WHO WE ARE
A Midwest travel family blog.
We’re the Gibbs family, a family from the Chicago area with a passion for hitting the road and finding the places most people drive right past.
Lesser Known Adventures started simple. We were already taking day trips and weekend getaways as a family, already filming a lot of what we found, and already falling in love with the weird, wonderful, and wildly underrated corners of the Midwest. So we figured why not document it and share it?
What started as a YouTube channel quickly grew into a full travel blog covering hidden gems, roadside attractions, quirky museums, national parks, and family-friendly road trip destinations across Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and beyond.
WHAT WE DO
Every destination we feature is one we’ve actually visited ourselves. No sponsored fluff, no copy-pasted tourism board descriptions. Just real trips, real photos, real opinions, and the practical information you actually need before you go. Hours, costs, parking, what to skip, and what not to miss.
We especially love the places that don’t make the typical “top 10” lists. The giant roadside statues. The underground caves. The tiny museums dedicated to one very specific thing. The fudge factory in a town called Uranus. If it makes us say “wait, that’s a real place?”, we’re going.
WHY WE STARTED
The Midwest gets a bad reputation as a place you just drive through. We’re on a mission to prove that wrong.
There are incredible things hiding in plain sight all across this region. Within a few hours of Chicago, within a few hours of anywhere, really. We want to be the resource that helps families, road trippers, and curious travelers find them.
Whether you’re planning a day trip, a weekend getaway, or a full multi-day road trip, our goal is to give you enough information to actually go, and enough inspiration to want to.
FOLLOW ALONG
New adventures get posted regularly on the blog and on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our newsletter for monthly road trip ideas and hidden gem destinations delivered straight to your inbox.
We’d love to have you along for the ride.
— Andrew, Catie & Emily Gibbs