s renowned for its extensive academic resources and impactful research across diverse fields including journalism, medicine, engineering, and business. The university serves stude...
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a leading public research institution established in 1867. Located in the Midwest, it’s recognized for impactful research across engineering, computer science, agriculture, and medicine. The university supports scholars, researchers, and students see...
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a leading botanical institution located in St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1904, it offers over 75 acres of diverse plant collections including rainforest environments, Japanese gardens, and significant herbariums. The garden supports horticultural research and c...
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a leading public research institution established in 1848. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, it serves as the state’s premier university and the flagship campus for the UW System. Renowned for its comprehensive research programs across diverse fields including eng...
The Chicago Botanic Garden is a renowned horticultural institution situated on 385 acres in Lake County, Illinois. It showcases extensive collections of plants from Illinois and around the world alongside vital research into water conservation techniques. The garden serves scientists, educators, stu...
The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge was established in 1924 and follows approximately 261 miles of the Mississippi River through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. It protects a connected landscape of river channels, backwaters, marshes, floodplain forests, islands,...
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is a leading public research institution established in 1851. As the state’s flagship university, it plays a significant role in advancing knowledge through extensive research programs. It serves students, faculty, and researchers across diverse fields includi...
Ohio State University is a major public university located in Columbus, Ohio. Established in 1870 as part of the Morrill Act, it’s a leading research institution within the United States. The university serves a diverse student body including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff i...
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected wetland complex established in 1961 along the southwestern shore of Lake Erie in Ohio. It conserves marshes, pools, grasslands, wooded wetlands, and remnants of a once much larger coastal ecosystem. Located on a major migration corridor, the r...
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university and the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Founded in 1820, it is the oldest and largest campus in the state, offering a wide array of undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The institution is home to recognized acade...
Michigan State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research institution located in East Lansing, Michigan, established in 1855. Serving as the pioneer land-grant model for the United States, it was created to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanical arts. Today, the university edu...
The Columbus Marathon is an annual long-distance running event held in Columbus, Ohio, typically taking place in mid-October. First held in 1980, the race features a relatively flat and fast course that winds through the city's downtown area, historic neighborhoods, and university districts. It is w...
The University of Iowa is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, founded in 1847 shortly after Iowa became a state. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional education across liberal arts, sciences, medicine, law, engineering, business, and other fields. The university is particu...
The Tulsa Route 66 Marathon is an annual running event held in November in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The race is themed around the historic U.S. Route 66 highway, incorporating iconic highway signs and landmarks along the course. Featuring a relatively flat route, it offers multiple distances including a ful...
The University of Michigan is a premier public research university known for its exceptional breadth and depth across nearly 300 degree programs. It excels in Engineering, Business, Medicine, Law, and the Social Sciences. It operates on a massive scale with a 'small college' feel through its renowne...
Erie Marsh Preserve is a large coastal wetland on the Michigan shore of western Lake Erie, near the mouth of the Ottawa River. Managed by The Nature Conservancy, it contains freshwater marsh, open water, mudflats, and other habitats used by migrating and breeding birds. Water-control structures and...
The Grand Kankakee Marsh was a vast intercontinental wetland covering approximately 500,000 acres across northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois. Historically referred to as the "Everglades of the North," it supported abundant wildlife, including migratory birds, fish, and mammals. Beginning...
Iowa State University is a public land-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa. It was established in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm and benefited from the Morrill Act of 1862. The institution is known for programs in agriculture, engineering, veterinary medicine, and d...
Pinball Pete's is a Michigan arcade chain founded in the 1970s, with long-running locations in East Lansing near Michigan State University and in Ann Arbor near the University of Michigan. The arcades are known for their extensive collections of pinball machines and classic video games maintained in...
The Kansas City Marathon is an annual road-running event in Kansas City, Missouri, traditionally staged during the autumn. The marathon course is distinguished by the city's rolling terrain and passes recognizable districts and landmarks, including the Country Club Plaza area. The event also offers...
Drake University is a private institution in Des Moines, Iowa, founded in 1881, and is highly distinguished by its reputable law school and prominent agricultural law program.
Upper Midwest forest-savanna transition is a WWF ecoregion spanning the United States and Canada, an oak savanna ecotone with under 5% intact.
Botanica Wichita is a 39-acre Wichita landmark featuring diverse collections of native plants from the Flint Hills region, including prairies, woodlands, and wetlands, supported by the Wichita Community Gardens.
Oak Savanna is a North American transitional biome between tallgrass prairie and eastern deciduous forest, historically maintained by indigenous burning and now among the continent's most endangered ecosystems.
Bur Oak Savanna is a fire-adapted ecosystem of the upper Midwest and Great Plains dominated by the highly fire-resistant Quercus macrocarpa, which develops thick bark to survive frequent ground fires.
