Holiday road trips
Need a little help getting into the holiday spirit? A Michigan train ride to the "North Pole" should do the trick. Right here in Illinois, you can take the kids to meet some real reindeer in Rantoul.
So don't rely on the shopping mall for your annual dose of holiday cheer. Round up the family and hit the road to check out some of the Midwest's best Christmas-related getaways.
Put the kids in their pajamas and hop aboard the North Pole Express for a trip to none other than the North Pole, which is actually Saginaw County Fairgrounds -- but the kids don't need to know that.
The popular holiday train trips on steam engine No. 1225 (get it?) leave from the town of Owosso, about a four-hour drive from Chicago. Some 300 passengers drink hot cocoa and ride the rails for a little more than an hour before stopping at the North Pole, where they can take a spin on amusement park rides while you pick up Christmas gifts. After 90 minutes hanging out at the Pole, it's back on the train for the return trip to Owosso.
The experience will go over extremely well with fans of the film "Polar Express."
"All the sound effects you hear in the movie -- the steam releases, the firebox door opening -- are ours," said T.J. Gaffney, director of the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso. "Even the overall look of the locomotive is ours."
At press time, only a limited number of tickets remained for this year's trips, which depart at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends through Dec. 16. Tickets cost $65 for adults and $35 for children under 12. Check for last-minute cancellations online at Mstrp.com, where you can find information about a local hotel package, too. You can also call (989) 725-9464.
Another worthy Christmas stop just 45 minutes from Owosso is the friendly town of Frankenmuth, known as Michigan's Little Bavaria. It's home to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which claims to be the world's largest Christmas store. Families can make a weekend of it at Zehnder's Splash Village, a hotel with an indoor water park. Don't leave town without trying one of Frankenmuth's ubiquitous chicken dinners.
Who needs those automated Rudolphs in window displays when you can see the real deal at Hardy's Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul?
A two-hour drive from Chicago gets you to this Central Illinois cut-your-own Christmas tree farm, where Julie and Mark Hardy also raise 16 reindeer. The couple bought their original herd from Native Americans in Alaska and brought them over by plane. "I like to tell people reindeer really do fly," said Julie Hardy, who started her business 12 years ago. For $3, you can get up close to these antlered creatures and feed them graham crackers. Bring your camera, because family photos with the reindeer make for cute Christmas cards. If you're lucky enough to be there for the first real snow of the season, Julie says you might catch the reindeer dancing.
The Hardys sell more than 1,000 pine trees off their property, which includes a cozy gift shop with an old-fashioned potbelly stove, hot cider for $1 and plenty of reindeer knickknacks. Reindeerranch.com or (217) 893-3407.
With a name like Santa Claus, this southern Indiana town had better know how to do Christmas right.
The village's hot spot this time of year is the post office. People come from all over to get the Santa Claus holiday postmark on their letters.
"Many customers traditionally drive hundreds of miles to personally obtain the famous cancellation on their holiday mail," said Postmaster Marian Balbach, whose facility typically handles about 13,000 pieces of mail a month. "We do more than that each day during the Christmas season."
The town's annual "Christmas in Santa Claus" festival -- scheduled for Dec. 8 and 9 -- features a parade, concerts and a pancake breakfast with Old St. Nick. In the evening, people pile into their cars for a 15-mile Festival of Lights journey past hundreds of homes tricked out with intricate holiday displays. The festival takes place in the gated community of Christmas Lake Village.
Santa Claus is nearly a six-hour drive from Chicago, so spend the night in the 170-room Santa's Lodge where it's Christmas year-round. Drop by the town's free Santa Claus Museum for a family photo in Santa's sleigh. You can also decorate gingerbread houses and sample a massive selection of gourmet candy canes -- pina colada, anyone? -- at Santa's Candy Castle.
Get the skinny on Santa Claus at Legendary Places.org or call the Spencer County Visitors Bureau at (888) 444-9252.
Close to home, the Pabst Mansion in downtown Milwaukee really shines during the holidays. Local designers transform more than a dozen rooms in the former brewing magnate's home into elegant Christmas showcases straight out of Victorian times.
At 11 a.m. on the first four Saturdays in December, children pour into Mrs. Pabst's sitting room for holiday story time. On Sundays at 1 p.m., hear local talent perform a one-hour concert in the Flemish Renaissance Revival mansion's music room. Admission costs $9 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-17 and free for kids 5 and under.
Sit down to a traditional English feast during the mansion's Dickens Dinners, a three-course meal that costs $78 to $88 for adults depending on date and time. The price is $35 for children under 13. Reserve your space by calling Bartolotta's catering at (414) 525-5635. Charles Dickens himself reads aloud from his holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. If that's not enough, see the play performed at the nearby Pabst Theater, built in 1895. The show runs until Dec. 23. Pabsttheater.org.