DON'T LAUGH.......Considering a vacation to Iowa! (Iowa City, Dubuque: homes, movies)

[odessa3]

Our vacation is a little over a week away! Bring on more comments and suggestions!

[donisanasfan]

ok.....going to try throwing this out there and see what happens. My Dad was form a small town in Iowa named Cushing. I visited my grandmother there numerous times as a child and have wonderful memories of this wonderful small town. I want my kids to experience what I experienced as a kid, or at least as similar as it can be these days. I would love to rent a home next summer for a month or two, in or around the Cushing or Holstein area. If any one knows of a decent home big enough for three small kids, and 2 adults that would be willing to rent as vacation home I would love to hear from you.

[sequoias]

It's funny I've been to many places in Iowa but haven't been to Northeast Iowa where the beautiful scenery are....that will be our plan someday. They got some caves there, I think. Iowa is a land of thousands of small towns not far apart from each other.

[GregJ]

Love to find out how your trip went. Did you like Iowa. My guess is you found your new favorite state.

Greg

[chunn7]

This may be an old thread , but there is a lot of good suggestions. Thanks to those who contributed.

[AnonomousNinja]

I live in Iowa(: It's really not that bad here. The weather is just crazy. Just a few weeks ago it snowed! In May! Now it's in the 80s-90s. We have Adventureland during Summer, it is also open on weekends right now. It is a theme park and it also has a water park inside! It's pretty cool . We have Grays Lake. If you like the outdoors and like to walk/run. We have Caves that you can tour inside of . We have Blank Park Zoo. Living History Farms. and more. I hope you come. I know it's not much but We are more than just the corn state.

[educator1953]

My husband and I are planning a trip to Ames, Iowa, during the first week of July. When our daughter was in high school, she spent a summer in Ames working an internship at Iowa State University. We visited her on the Fourth of July, and we went to the fireworks display. As I recall, we parked our car in a parking lot at the university, and the display was directly overhead. It was fantastic! We had a great time--not just seeing the fireworks and hearing the music, but also visiting with all the people around us. We stayed a couple more days to be with her, and needless to say, we fell in love with Iowa.

Although it's been about fifteen years since this occurred, I am hoping Ames still has its fireworks show. Does anyone know? We are also going to spend a few days driving around the entire state as we won't be restricted to the Ames area as we were in the past. I have read the posts (even though some of them are old), and there are some good suggestions of other places we might visit.

We plan to drive through southwest Iowa on our way back home taking a different route than the one going to Ames. Besides the Villisca Axe Murder House (???) is there anyplace we should visit in that part of the state? Thank you for any suggestions. (I am excited to get back to Iowa.)

[atler8]

Hi there
I'm an ISU grad from long ago but haven't been to Ames for a very long time. A current local from there will need to advise you about planned 4th celebrations unless the info might be available online at the city of Ames web site.
Unfortunately the southwest corner of the state which you specifically mentioned, is the area that I am least familiar with so I am not up to par on suggestions for stop-offs of interest there.
If you would like to see some of the most beautiful or unusual areas of the state geographically &/or historically speaking, I would suggest heading up to northeast Iowa & using the old (for Iowa) city of Dubuque as a start-off point for looking at the area of the state above Dubuque & along the Mississippi River. 25 miles west of Dubuque you might enjoy a stop in Dyersville where Field of Dreams was filmed & the ball fields are still in use.
The last glacier to come through central North America missed that area, and correspondingly nearby areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Illinois. As a a result, the scenery is "rugged" by Iowa standards the further northeast you go up in that corner of the state & some bluff areas along the river are around 500 feet high above the river valley floor.
One area there of particular scenic & historic interest would be specifically around McGregor, Ia. & the Prairie du Chien area in Wi. right across the river. A gorgeous state park there on the Iowa side of the river is named Pike's Peak State Park & the peak was discovered by & named for the same Pike who later went on into the Rockies where the mountain bears his name too.
Near there is a national monument called Effigy Mounds which is a preserved area of a few hundred Indian mounds.
Then, way over on the western boundary of the state, there is a long ridge running north-to south from above Sioux City & on down to below Council Bluffs that is called the Loess Hills area. There is only one other place in the world where the same particular type of fine wind-blown sandy soil has been deposited in similar type of hills & ridges hills & that is in China. Some of the Loess Hills peak out at a few to several hundred feet above the valley floor below. The loess ridge parallels the Missouri River & I-29 by the way.
Sorry to say, those are only a couple of places & they are on opposite sides of the state but I mentioned them because they are favorite points of interest to me personally.
Good luck on your visit & in your travels & enjoy yourself.

[educator1953]

Thanks, Atler8. We plan to check out some of your suggestions.

We're retired so we can stay indefinitely in Iowa and travel as long as we want. My husband played baseball in high school and college, so we plan to check out Dyersville. I want to see Pike's Peak State Park that you mentioned.

Again, thanks for your help. We will check out several of the areas you mentioned.

[ElleTea]

Be sure to report back and tell us all about it!