As domestic travel booms, many Americans still flock to the familiar — national parks packed before sunrise, selfie-saturated landmarks, cities so overrun with tourists their official mottos may as well be “Been There, Done That.”

Just beyond the beaten path, however, lies a less choreographed America where predictability gives way to surprise and encounters feel more personal, perhaps even profound. These destinations may draw steady crowds like their bucket-list cousins, but they glow with a gentler light: less mainstream, more meaningful.

If zigging where others zag sounds like your kind of trip, this great nation has a wealth of places that might just redefine what “must-see” really means. From California to Florida, these seven detours favor the road less traveled — destinations that may not rack up as many hashtags, but hold their own with standout sights, strong local flavor, and often with fewer crowds and fresher stories.

Lodi’s Wine and Visitor Center carries hundreds of bottles made from locally grown winegrapes. (Photo by David Dickstein)

For wallet-friendly California winetasting: Think Lodi, not Napa — While some snooty oenophiles may scoff at uncorking a grape getaway in California’s understated Central Valley instead of world-renowned Napa, open-minded and budget-conscious wine lovers should give Lodi a taste (visitlodi.com).

Craving a laid-back, grassroots vibe over one cultivated with polish and sophistication? That’s penny wise, not pour foolish. Tastings in Lodi typically run $10 to $20, and often the fees are waived with purchase. By contrast, just 70 miles west, expect to shell out $50 to $125 for samples, and good luck getting in without a reservation. Yep, Lodi welcomes walk-ins.

Among the region’s standouts is Harney Lane Vineyards, one of the few 100% estate-grown wineries in California. This family-owned gem (harneylane.com) offers a personally hosted flight of five small-lot selections — featuring zinfandel, the region’s signature grape — for as low as $20. The Wine and Visitor Center (lodiwine.com), also in town, proudly carries hundreds of wines made from Lodi-grown grapes, four of which can be tasted for just $12.

While Napa Valley has nearly 20 Michelin-rated restaurants to Lodi’s zero, that soon could change with the recent opening of Americana House (americanahouselodi.com). Michelin-starred chef Charlie Palmer has brought his signature progressive American cuisine to a destination known more for value and authenticity than refinement and luxury. Naturally, the months-old restaurant boasts the best wine list in town — yet another reason to zig (or zin?) where others zag.

For a Vegas nightcap: Think speakeasy, not lobby bar — You’ve painted the town and aren’t quite ready to cash in your chips after doing Lord knows what in Sin City. The easiest place to enjoy a nightcap is the lobby bar of your hotel. But if you’re of drinking age and prefer to swig with a zig, skip the obvious and go underground — not to a basement dive, but one of Vegas’ cool, covert speakeasies where the vibe is as smooth as the top-shelf spirits.

Bellagio (bellagio.com) has one that makes its lobby bar seem as old-fashioned as, well, an old-fashioned. It’s called The Vault, and the lounge’s whereabouts are on a need-to-know basis. But since it’s just friends here, this secret bar is nestled discreetly behind the live gaming tables on Bellagio’s casino floor, near the cashier. The joint is a masterclass in moody opulence with equal parts speakeasy, sanctuary and cinematic seduction. Stocked with some of the most expensive and rare bottles in town, and boasting a bar menu that makes no apologies for $60 cocktails, it’s as clear as VING vodka that The Vault is for Bellagio’s highest-end guests.

For those more comfortable with a $13 starter shot of Kentucky straight bourbon, there’s a speakeasy inside the Cosmopolitan that’s a cut above both literally and metaphorically. A working barbershop by day and live music lounge by night, The Barbershop (barbershoplv.com) is a sharp 180 from Cosmo’s neo-retro lobby lounge. Actually, when it takes slipping through a janitor’s closet to get inside, we’re talking something unlike any lounge anywhere.

For a blend of Arizona art and landscape: Think Bisbee, not Sedona — Both of these destinations are Arizona gems, but they shimmer in wildly contrasting hues. Sedona is beautiful and well-known for a reason. Its red rock scenery is dramatic, the hiking is excellent, and the town is full of spas, galleries and restaurants that cater to tourists. But it’s also busy — especially on weekends — and much of the experience feels inauthentic, designed for visitors.

Zag-worthy Bisbee (discoverbisbee.com) offers a very different kind of escape. It’s smaller, raw and far less crowded. The town has a strong local identity, shaped by its mining history and current community of artists, musicians and longtime residents. You won’t find chain stores or luxury resorts here — just quirky shops, historic buildings and a slower pace that feels real.

If Sedona is the place everyone’s heard of, Bisbee is the one they haven’t, but should. It’s not trying to impress anyone, and that’s part of the charm. For travelers who prefer character over convenience and want to explore a town that still feels lived-in, Bisbee is worth the detour.

The Adolphus Hotel is a grand, Beaux-Arts landmark in downtown Dallas. (Photo by David Dickstein)

For a Texas-sized vacation: Think Dallas, not San Antonio — Being home to the legendary Alamo, a vibrant River Walk and two major amusement parks has folks stampeding like longhorns to San Antonio for a vacation in the Lone Star State.

But let’s pour some of that famous San Antone picante sauce on those travel plans. Instead of remembering the Alamo for a Texas-sized trip, consider breaking off from the herd by heading north to “Big D.” Dallas offers up a more robust downtown scene, a larger and more thrilling theme park — Six Flags over Texas (sixflags.com) — and nearby Fort Worth with its cattle-crazy Stockyards (fortworthstockyards.com) and the colorful Cultural District where El Chingon Mexican restaurant (elchingon.com) tops an exciting food scene with its Pancho Villa-inspired flair.

As far as legendary downtown hotels are concerned, while San Antonio’s Menger is respected as the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi River, Dallas’ Adolphus Hotel (adolphus.com) is the hands-down winner for Beaux-Arts grandeur meets modern luxury. Built in 1912 by beer magnate Adolphus Busch, the 407-room jewel is located within walking distance of museums, theaters and upscale shopping. You’ll want a healthy walk after enjoying afternoon tea in the hotel’s opulent French Room, a cherished Dallas tradition.

Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky is a replica of Noah’s signature project. (Photo by David Dickstein)

For a family-friendly menagerie: Think Kentucky’s Ark Encounter, not a traditional zoo — If you’re weary of zoos that feel more like concrete enclosures than conservation sanctuaries, consider a detour to northern Kentucky, where a colossal wooden ark rises from the hills like a myth made real.

The Ark Encounter (arkencounter.com) isn’t just a replica — it’s a reimagining of stewardship, scale and storytelling. Built to biblical dimensions, this seven-story timber-frame vessel invites visitors to step into a world where animals weren’t displayed — they were protected. With immersive exhibits, lifelike dioramas and a petting zoo that prioritizes interaction over spectacle, this attraction south of Cincinnati offers a gentler, more thoughtful lens on our relationship with the animal kingdom.

For urban Southern hospitality: Think Knoxville, not Nashville — Nashville isn’t called Music City for nothing. It’s got the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame, recording studios and honky-tonks that all welcome toe-tapping tourists. But Nashville also is getting more crowded and chaotic — and more expensive — with every new flight added at Nashville International Airport. In fact, BNA had its busiest month ever in June when 2.4 million passengers passed through its gates.

Zigging to Knoxville 180 miles east will get you Tennessee-kissed Southern hospitality without Nashville’s drawbacks. Its music scene is turned down lower, but still holds its own from the storied, century-old Bijou Theatre to the outdoor stage at World’s Fair Park, where the iconic, 266-foot-tall Sunsphere proudly stands.

Knoxville knows how to treat its guests. Whether you’re savoring the prime hanger steak or rainbow trout at stylish Oliver Royale (oliverroyale.com) or sinking into the plush linens of The Tennessean Hotel, this city pairs refinement with warmth. Speaking of The Tennessean (thetennesseanhotel.com), each of its recently renovated 82 rooms is exquisite, an adjective that applies throughout the renowned downtown luxury property. The tea service, alone, is worth a visit — sweet, savory and seeping in Southern charm right down to the last drop of the hotel’s signature sweet peach noir blend.

For a Miami vibe: Think Coconut Grove, not South Beach — The crown jewel of Miami tourism is undeniably South Beach with its miles of white sand and turquoise water seaside and pastel-colored art deco hotels, restaurants and bars giving the neighborhood its signature retro-glam vibe. And if glamor, grit and tropical swagger are your Miami vices, by all means keep zagging.

Away from the sensory playground that is South Beach lies a zig-worthy community often described as Miami’s bohemian soul wrapped in lush greenery and waterfront serenity. Coconut Grove offers boutique hotels, trendy eateries, high-end shops, and a village-like vibe steeped in easygoing charm. Accommodations don’t get more chill than Mr. C Miami Coconut Grove (mrccoconutgrove.com), a 100-room boutique hotel with bay views and a rooftop pool, just steps from the shops and restaurants of Cocowalk. Even its exterior is cool – designed to evoke the sleek, curved lines of a luxury cruise ship, porthole windows and all. South Beach flaunts flash, but it doesn’t have this.

Related Articles

Vermont town draws ‘Beetlejuice’ fans to iconic horror movie site

Travel: Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a feast for the senses

Travel: ‘The Gathering,’ an elephant meet-up in Sri Lanka, is a wild experience

Travel: Missed the boat to Alaska? Time to plan a cruise for 2026

Raves at Rome’s ancient amphitheater? New Colosseum director sets the record straight

NEW YORK — The great playwright August Wilson used to say he’d just let his characters talk and then try and get out of their way. Bess Wohl’s fascinating and superbly acted Broadway play “Liberation,” by contrast, is entirely frank that this is the playwright talking — or, more specifically, asking question after question of her mom’s generation of 1970s feminists.

On the one hand, this ambitious and personal play, first seen off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre, is a moving tribute to the big thinkers who got naked in their meetings (which is why the show judiciously locks up the audience’s phones) and to the pioneers when it came to demanding respect in the workplace, building reproductive rights, advancing sexual freedom and demanding equal pay. Not to mention myriad other victories, even while these women often were raising kids and caring for their less-than-evolved husbands.

On the other hand, its continual interrogations are a reminder of successive generations’ endless fascination with baby boomers, not to mention yet another example of Gen Xers and millennials’ weird complexity of feelings about them.

“Why did you make these sacrifices?” the play wants to know. “Did they bring you happiness? Did you abandon your principles when you had kids?” And, perhaps most interestingly of all, “Did you actually liberate anyone beyond yourselves?”

You can also see this play as highly reflective — for obvious reasons — of the current progressive age of anxiety.

Wohl’s authorial mouthpiece, the character Lizzie (Susannah Flood), begins the show by introducing both herself and her mother’s “friends” who form the feminist group that meets inside a high school gymnasium somewhere in Ohio. (David Zinn’s set looks like a functioning school gym.)  She tells us she will be playing her mother (she shares her name), and so she does, taking us inside those 1970s conscious-raising meetings on folding chairs, but also inside her own nagging sense that the country has failed to follow through on the sacrifices of these women — and even has gone in the opposite direction.

“Why?” the daughter Lizzie often interrupts the play to ask. And does that mean her mom’s generation of feminists somehow failed to make lasting, transferable change, even if they achieved some level of emancipation and power for themselves? Was her mom’s problem actually that she fell in love with a handsome guy and left Ms. Magazine to take care of her kids?

That’s a gutsy question for a writer of Wohl’s generation to interrogate, of course, especially since most feminist plays consider some of the matters questioned here to be inviolate truths and the handsome guy in question is Lizzie’s dad (played, with amusing deference to the rest of the show, by Charlie Thurston) who helped conceive her.

Make no mistake, this is a sophisticated piece of writing that goes far beyond the usual 90 minutes on Broadway, and it is cleverly self-protected too: In the opening scene, Lizzie even takes the audience to task for spending Broadway money and still wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. A paradox, she asserts, and she is right.

At times, you feel like Wohl made a list of what other progressives might criticize about both the play and the movement (too rich, white and straight) and then set consciously about fending them all off by writing beyond her own experience. She pulls it off, thanks in no small measure to this formidable ensemble, especially Kristolyn Lloyd, whose performance is the most dynamic of the night.  But there is no question that Wohl, who went to both Harvard and Yale, writes from the perspective of the liberal elite. For example, we never know in which Ohio city the play is set, even though there is much discussion of the excitement of life in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. A Buckeye would have made a different choice, but then Wohl lives in Brooklyn, where Ohio functions mostly as a metaphor for the other America.

So “Liberation” feels aimed more at the women of Park Slope than Cleveland. Then again, that is who likely will be sitting in those expensive Broadway seats (perhaps with their Upper West Side moms), but it does answer one of Lizzie’s questions about the political direction of the world in a way that the play can’t quite admit.

That said, just asking these kinds of questions is rare, especially with this level of humility.  The other great strength of “Liberation” is the potency and humanity of its characters, even if Lizzie struggles to shut up long enough to let them talk. All are adroitly performed under Whitney White’s direction; if there were a Tony Award for best ensemble, it would be wrapped up now by Betsy Aidem, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Irene Sofia Lucio and Adina Verson, as well as the aforementioned Lloyd and Flood.

If you are of a certain age, you likely will view “Liberation” as an exploration of the questions that have always come to mind as one’s era of political activism recedes and it dawns on a person that successful relationships and kids and partners take even more work, at least until the nest empties out. It’s a version of the “can-you-have-it-all question” to which, alas, the answer is always no. Whoever you are. The advertisers sold you lies. But the theater always has been the right place to wonder, and hope.

“Liberation” pokes fun at long, “male” plays written by the childless, which is a bit of a cheap shot, albeit one that lands with this audience. In reality, it has much in common with those epic lifts, and that’s a compliment. There are certain thematic interests and structural devices in common with Paula Vogel’s “Mother Play,” which is not surprising, but Wohl has such a powerful and enjoyable voice.

She makes everyone care about the questions she has herself and that’s exactly what a playwright should be doing.

At the James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., New York; liberationbway.com

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

These pumpkin and black bean quesadillas are a cozy, fall twist on a classic, perfect for cooler days when you’re craving something hearty yet simple.

Related Articles

Sugarcone cabbage a sweet, fresh take on one of the world’s oldest vegetables

A recipe for Fish Stick Panzanella from ‘The Blue Food Cookbook’ elevates a frozen staple

A new ‘Blue Food’ cookbook champions fish and other seafood for any meal

Quick Fix: Teriyaki Glazed Pork with Chinese Noodles

This 3-course vegan meal is great for Vegetarian Awareness Month

The creamy pumpkin purée adds a subtle sweetness and velvety texture that pairs beautifully with the earthy black beans and warming spices like cumin and chili powder. Everything comes together quickly with pantry staples, making this an ideal weeknight meal or satisfying lunch—and a great way to use up pumpkin puree beyond pie.

Crisped in a skillet until golden and melty, these quesadillas are endlessly adaptable. Swap in corn tortillas or use pinto beans instead of black. Optional toppings like avocado, salsa, or sour cream let you customize each plate to your taste. For a more complete meal, serve with a crisp side salad or a tangy cabbage-lime slaw.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Quesadillas

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, minced

1 bell pepper, seeded and minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 ½ cups canned pumpkin purée

Salt and pepper, to taste

1½ cups shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar, or a mixture)4 large flour tortillas

Oil for the skillet

Optional toppings: avocado, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté until soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, chili powder, and oregano, cooking for 1 minute more. Add the black beans and pumpkin purée. Stir to combine, mashing some of the beans slightly for texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 3-5 minutes until heated through, then remove from heat.

Spread the pumpkin-black bean mixture over half of each tortilla. Top with shredded cheese, then fold the tortillas in half.

Heat a bit oil in a clean skillet over medium heat. Cook each quesadilla for 2-3 minutes per side until golden and the cheese is melted. Slice into wedges and serve warm with desired toppings.

Registered dietitian and food writer Laura McLively is the author of “The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook.” Follow her at @myberkeleybowl and www.lauramclively.com.

By Paula Span, KFF Health News

Kitty Grutzmacher had contended with poor hearing for a decade, but the problem had worsened over the past year. Even with her hearing aids, “there was little or no sound,” she said.

Related Articles

FDA’s top drug regulator resigns after federal officials probe ‘serious concerns’

As sports betting explodes, states try to set limits to stop gambling addiction

‘Colorado sober’ movement ditches alcohol for cannabis, psychedelics. Is it for real?

FDA restricts use of kids’ fluoride supplements citing emerging health risks

Your latest prescription is to get outside

“I was avoiding going out in groups. I stopped playing cards, stopped going to Bible study, even going to church.”

Her audiologist was unable to offer Grutzmacher, a retired nurse in Elgin, Illinois, a solution. But she found her way to the cochlear implant program at Northwestern University.

There, Krystine Mullins, an audiologist who assesses patients’ hearing and counsels them about their options, explained that surgically implanting this electronic device usually substantially improved a patient’s ability to understand speech.

“I had never even thought about it,” Grutzmacher said.

That she was 84 was, in itself, immaterial. “As long as you’re healthy enough to undergo surgery, age is not a concern,” Mullins said. One recent Northwestern implant patient had been 99.

Some patients need to ponder this decision, given that after the operation, clearer hearing still requires months of practice and adaptation, and the degree of improvement is hard to predict. “You can’t try it out in advance,” Mullins said.

But Grutzmacher didn’t hesitate. “I couldn’t go on the way I was,” she said in a postimplant phone interview — one that involved frustrating repetition, but would have been impossible a few weeks earlier. “I was completely isolated.”

Hearing loss among older adults remains vastly undertreated. Federal epidemiologists have estimated that it affects about 1 in 5 people ages 65 to 74 and more than half of those over 75.

“The inner ear mechanisms weren’t built for longevity,” said Cameron Wick, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at University Hospitals in Cleveland.

Although hearing loss can contribute to depression, social disconnection, and cognitive decline, fewer than a third of people over 70 who could benefit from hearing aids have worn them.

For those who do, “if your hearing aids no longer give you clarity, you should ask for a cochlear implant assessment,” Wick said.

Twenty-five years ago, “it was a novelty to implant people over 80,” said Charles Della Santina, director of the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Implant Center. “Now, it’s pretty routine practice.”

In fact, a study published in 2023 in the journal Otology & Neurotology reported that cochlear implantation was increasing at a higher rate in patients over 80 than in any other age group.

Until recently, Medicare covered the procedure for only those with extremely limited hearing who could correctly repeat less than 40% of the words on a word recognition test. Without insurance — cochlear implantation can cost $100,000 or more for the device, surgery, counseling, and follow-up — many older people don’t have the option.

“It was incredibly frustrating, because patients on Medicare were being excluded,” Della Santina said. (Similarly, traditional Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids, and Medicare Advantage plans with hearing benefits still leave patients paying most of the tab.)

Then, in 2022, Medicare expanded cochlear implant coverage to include older adults who could identify up to 60% of words on a speech recognition test, increasing the pool of eligible patients.

Still, while the American Cochlear Implant Alliance estimates that implants are increasing by about 10% annually, public awareness and referrals from audiologists remain low. Less than 10% of eligible adults with “moderate to profound” hearing loss receive them, the alliance says.

Cochlear implantation requires commitment. After the patient receives testing and counseling, the surgery, which is an outpatient procedure, typically takes two to three hours. Many adults undergo surgery on one ear and continue using a hearing aid in the other; some later go on to get a second implant.

The surgeon implants an internal receiver beneath the patient’s scalp and inserts electrodes, which stimulate the auditory nerve, into the inner ear; patients also wear an external processor behind the ear. (Clinical trials of an entirely internal device are underway.)

Two or three weeks later, after the swelling recedes and the patient’s stitches have been removed, an audiologist activates the device.

“When we first turn it on, you won’t like what you hear,” Wick cautioned. Voices initially sound robotic, mechanical. It takes several weeks for the brain to adjust and for patients to reliably decipher words and sentences.

“A cochlear implant is not something you just turn on and it works,” Mullins said. “It takes time and some training to get used to the new sound quality.” She assigns homework, like reading aloud for 20 minutes a day and watching television while reading the captions.

Within one to three months, “boom, the brain starts getting it, and speech clarity takes off,” Wick said. By six months, older adults will have reached most of their enhanced clarity, though some improvement continues for a year or longer.

How much improvement? That’s measured by two hearing tests: The CNC (consonant-nucleus-consonant) test, in which patients are asked to repeat individual words, and the AzBio Sentence Test, in which the words to be repeated are part of full sentences.

At Northwestern, Mullins tells older prospective patients that one year after activation, a 60% to 70% AzBio score — correctly repeating 60 to 70 words out of 100 — is typical.

A Johns Hopkins study of about 1,100 adults, published in 2023, found that after implantation, patients 65 and older could correctly identify about 50 additional words (out of 100) on the AzBio test, an increase comparable to the younger cohort’s results.

Participants over 80 showed roughly as much improvement as those in their late 60s and 70s.

“They transition from having a hard time following a conversation to being able to participate,” said Della Santina, an author of the study. “Decade by decade, cochlear implant results have gotten better and better.”

Moreover, an analysis of 70 older patients’ experiences at 13 implantation centers, for which Wick was the lead author, found not only “clinically important” hearing improvements but also higher quality-of-life ratings.

Scores on a standard cognitive test climbed, too: After six months of using a cochlear implant, 54% of participants had a passing score, compared with 36% presurgery. Studies that focus on people in their 80s and 90s have shown that those with mild cognitive impairment also benefit from implants.

Nevertheless, “we’re cautious not to overpromise,” Wick said. Usually, the longer that older patients have had significant hearing loss, the harder they must work to regain their hearing and the less improvement they may see.

A minority of patients feel dizzy or nauseated after surgery, though most recover quickly. Some struggle with the technology, including phone apps that adjust the sound. Implants are less effective in noisy settings like crowded restaurants, and since they are designed to clarify speech, music may not sound great.

For those at the upper end of Medicare eligibility who already understand roughly half of the speech they hear, implantation may not seem worth the effort. “Just because someone is eligible doesn’t mean it’s in their best interests,” Wick said.

For Grutzmacher, though, the choice seemed clear. Her initial testing found that even with hearing aids, she understood only 4% of words on the AzBio. Two weeks after Mullins turned on the cochlear implant, Grutzmacher could understand 46% using a hearing aid in her other ear.

She reported that after a few rough days, her ability to talk by phone had improved, and instead of turning the television volume up to 80, “I can hear it at 20,” she said.

So she was making plans. “This week, I’m going out to lunch with a friend,” she said. “I’m going to play cards with a small group of women. I have a luncheon at church on Saturday.”

The New Old Age is produced through a partnership with The New York Times.

©2025 Kaiser Health News. Visit khn.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.