Modern B&B in the Heart of Ohio Amish Country

Holmes County, Ohio, is home to the world's largest Amish community, a culture that eschews modern technology in search of a simpler lifestyle. Consequently, the region feels even more separate from city life than other rural areas, a trait that makes it especially attractive to some. The Inn at Honey Run embraces this ethos while still offering an onsite spa, an upscale restaurant, and other comforts you'd expect from a luxury boutique hotel.

The Inn at Honey Run's aesthetic is a far cry from the earthy farmhouses just a few miles away. Bucolic yet refined decor covers both the lobby and the guest rooms with wreaths of sinewy dried vines and local artwork made of wrought iron and polished wood. Several Select rooms occupy upper floors, where treetops are visible through reading nooks' skylights. Alternatively, Honeycomb rooms are built into a hillside and come with a secluded outdoor patio.

Every morning, guests gather at Tarragon, the Inn's upscale yet casual restaurant, for a continental breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, and house-made muffins and pastries. For lunch and dinner, Executive Chef Scott Fetty draws on his training and uses seasonal, local ingredients to craft upscale American cuisine.

At the onsite Spa at Honey Run, sip on flowering tea before a massage, facial treatment, or body treatment that uses 100% organic oils and scrubs. The hiking trails that crisscross the property are another source of relaxation, passing through meadows and forests and along burbling brooks. For an additional fee of $125, the inn will arrange an authentic Amish-country buggy ride around the surrounding hills.

Holmes County, OH: Bucolic Farmland Rich in Amish Tradition

Located about 80 miles south of Cleveland, Holmes County's rolling countryside is rife with farms and stores, as well as a few tourist attractions. See the Amish lifestyle up close at The Farm at Walnut Creek, which also houses exotic creatures such as giraffes, camels, and kangaroos alongside regional animals like cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The Holmes County Trail follows 29 miles of former railroad lines, from nearby Killbuck to Fredericksburg, with 15 paved miles accommodating Amish buggies and bicycles.

Read the Fine Print for important info on travel dates and other restrictions.

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Lexington, Kentucky has made a name for itself as the "Horse Capital of the World," but it's also home to some blue-ribbon bourbon. If you've been champing at the bit for a taste of authentic Kentucky, take off on this week's Escape to Four Points by Sheraton Lexington. You and a guest will saddle up for an overnight stay in a Deluxe King Room and receive breakfast for two, a $45 dinner credit, a bourbon education class, and a Kentucky Bourbon Trail passport ($121). Rooms feature king-size Four Comfort beds and complimentary high-speed wireless Internet. Start your day on the right hoof with included breakfast for two in the hotel's Cafe, then learn about the region's signature whiskey at an included bourbon education class. Your Kentucky Bourbon Trail passport will direct you to six famous distilleries-including Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, and Jim Beam-that put the Bluegrass State on the map. Tour all six, then mail in your completed passport to receive a Kentucky Bourbon Trail shirt. If alcohol doesn't stir your fancy, the area's stable of historical and equine attractions will keep you interested. Downtown Lexington is packed with museums, galleries, and shops, including the Mary Todd Lincoln House. Or, see magnificent creatures for yourself at the 1,229-acre Kentucky Horse Park, host of the 2010 World Equestrian Games. In addition to museums and events dedicated to horses, the park offers pony rides and more than three dozen breeds to see. Legendary Man o' War and his Triple Crown-winning offspring War Admiral-two of history's greatest racehorses-are interned at the park. Your day will end with dinner at the Cafe, but the memories of this blue-blood Escape to Kentucky will last long after you cross the finish line.

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Historic B & B with Park Views and Fine Southern Cuisine

Kentucky's Bluegrass Region is the textbook image of idyllic farmland-a landscape of rolling hills divided by rail fences into orchards, wineries, and horse pastures. In 1926, the Cleveland Orphanage Institution decided it was the perfect setting for educating children. They rebuilt the Cleveland Home as a Dutch Colonial Revival building, providing plenty of room for kids to run around. Today, it's become The Woodford Inn, a stately, red brick structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bruce and Linda Parker, two restaurateurs-turned-innkeepers, keep the place as welcoming as ever with warm hospitality and home-cooked southern fare.

The onsite Addie's Restaurant and Bar is named after Linda's mother, who used to prepare her family's large Sunday dinners. The restaurant serves local specialties such as the Hot Brown sandwich ($12) with roast turkey and country ham in cheesy mornay sauce. An equally hearty breakfast often includes pancakes, bacon, and omelets, all served from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. You can dine inside, where paintings of racehorses line the walls, or head out to the patio, which is flanked by grassy lawns and conifers. There's also a front porch, outfitted in classic southern fashion with rocking chairs and hanging ferns.

Inside, many of the inn's 10 guest rooms overlook the neighboring Woodford County Park. Though no two rooms are identical, all boast Tempur-Pedic mattresses, ornately carved headboards, and jacuzzi tubs. Room 3's two-person tub makes it a good fit for couples.

Versailles, Kentucky: Bluegrass Country Along Bourbon Trail

The town of Versailles was named after the site of Louis XIV's gilded palace in France, yet the two places share little in common. The American version is located along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a string of famous distilleries including Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, and Wild Turkey. The region is also home to some of the most successful racehorse breeders in the world, whose ponies have gone on to win the Triple Crown and star in the doodles of 12-year-old girls all over the world.

Half an hour east, Lexington has many equine-related attractions of its own, including the Kentucky Horse Park and the Keeneland Race Track, a beautiful course that dates to 1935 and is known for its horse auctions. Nearby, the Mary Todd Lincoln House is filled with rooms made to look much like the ones lived in by Abraham Lincoln's First Lady.

Read the Fine Print for important info on travel dates and other restrictions.

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Once mastered, chopsticks are the most manageable eating utensils, unlike forks, which get mangled in the dishwasher, or fingers, which get lost in the mouths of teething sock puppets. Eat easily with this Groupon.

Choose from Three Options $10 for $20 worth of sushi and Southern fare $27 for entrees for four people (up to a $55.96 value) $19 for $25 worth of sushi plus 1 hour of karaoke in a private room for up to eight people (a $50 value)

Diners sample Japanese sashimi ($3.75-5.50) and maki rolls ($5-14.95) or Southern-style barbecue-brisket sandwiches ($7.99) and wings ($8.49), while karaoke-goers make use of the eatery's recently renovated rooms.

See the full menu here.

Oasis Sushi and Soul

Part soul-food joint, part sushi bar, and part karaoke venue, Oasis Sushi and Soul resists easy definitions. The restaurant's extensive catalog of karaoke hits reflects an eclectic menu where Southern barbecue sandwiches rub shoulders with Japanese sushi and sashimi. Drawing from diverse inspirations, the chefs cultivate a harmony between far-flung cuisines that can even result in elaborate fusion creations such as the Kentucky roll, which ties together four types of fish with freshly mowed blades of bluegrass. Equipped to host karaoke nights, the restaurant's newly renovated private rooms regularly play host to group events.

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A good belly laugh exercises the abdomen, improves a cloudy mood, and comforts homesick reindeer with familiar, Santaesque sounds. Ease a four-legged friend's melancholy with today's GrouponLive deal to Comedy Caravan, located in the Mid-City Mall. Choose between the following options:

For $10, you get two general-admission tickets to any regular Thursday or Sunday show (up to a $20 value). For $15, you get two general-admission tickets to any regular Friday or Saturday show (up to a $30 value).

Comedy Caravan boasts a bulging schedule of standup talent late each week. May 24-27 welcomes David Crowe, whose erudite, soft-spoken style zigzags into zany impressions and physical contortions. Ryan Dalton (May 31-June 3) focuses his manic energy through a prism of jaundiced sarcasm, reflecting on the absurdities of working the club circuit. Turning her comedy laser on the homefront, Jodi White (June 14-17) romps through racy meditations on dating as a middle-aged mother of three. Unlike most comedy clubs, Comedy Caravan refuses to implement cumbersome policies such as two-drink minimums or mandatory hair donation.

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In the Victorian era, extreme sports were limited to teatime without doilies, writing witty satires about earnestness, and riding a penny-farthing down a mild incline. Shock such staid sensibilities with this Groupon.

Choose from Three Options $25 for a half-day whitewater-rafting adventure on the Ocoee River (up to a $53 value)  $50 for the above option with a CD of photos from the experience (up to a $102.95 value)  $80 for a weekend escape for two, including a half-day rafting adventure, photos on CD, and one night of camping at Ocoee base camp (up to a $167.95 value)

Adventures Unlimited

Foaming white rapids rush down the Ocoee River as birds chatter from within the leaves of towering trees. For nearly two decades, this has been the home of Adventures Unlimited, an environmentally sustainable full-service resort rolling with 30 acres of campgrounds, cabins, and whitewater-rafting facilities. Landscaping and gardens highlight native plants and animals, vehicles run on biodiesel fuel, and any construction efforts use sustainable materials or rocks that everyone was always tripping over anyway. The family-operated adventure company launches groups on whitewater-rafting trips through the tumultuous currents of the local Ocoee and Hiawassee Rivers or further afield in Costa Rica.

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Taking two-dimensional photographs is a simpler way of preserving a moment than erecting three-dimensional dioramas or creating four-dimensional time loops. Capture the best of times with this Groupon.

$89 for a Senior Class Portrait Package ($424 Total Value) Two-hour in-studio or on-location photo shoot, or one-hour in-studio and one-hour on-location photo shoot (a $100 value) CD of selected retouched images (a $150 value) One 11" x 14" wrapped canvas or wall portrait (a $130 value) Personalized collage (a $44 value)

Young adults meet with the photography team inside the studio or on location and collaborate on portrait poses that showcase their unique personalities. The studio's charming senior portraits are available in color, black and white, and sepia tones, and photographers encourage models to bring in meaningful props, such as a guitar or basketball. The studio's graphic-design team then quickly retouches the snapshots, delivering prints before customers leave the studio. All images on CD are copyright and print-protected, but may be freely printed at home and used with social networking or chore-swapping websites.

Click Portrait Studio

Click Portrait Studio's professional lens charmers preserve images of families, couples, pets, and graduates through artful in-studio or on-location photo sessions. In addition to capturing natural emotion, the studio hosts a graphic-design team capable of retouching images to remove blemishes, red eyes, and ugly sweaters woven from wombat fur before delivering prints on the same day as an in-studio shoot. This combination of expressive portraiture and lightning-fast turnaround has earned the studio the Rising Star Award in the 2011 Southern Indiana Business Awards.

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Art collectors protect their pictures the same way that crime bosses discipline their children-by having them framed. Guard your pictures before they take a fall with this Groupon.

Choose Between Two Options $69 for a diploma framing (up to a $189 value) $45 for $130 worth of custom framing

Diploma framing includes a frame built in-house, a variety of molding choices, and a black mat with a second mat in a school color, silver, or gold. Computerized mat cutting of emblems and mascots is available for an additional price. Custom-framing prices vary with the choice of materials and the size of the art, but examples include an 8"x10" work with a 2-inch standard mat and a low-cost, in-stock frame for $50 and a 24"x37" work with a 1.5-inch standard mat and a moderately priced frame for $250.

Koch & Company

Koch & Company beautifies living spaces with custom-framing jobs and a gallery's worth of local artwork and crafts. The shop's designers share an aesthetic savvy and will gladly help clients to select from more than 200 frame samples and more than 600 mat samples, tailored to encase paintings, diplomas, or Etch A Sketch political cartoons. An in-store art gallery displays work from nearly 70 local artists and includes paintings, ceramics, jewelry, and stained-glass works.

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Astronauts regularly practice yoga to stay limber, modulate their breathing, and control their crippling fear of being eaten by the moon. Take one small stretch with this Groupon.

Choose Between Two Options $39 for 10 drop-in yoga classes (an $80 value) $69 for 20 drop-in yoga classes (a $160 value)

Students seamlessly shift between poses during Hatha Yoga Flow and Warm Yoga Flow, the latter of which takes place in 90-degree heat. Parents and children of all ages can learn to stretch together at Mommy & Me classes. Click here for a class schedule.

Pink Elephant Yoga

Jennifer Hurst leads Hatha Yoga Flow and Warm Yoga Flow classes within her independent yoga studio, focusing on breath work and the release of bodily tension. At Mommy & Me classes, she often brings her own two children to stretch alongside entire families. Hurst's devotion to cheerful teaching also leads her to host complimentary sessions on the lawn outside of Spalding Hall, where students perfecting their tree poses can look to actual trees for inspiration.

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Until mankind first stepped outside in 1934, nature was thought to be a fanciful myth, like yogurt or the clutch hitter. Spend a few hours frolicking through the fresh air of truth with this Groupon.

Choose Between Two Options $6 for animal-park admission for one child (up to a $13 value) $10 for animal-park admission for one adult (up to a $22 value)

Admission includes a scheduled tour of Kentucky Caverns, visits to the aviaries, a 30-minute reptile-demonstration program, a 30-minute guided animal tour, and a 45-minute sheep-herding demonstration.

Kentucky Down Under

In the middle of a field in Kentucky, a child pets a sitting kangaroo, as an exotic snake slithers in the hands of its charmer. Although this may seem possible only in a dream, this interactive nature and animal park was assembled by an Australian physical therapist and a local scientist. The venture began when Bill Austin took up management of Kentucky Caverns, which his grandfather had purchased in the 1920s, and he and his wife, Judy, decided to bring in some of her native culture and wildlife. Today, they welcome park visitors to hand-feed colorful lorikeets and inquisitive budgies inside two walk-in aviaries, or venture underground to take guided tours of the active caverns' ever-changing stalagmites and stalactites and meet the local Batmen.

Trained interpreters and handlers showcase Australian snakes and lizards in daily programs, and other staffers lead guests on up-close encounters to pet kangaroos, koalas, and emus. At Camp Corroboree, interpreters demonstrate aboriginal tools and instruments, explain their history and culture, and invite visitors to follow their lead in playing music or drinking milk through a traditional didgeridoo.

When not guiding tours, many park staffers lead educational children's programs on topics such as Australian history, animal anatomy, and food-chain webs. Through a special outreach program, they also bring their animal demonstrations, storytelling skills, and trained animal storytellers to events outside the park. The park's onsite gift shop allows visitors to peruse apparel, didgeridoos, and boomerangs, or watch fudge-makers craft sweet confections.

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Dental cleaning involves a lot of tooth polishing and plaque removal, unlike professional boxing, which involves a lot of plaque polishing and tooth removal. Get a heavyweight cleaning with this Groupon.

Choose Between Two Options

$859 for a teeth-whitening package (a $1,749.50 value)

Consultation, exam, and cleaning X-rays Before and after photos Kör Whitening take-home impression trays and gel

$2,499 for a teeth-straightening package (a $5,600 value)

Full Invisalign treatment Consultation, exam, and x-rays

Developed by a renowned cosmetic dentist and bleaching expert, Kör Whitening works by restoring the teeth's ability to absorb oxygen. After the dentist examines teeth and takes impressions, patients return to pick up their customized whitening trays, complete with a low-sensitivity gel that coats enamel in oxygen molecules that hoist out stains and yellowing. Unlike normal bleaching, Kör Whitening is designed to render teeth permanently whiter.

Patients in need of straighter smiles can opt for Invisalign, a series of transparent trays that gradually shift teeth toward healthier, more aesthetically pleasing positions while remaining virtually undetectable. An initial consultation and exam clears patients for Invisalign use, with impressions being taken and the trays crafted over two subsequent visits. Full case treatments of Invisalign can last from 6 to 15 months, depending on the patient. Patients typically wear the straightening trays 20 to 22 hours per day, removing them only to eat and brush.

Your Shelbyville Dental Home

At Your Shelbyville Dental Home, Dr. Gary L. Griffin and his team follow a philosophy of treating each patient as an individual, so much so that they refer to each patient as their guest. Unlike many dental offices, Your Shelbyville Dental Home schedules only one appointment at a time, giving each guest a heaping dose of undivided attention and virtually eliminating long wait times and attempts to break the land speed record for thumb twiddling. Once inside the sunny yellow treatment room, guests can relax in the thickly cushioned office chair amid an arsenal of up-to-date equipment such as laser dental technology and a flat-screen TV. During initial appointments, Dr. Gary looks deeply into medical histories and works with guests to develop custom treatment plans to fit their needs and expectations.

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The Issue: Veterans Face Challenges Entering the Workforce

Nearly 30 percent of male veterans aged 18-24 and 36 percent of female veterans of the same ages were out of work in 2011, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When veterans leave combat, they face tough competition for jobs in a diminished market, and many have difficulties translating their skills and experience for the civilian world. Even when they can get opportunities, many cannot afford to travel to interviews or their first days of work.

The Campaign: Transportation to Help Veterans Gain Jobs

If this Grassroots campaign raises $100, then USA Cares can supply a $100 fuel card to an unemployed veteran to enable travel to job interviews or a new job. Each additional $100 raised will provide another veteran with a fuel card. USA Cares supplies these fuel cards as part of its Jobs for Vets program, which helps post-9/11 veterans overcome financial barriers when transitioning to civilian life. The cards can help veterans start their postwar careers by equipping them with the means to travel to interviews or jobs until they can support themselves. In 2012 alone, USA Cares has distributed more than $3,000 in fuel cards to veterans.

You can follow the progress of this and other Grassroots campaigns at the Groupon Grassroots website.

USA Cares

USA Cares supports active-duty military members and post-9/11 veterans with grassroots advocacy and financial assistance. The organization provides payments to mortgage lenders and utility companies, and funds transportation services that enable veterans to achieve self-sufficiency and prevent financial crises. USA Cares's family-resource call center serves as an outlet for people experiencing difficulties. Volunteers identify services and benefits that can solve issues and respond with assistance to requests for aid. Also, the volunteers respond to all requests, whether or not they can provide aid, with written thanks for sacrifices and detailed explanations of the decisions.

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