Caitlan Hester
Host, Backroad WeeklyCaitlan Hester is the founder and publisher of Backroad Weekly, a free weekly newsletter featuring day trips for Southeast Missourians. A Se/MO native and SEMO grad, Caitlan spent 11 years abroad before returning home and seeing the region through a new lens. Today, she shares the best of the region with thousands of readers each week, helping them make the most of what's close to home.
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Founded in the 1850s, with a current population of only about 130 people, Kimmswick, Missouri, was revived and restored by the 7-UP heiress in the 70s, when she hauled in historic buildings for preservation and vibe. -
There's one road in the world that has closed every year, twice a year, for over 50 years, all in the name of snakes. -
Ride the rails in 100-year-old passenger cars while you take in a show. -
Hey, local day trippers! Obviously, I'm a travel writer and not a singer. But you know who is singing this time of year? Wild elk. -
The phrase, "hidden gem" gets thrown around too often in travel writing. It's kind of a pet peeve. But this time, I'll begrudgingly admit that "hidden gem" is a great way to describe Lon Sanders Canyon Conservation Area, in Piedmont, Missouri. -
What I thought was a quick lunch stop in Marble Hill, Missouri, turned into an antiquing vortex. I emerged three hours later with disheveled hair and home decor. -
Sorry to have to call them out like this, but your cycling friends are holding out on you. Southern Illinois' Tunnel Hill State Trail is famously a cyclist's good time. But adventurers who hoof it can have a little tunnel fun, too. -
If you have some kind of weird places-to-use-an-outhouse bucket list, I have great news for you. -
Before agriculture became King of the Missouri Bootheel, it was a tangled world of cypress trees and wetlands. Today, only fragments of that wild past remain. This week's destination is Otter Slough Conservation Area. -
Tourists spend thousands traveling to Arizona's Havisu Falls and Costa Rica's Rio Celeste in pursuit of water that's a cerulean shade of blue. Meanwhile, we're just sitting over here in Southern Missouri on our goldmine of unsung beauty.
