Worth the drive

Less than 1 hour

Blue Sky Vineyard, Makanda, Ill.

The Southern Region Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association will host a food and wine tasting event on Nov. 8 at Blue Sky Vineyard's Tuscan Sun event pavilion. Award-winning wines from the 2007 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition and "four-star food" prepared by Chef Jamie Boaz will be available for tasting.

Vintners and viticulturalists will also be on hand to discuss their craft, as will Boaz.

Social hour is at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $65 per person.

For more information call 618-833-7467.

Trail of Tears State Park

Trail of Tears kicks off a month of films about Native Americans at 2 p.m. Sunday with a 30-minute documentary, "Plants and the Cherokee." New films are shows every Sunday at 2 p.m. throughout the month.

More for information call 334-1711.

Less than two hours

Bootheel Youth Museum, Malden, Mo.

The museum is hosting an exhibit called "A View from Space" -- a highly interactive, hands-on science exhibit -- through early January. The exhibit says it allows people to see the world from a satellite's perspective.

"A View from Space" was created by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry with funding provided by NASA. For more information call 573-276-3600.

Scottrade Center, St. Louis

Comedian Dane Cook has made the jump from cult act to mainstream comic in just a short time (you may know him from the Major League Baseball playoff ads). On Sunday Cook brings his act to Missouri, when his "Rough Around the Edges" comedy tour visits the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Tickets range from $30 to $100. For more information call 314-241-1888.

Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, St. Louis

Sure, most of us take for granted that women can vote today -- it seems like that's how it's always been.

But not so long ago they couldn't.

On Sunday the Scott Joplin House will host an educational program on how women got the right to vote, told through song. Author Francine Wolff will give what the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is calling "a lively program."

For more information call the site at 314-340-5790.