The village of Put-in-Bay, Ohio, sits on South Bass Island in Lake Erie — a 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland. The popular summer destination gets its nickname from its Caribbean feel and laid-back vibe. While only 300 residents live there full-time, the population swells during peak tourist season, when more than 750,000 visitors arrive on its shores.

At 55 square miles, Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan, and it was once the home of “royalty.” In the 1840s, James Jesse Strang was a prominent leader of the Mormon church who had a vision of an island utopia. He chose Beaver Island to fulfill this vision and led his disciples there, but not much of the former Mormon community remains today.

Across the Midwest, Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is also known as Paczki Day, named for pastries typically filled with jelly or custard. Paczki are heavier than doughnuts, as they are fried for a longer amount of time. The tradition of eating them on Fat Tuesday arrived with the influx of Polish immigrants to the area. If you find yourself trying one for the first time, the dessert is pronounced "PAWNCH-key."

Wisconsin may not seem like a great place to catch a wave, but locals have been hanging ten in Sheboygan for more than 50 years. The city juts out five miles into Lake Michigan, which — combined with winds from the northeast or southwest — creates big swells in multiple directions. You'll want to grab a wetsuit for peak season, which runs from late August to early April.

At the south edge of the North Platte River Valley in western Nebraska is Chimney Rock, one of the state's most recognizable natural landmarks. Chimney Rock stands 480 feet tall, making it easy to spot along the Nebraska plains. It was a useful navigation tool for settlers heading west in the mid-1800s, and is now designated a National Historic Site.

Measuring 630 feet wide and 630 feet tall, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is the tallest monument in the United States. Completed in 1965 to commemorate the country's westward expansion, the Gateway Arch has become an icon of Missouri's largest city. Upon its construction, it took the tallest monument title from the Washington Monument, which is 555 feet in height.

The Midwest is sometimes called the Great Lakes Region, but it only borders four of the five large bodies of water. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio all have coasts on one or more of the Great Lakes, but none touch Lake Ontario, which is situated between Canada and New York. Together, the Great Lakes represent the largest surface area of freshwater in the world.

Home to the cities of Bennington, Ralston, Valley, and Omaha, Douglas County has more than 580,000 residents, making it Nebraska's most populous county. It helps that Omaha is the state's most populous city, topping the capital, Lincoln, by roughly 150,000 people. Douglas County, which is found on Nebraska's border with Iowa to the east, was named after Senator Stephen A. Douglas who represented Illinois from 1847-1861.

Several St. Louis bakeries claim to have invented the gooey butter cake, whether by accident or through purposeful experimentation. There are many versions of the recipe, which — as you may have guessed — includes a hefty portion of butter. Gooey butter cake is dense, sweet, and wobbly, often cut into squares and eaten at breakfast time like coffee cake.

Merriam-Webster defines a Yooper as "a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — used as a nickname.” The silly-sounding term comes from the common nickname of Michigan's Upper Peninsula as the U.P. When you say "U.P." quickly, it sounds like "Yoop." And so the next logical step is to call those northern Michiganders "Yoopers"!

On July 24, 1701, French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac began building a small fort on the bank of the Detroit River, which he would later name Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. The area grew slowly, only reaching a population of 1,400 people in 1773, but the Motor City would continue expanding until its massive population booms in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.

Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835 and spent much of his life in the town of Hannibal, located alongside the Mississippi River. In his honor, Missouri's only national forest was named after the writer and humorist. The land encompasses roughly 1.5 million acres of Ozark Highlands, and includes large springs, caves, and volcanic mountains.

On Wisconsin's eastern end, Door Peninsula stretches into Lake Michigan toward the northeast. To its west are the waters of Green Bay, and to its east is the vast horizon of Lake Michigan. The peninsula is split in half by the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, which was constructed in 1881, and technically makes the northern section of the peninsula an island.

Mount Rushmore, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States, is located in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The massive sculpture, which features busts of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson, was carved from 1927 to 1941. Even without the iconic carvings, the Black Hills, with their fascinating rock formations and lush forests, is one of the most picturesque regions in the state.

Indianapolis, Indiana, was a planned city, designed by Alexander Ralston to become a trade hub and grow outwardly from a concentrated center. In 1847, the city had fewer than 8,000 residents when the Indianapolis & Madison Railroad finished its line into town. Within five years, seven different rail lines met in the city, transforming it into a massive transportation hub. Its nickname reflects that history as the "Crossroads of America.”

Contrary to its name, the Big Ten athletic conference actually consists of 14 teams, 11 of which are located in the Midwest. From the Nebraska Cornhuskers at the western extreme to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the east, the Big Ten includes some of the country's largest and most recognizable schools. Outside of the Midwest, the Big Ten includes Penn State, the University of Maryland, and Rutgers University.

Many people disagree on what states count as the Midwest, but the U.S. Census has its own take. They define the Midwest as consisting of 12 states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Oklahoma, however, is considered to be part of the South.

The Corn Belt is an agricultural region of the U.S. that touches several Midwestern states. Western Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, eastern Nebraska, and eastern Kansas all play a part in the fertile region. However, corn is not the area's only crop — the belt is also known for its soybeans and for its livestock. In recognition of its agricultural production, the Midwest is sometimes called “America's Breadbasket.”

Michigan is the only state to be separated into two large land areas — the mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, which borders Wisconsin on its west. Separating the two peninsulas is the 30-mile-long Straits of Mackinac, which also connect Lake Michigan with Lake Huron. Both peninsulas are linked by the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge, which opened in 1957.

With a population of about 2.7 million people living within its borders, Chicago is by far the largest city in the Midwest (and the third-largest in the country, after New York City and Los Angeles). If you include Chicago’s greater metropolitan area, which stretches far enough to include parts of Indiana and Wisconsin, the population is nearly 10 million.

Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are the three biggest cities in Ohio by population, and they all begin with the same letter — a phenomenon that doesn't occur in any other state. Columbus is the biggest by a large margin, with a population near 900,000. After that is Cleveland with around 375,000 people and then Cincinnati with about 310,000 residents.