Any veteran Midwest leaf-peeper can tell you that the best way toenjoy autumn colors is to hit the road. Maybe you have a favoritefall color highway that meanders through the North Woods, wheremillions of acres erupt in fiery scarlets, coppers, bright orangesand shiny golds.
Or perhaps you're a color hound who prefers rainbow huesdappled along the rocky coastline of Lake Superior. Maybe you wouldrather roll across the hills and hollows of Ozark foothills to findyour color paradise.
Just remember that Midwest fall color usually peaks in lateSeptember to mid-October, with color changes beginning as early asthe second week of September in northern Minnesota and Michigan'sUpper Peninsula and lasting nearly through Halloween in southernIllinois and Missouri's Ozarks.
So if you want to hitch your wagon to this year's colorcaravan, here are 10 of the best color routes for seeing a weekend ofwild hues. Illinois
You get 500 miles of fall colors when motoring down the GreatRiver Road, running along the Mississippi River from East Dubuque inthe north to Cairo in the south. Thanks to the green and whitewheelhouse signs marking the designated roads, it's hard to get lost.
Feel the urge to splurge? Hop aboard the Silver Eagle CasinoCruiser in East Dubuque or book a whirlpool room at one of Galena'sbed and breakfast inns.
Just south of Hanover, Mississippi Palisades State Park offersvistas of color-tinged pine-studded bluffs overlooking the river aswell as unusual limestone rock formations.
Another color hot spot sits between Grafton and Alton, wherelimestone bluffs plunge precipitously to the shore of theMississippi. Grafton, huddled on the banks of the Illinois River,boasts Pere Marquette State Park, Illinois' largest, featuring alodge unequaled by any in the state.
Elsah is a historical river village that retains 19th centurycharm, many original buildings and a great bakery. In Alton, you cantake a cruise on another casino paddlewheeler. Indiana
The deep valleys, sharp ridges and Cumberland Mountainfoothills of south central Indiana offer some of the best Hoosiercolor in the state. Most noteworthy is Brown County State Park, justsouth of Nashville, known for drawing artists to its woodsy recesses.Get out of your car to climb the tower at Weedpatch Hill, anelevation of more than 1,000 feet; you'll get a panoramic view ofautumn hues stretching in every direction.
Just east of Nashville, off Indiana 46, turn south on tinyIndiana 135 for a real color adventure. The road twists throughdense backwoods forests, past grazing stock and appears to be headednowhere until reaching the town of Story - which looks like somethingout of an "Ernest Goes Country" movie until you walk inside the StoryInn to discover a food-lover's dream. Its restaurant offers choicessuch as medallions of pork stuffed with apricots, currants, pine nutsand herbed bread crumbs, glazed with maple syrup and topped withorange sauce. You can overnight here, too. Iowa
While I'm partial to country roads in western Iowa's ruralMills County, where the Loess Hills (a landscape found only here andin an obscure Chinese province) border the Missouri River and comealive with autumn color, how can any Hawkeye location compete withthose bridges of Madison County?
Come to Winterset during its annual Covered Bridge Festival,Oct. 14-15, and you can drive (with thousands of others) to thebridges made famous by Robert James Waller's best-selling novel abouta travel photographer who has a brief affair with a married Iowa farmwife.
You can walk the Roseman Bridge just like Francesca and Robertdid and even whisper Robert-speak to your special someone. Maybesomething like, "Being here with you makes me seem so alive, I canfeel dust particles passing right through the hairs in my nose." Michigan
Many color grazers argue that the best Midwest color is foundon the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula. It's hard todisagree once you've traveled the 12-mile-long Brockway MountainDrive, between Eagle River and Copper Harbor. It boasts roadsidepullouts offering spectacular views of an unbroken bed of autumnshades overlooking the vast wilderness of Porcupine Mountains StatePark, along with several tree-surrounded lakes and streams.
Another Brockway Mountain Drive escarpment overlooks theethereal Lake of the Clouds, sitting 500 feet below your vantagepoint. And vistas of Lake Superior's dark blue waters, awash inautumn whitecaps, contrast pleasantly with pine-green forests. Minnesota
Always a fall color favorite is U.S. 61, a sweeping coastalhighway along Lake Superior that runs from Duluth to Grand Portage(and continues into Canada). Highlights include Gooseberry Falls andSplit Rock Lighthouse near Castle Danger, Caribou Falls (north ofLittle Marais) and the sprawling colorscape of the Superior NationalForest. Missouri
Take an autumn drive along 76 Country Boulevard in Branson, andyou'll see more "color" than anywhere this side of Las Vegas. That'sbecause the highway is lined with twinkling lights of more than 30glittery country music theaters, fronted by everyone from AndyWilliams and Glen Campbell to the Statler Brothers and Boxcar Willie.
This five-mile stretch of road through town is likely to bepacked with other "color" hounds, so relax, pull into a parking lot,mosey to the box office and buy some tickets for a show (or two).
After you've had your country music fix, see some of nature'shandiwork. Northeast of Branson, Missouri 76 north passes throughthe Mark Twain National Forest and offers great color vistas toHartville. Or take Missouri 86, straddling the Missouri/Arkansasborder, to drive into the heart of Table Rock Lake country. Ohio
Adams County in southern Ohio may be one of the mosteconomically disadvantaged rural regions in the state, but it's oneof the richest when it comes to natural beauty.
Here in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, fall colorssweep over the quiet woodlands and sprawling valleys like a gentlebreeze. A 78-mile drive from Russellville to Friendship revealsbreathtaking scenery.
Stop midway in West Union at the Murphin Ridge Inn, sittinghigh on a ridge overlooking Peach Mountain. Located in the heart ofAmish country, you might see horse-drawn black buggies clip-clop pastthe inn. Or simply enjoy this gracious hostelry, whose 10 guestrooms are furnished with Shaker reproductions, and a fabulousrestaurant where dinners might include artichoke heart pate andraspberry chicken sauteed in brandy and white wine. Wisconsin
In October, Horicon Marsh's 32,000 acres of tall wetlandgrasses, bunchy sedge plants and swaying cattails are brushed withautumn gold. But there's more here than color.
From September to January of each year, more than 200,000honking Canada geese stop at Horicon on their fall migration fromsummer grounds in Canada's Hudson Bay to warmer-weather winteringsites near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Best way to see both autumn colors and the big black-neckedbirds is by driving along Wild Goose Parkway, a 30-mile-long roadsystem marked with green signs encircling the marsh. The mostpopular goose-watching point is along Wisconsin 49, which pierces thenorthern edge of the refuge. You'll see thousands of birds from yourcar, or you can park and trek along six miles of marsh trailsmaintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
For your color fix, head to the Marsh Haven Nature Center, alsooff Wisconsin 49, whose 30-foot-tall tower offers breathtaking colorvistas.
In the heart of western Wisconsin's Amish Country, Wisconsin 33offers one of the most spectacular country backroads color tours inthe Midwest. Start in Cashton and head east toward Ontario. Besidesrolling hills ablaze with crimson and gold, stop along the way atAmish homes and barns for homemade baked goods, handstitched quiltsand handcrafted furniture. An especially good bargain is benthickory rocking chairs, selling for around $165 here - and $300 ormore outside the region.
Out of Ontario, continue east on Wisconsin 33. Be sure to tournearby Wildcat Mountain State Park, offering steep hills and deepnarrow valleys rife with colors. The sharp twists and hairpin turnsof the road as it climbs and divebombs the hilly landscapeencountered upon leaving the park (and continuing toward UnionCenter) will have you whistling "Rocky Mountain High" in no time.
Start on Wisconsin 42 in Sturgeon Bay and head north for 41color-filled miles to Gills Rock, and you've traveled the entirelength of Wisconsin's Door County, the narrow peninsula or "thumb"that juts into Lake Michigan.
Color highlights include Fish Creek, which claims PeninsulaState Park, "the jewel of Wisconsin's state park system"; drivethrough to see color-topped 200-foot bluffs jutting out of the bluewaters of Green Bay. Ephraim is the most picturesque village on thebay, with autumn hues giving it an even greater Rockwellesqueappearance.
Overnighters might opt for the Grandview Motel in Ellison Bay,located on a 200-foot crest that overlooks the water; room balconiesboast some of the best color vistas on the peninsula.
At Gills Rock, the top of the thumb, ferry across the rowdystrait nicknamed "Death's Door" to Washington Island. Hop aboard theViking Tour Train, which explores this rock, home to America's oldestIcelandic settlement. Or sniff out color on self-guided bicycle ormoped tours of farmlands, dense forests and dune-swept beachesreaching down to turbulent Lake Michigan waters. On your way downthe Door, take Wisconsin 57 out of Sister Bay to reach the LakeMichigan side of the peninsula. Just north of Baileys Harbor, offCounty Q, is the Cana Lighthouse, reached by a color-filled paththrough the woods.
Cave Point County Park, south of Jacksonport, is where athundering surf crashes into wave-worn caves with elemental force.And nearby Whitefish Dunes State Park offers an autumn dunescape thatincludes a nearly 100-foot-tall sand dune billed as Wisconsin'slargest living dune.
Bob Puhala writes about Midwest travel for the ChicagoSun-Times. His most recent book is "52 Illinois Weekends" (CountryRoads Press, $9.95).
