When Crystal Dyer opened Gone Again Travel & Tours in a storefront in Austin in 2016, she was doing more than establishing a brick-and-mortar business. The site was just four blocks from where her grandson had been killed, and in moving her operations there she was seeking to bring some hope and opportunity to the neighborhood.
Dyer’s family is from Georgia, and at her request she’d been transferred down to Atlanta to be closer to them, but after Devin’s death, she returned to Austin “with a burning desire to help my family and Austin youth,” she says on her website. “I wanted to show the kids—and the adults—that all you got to have is a dream and put in the work, and you can have whatever you want,” she explains.
Dyer has many recommendations for travel closer to home. Here are some of her favorite spots in the midwest.
Saint Charles, IL
