Looking for a vacation location where you can spend some relaxing days exploring the towns and countryside of the Midwest? Take a look at eastern Iowa, where you can visit the Amana Colonies and baseball’s “Field of Dreams,” stroll around towns that grew up along the Mississippi River and dip a fish hook or canoe paddle in a stream.
The Amana Colonies were formed by members of the Community of True Inspiration who moved to Iowa in 1855. Get off Interstate 80 south of Cedar Rapids to tour the seven villages of this National Historic Landmark and sample their German food and beer.
Keep driving to Cedar Rapids, which could be a handy base camp for your travels around eastern Iowa. Look under “Things to See &Do” for information on the National Czech &Slovak Museum &Library, historic farms and other local attractions. And check out the hotel package deals.
Nearby Iowa City is just 10 miles west of West Branch, site of the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, which preserves the tiny cottage where the 31st president was born.
Take a cruise on the Mississippi River at Dubuque, home of gingerbread Victorian-style mansions and the Fenelon Place Elevator, built to haul people 189 feet up from one level of the city to another.
www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com
A few miles west of Dubuque, you can see the farm that was the location for the movie “Field of Dreams” outside the town of Dyersville.
Downriver from Dubuque, the Mississippi is straddled by the Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Ill. Play indoors in one of the casinos, or get out and admire historic neighborhoods, parks and public gardens. And if you’re a fan of tractors and other big machinery, visit the John Deere Historic Site.
Down in the southeastern corner of the state, the river city of Burlington has Snake Alley, which it promotes as the world’s most crooked street with five half-curves and two quarter-curves. (San Francisco’s Lombard Street has eight switchback turns.)
www.visitiowa.org www.bikeiowa.com
Get away from the cities and the Mississippi in Northeast Iowa, where the upper Iowa River supports canoe travel, and you can hike and bike through the rolling countryside. Pick up additional info on two-wheel travel from Bike Iowa.
www.traveliowa.com/index.htm
There’s plenty more to see and do in the rural nooks and crannies of eastern Iowa. Do a little research at the state’s official Travel Iowa by clicking on “Cities &Regions” and then on the four eastern travel regions on the state map.
Roger Petterson, Associated Press
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