midwest USA

At first glance, the Great Lakes region of the United States, those states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, may appear to be a patchwork quilt of cornfields, speckled with an occasional barn or factory, and nothing more.

While many of the Great Lakes states boast of one major urban attraction with several smaller cities, Ohio has many major metropolitan areas including Cleveland which rests on Lake Erie, the capital Columbus in central Ohio, and Cincinnati, the state’s “queen city” in the southwest corner.

Located at the crossroads of America with Ohio to the east, Illinois to the west, Michigan to the north and Kentucky to the south, Indiana is one of the most typically American states in the country. 

Nestled between the Great Lakes states of Indiana and Wisconsin and the Great Plains states of Iowa and Missouri, Illinois is very much the center of Midwest America.

Mother of the Mississippi, Minnesota is the get-away-from-it-all state. With dense forests, vast grain fields, rich pastures and wilderness parks, not to mention over 12,000 lakes formed by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age, this Midwestern state that borders Canada and lies 1,000 miles away from either ocean offers endless adventure options for outdoor lovers.