The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Department of Tourism and the Division of Festivals are excited to announce the official dates for the 2025–26 St. Croix Crucian Christmas Festival. Taking place from December 26, 2025, through January 3, 2026, this annual holiday tradition will once again highlight the best of Crucian culture through music, food, parades, and community spirit.

Image: Cantigny courtesy of Discover DuPage & Cantigny

Chicago, the Windy City, is known for its deep pan pizza and its incredible pioneering architecture and skyscrapers. Its vibrant lakeside Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile make Chicago an exciting urban jungle. However, if you want to be at one with Attenborough-style nature, pop next door to Dupage County, around 20 miles beyond the skyscrapers and experience nature and preserved heritage.

Getting there by train from downtown Chicago is easy in just 25 minutes.

DuPage, famous for its vast tallgrass prairies, has long stood as a beacon of environmental preservation and sustainable development in a sea of frenetic city growth. DuPage County’s conservation began out of community concerns about woodland loss over a century ago, with the founding of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County in 1915.

This was the beginning of an ongoing campaign to protect forests, prairies, wetlands, and streams from development and degradation. Everything from ecosystem health to the reintroduction of native species was put in place decades before such topics became routine in national planning.  

The county’s preserves span approximately 26,000 acres, comprising 60 individual sites and connected by more than 145 miles of trails. These preserves include 30 lakes, 45 miles of rivers and streams, and a dynamic patchwork of grasslands, prairies, and forests improved through strategic removal of invasive species like buckthorn.

Not only are these spaces havens for wildlife—hosting thousands of native plant and animal species—but they also provide extensive recreational and educational opportunities, welcoming visitors all year round.

DuPage County today ranks among the most progressive counties in the Midwest for sustainability, restoring hundreds of acres annually, stabilising rivers and streams, and performing high-resolution ecosystem mapping to guide future improvements.

Here are six of the top things to do in DuPage:-

Cantigny Park

Located in Wheaton, Cantigny Park is a sprawling estate that combines history, gardens, and recreation. It merges outdoor adventure with an appreciation for military history, particularly the famed US Army First Division. The highlight is the First Division Museum, dedicated to the history of the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division, serving as an educational and historical anchor. 

The Morton Arboretum

This is a world-renowned public garden and research centre dedicated to trees. Located in Lisle, the 1,700-acre arboretum is a true natural escape. You can explore over 16 miles of hiking trails, drive along the scenic roads, and discover diverse collections of trees from around the globe.

The arboretum also hosts art exhibits, seasonal events, and educational programs, making it a perfect destination for nature lovers of all ages.

Play Golf at Preserve at Oak Meadows 

DuPage has more than 50 golf courses, many of which are historically distinguished, such as Belmont Golf Club, often cited as the nation’s first 18-hole course.

Another gem is the Preserve at Oak Meadows, earning awards for its design and ecology. The course features 18 holes and top-tier amenities and hosts major tournaments. Not least of these was the ‘Miracle Medinah’ in 2012 when the European team staged a seemingly impossible comeback on the last day to win the Ryder Cup.

The same course will host the Presidents Cup in 2026 to become the only Golf course in the USA to stage all the major competitions for both team and individual play.

Naper Settlement

This 13-acre outdoor living history museum in Naperville brings the past to life. With over 30 historic buildings, including a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin, the settlement depicts what life was like in the Chicago suburbs in the 19th century.

Policies now emphasise electrifying equipment, employing energy-efficient technologies, and planning for net-zero emissions across operations. Yes in America !

Graue Mill and Museum at Fullersburg Woods

The Graue Mill is situated in Oak Bridge. It was built in 1852 and set along Salt Creek. Now a museum, it is one of two operating water-powered gristmills in Illinois and is surrounded by Fullersburg Woods, a nature preserve and education site. It is one of only three authenticated Underground Railroad networks of safe houses that enabled escaped slaves to escape from the South.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Graue Mill offers a glimpse into the life of the 19th century, with demonstrations of milling, spinning, and weaving

Route 66 and Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket

No account of DuPage County’s heritage would be complete without mention of Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket in Willowbrook, a culinary and cultural landmark along the legendary Route 66. The restaurant has been operational since the 1940s and is famous for its fine fried chicken, still made using the original recipe handed down from its founders.

What makes Dell Rhea’s even more unique is its proximity to an authentic segment of Route 66, allowing diners to experience a tangible piece of the historic highway directly.

The venue, inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame and the National Register of Historic Places, has survived the rerouting and decommissioning of the road, remaining a destination for travellers and locals who seek out legendary food and the ambience of “America’s Main Street.”

DuPage County offers a unique blend of environmental responsibility, historical preservation, and recreational excellence woven into daily life. It’s all about walking preserved trails, learning at heritage sites, golfing among restored landscapes, or sampling iconic fried chicken next to a storied highway.

More info:

Bon Voyage Holidays offers trips to the region. Tel: 0800 980 7093

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The post DuPage, Chicago’s often overlooked neighbour, can add an extra dimension to the Windy City Experience appeared first on The Travel Magazine.

For several years, Shutterbug has shared the link for the fall foliage prediction map that covers the lower 48 states and is maintained by the folks at SmokeyMountains.com. Here’s the 2025 version. The map is interactive, intuitive and updated regularly.

Family Activities
In addition to the interactive map you’ll find listings for lodging, dining and family attractions like Dollywood and beautiful, historic Asheville, NC (think Biltmore Estate, fine dining and a rich art district).

Beyond the Appalachian region, the SmokeyMountains.com website hosts a comprehensive list of the very best fall destinations for leaf peeping in all 50 states. For example, the recommendation for Wisconsin lists the Potawatomi State Park, Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive and the Plum Loco Animal Farm.

Science Behind Fall Color Changes
Teach the kiddos the science behind the fall foliage transformations.

Beyond its appeal to photographers and other travelers seeking beautiful fall colors, the Smokey Mountains website is chock full of useful, family-oriented information. You’ll find a concise, easy to follow explanation of why leaves change colors and what happens after they fall.

There’s stuff for the little kids, too including this Fall Foliage Coloring Book you can download and print.

And for mom, pop and the whole family, a few recipes, like this one for Ole Smoky Moonshine Pie. Heads up: the recipe calls for real moonshine, but you can substitute cider.

Forecast Accuracy
No one can predict the future—so much depends on fickle weather patterns—but  this interactive fall foliage forecast map helps you narrow down timeframes, and it’s based on sound methodology.

The map is based on a combination of factors, including historical temperature and precipitation, forecasted temperature and precipitation, the tree variety known to be prominent in the geographic region, the historical trends in that area and user data.

In 2022 they introduced an invitation for end-users to provide real-time leaf reports. They use that data when producing current updates and future models.

Shutterbug’s Fall Foliage Photography Tips
For useful how-to information on the subject, take a look at this recent Shutterbug story: Labor Day! Get Ready for Colorful Fall Foliage.

And here’s a terrific video from last fall: Want Fall Photos with Amazing Colors? Do This in Lightroom.

—Jon Sienkiewicz

How’s this for a bold statement: “Lightroom is lying about exposure.” So says highly acclaimed landscape photographer Mark Denney. He’s also a post-processing expert, so it pays to listen closely when he makes such an emphatic claim and provides a straightforward fix.

According to Denney, Lightroom has a serious blind spot that nobody discusses that can be particularly destructive if landscape photography is your game, and the problem comes down to his view that “Lightroom is lying about exposure.”

This “fatal flaw” results from Lightroom’s lack of a dedicated midtone slider. Denney insists that this concern is more than a mere technical oversight; it’s a design issue that actively misleads Lightroom users of all skill levels and limits their creative control.

Here’s Denney’s promise for the game-changing video below: “I’ll show you why this matters, how it impacts your photos, and demonstrate a simple-but-powerful workaround you can start using today.”

Sure, Lightroom provides tools for highlights, shadows, white tones and back tones, but according to Denney, “the entire middle area of the histogram is where the heart of an image lives. Even worse, the Exposure slider is labeled and behaves in a way that trains photographers to think it’s controlling midtones—when in reality it affects the entire image globally.”

Denney explains why this is particularly true when working in dramatic light and capturing scenes with high dynamic range like sunrises, sunsets, backlit forests and other challenging situations. He illustrates these concerns with compelling seascapes, woodland imagery, waterfall scenes, and outdoor photos with dramatic skies.

The remainder of this 13-minute episode demonstrates a foolproof workaround for Lightroom’s surprising oversight so that you can capture images with perfect tonal balance—from highlights to shadows and everything in between. Be sure to visit his instructional YouTube channel that boasts almost 30 million views.

And don’t miss a tutorial we featured earlier with another experienced instructor who explains what you’re doing wrong if your photos are consistently spoiled by digital noise—even when the camera settings seem correct.