Today we decided to mix it up a bit, and take a small detour. “Let’s visit Metropolis, home of Superman,” I sug­gested. Everyone said “OK, why not?”

Using the occa­sion of a fam­ily reunion as an excuse, we decided to plan a fam­ily vaca­tion with cen­tral Arkansas’ dia­mond and quartz mines as our focus. Our trip would include a stay at some rus­tic cab­ins along the Caddo River and a trip to his­toric Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Experience great value and dis­cover some­thing new with a visit to Chicago this Fourth of July week­end. Celebrate the summer’s biggest hol­i­day by vis­it­ing lake­front beaches, enjoy­ing mag­nif­i­cent fire­works on the lake­front, expe­ri­enc­ing the Taste of Chicago or attend­ing a Major League base­ball game. Learn about Chicago’s exquis­ite cui­sine, incred­i­ble sights, and afford­able options for a fun-filled week­end get­away on a budget.

This sum­mer, the Chicago Greeter pro­gram invites locals to explore a new neigh­bor­hood or Chicago tra­di­tion with a Chicago Greeter. From June 1 – July 31, Chicagoans can cel­e­brate “stay­ca­tion months” by reg­is­ter­ing for a free, cus­tomized Greeter visit. Normally avail­able only to out-of-town vis­i­tors, the Greeter ser­vice will be offered to Chicago res­i­dents exclu­sively dur­ing the months of June and July.

Celebrate sum­mer with a week­end of wine tast­ing, food pair­ings, and spec­tac­u­lar Garden vis­tas. The Fourth Annual Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival allows novices and expe­ri­enced oenophiles to develop their palates with sem­i­nars and demon­stra­tions con­ducted by event spon­sors, exhibit­ing winer­ies, Chicago area chefs, restau­ra­teurs, and spe­cialty food shops.