Iowa Girl on the Go

There’s nothing like a trip to Pella, Iowa, to put me in the mood for Christmas.

It’s become a tradition for me to travel to Pella, a Dutch community 45 miles southeast of Des Moines, just before Christmas to pick up baked goods and cheeses for the holidays. I’ve also been known to do some of my Christmas shopping there.

I spent yesterday afternoon in Pella, inhaling all the goodness of the downtown bakeries and warming up with an eggnog latte at Smokey Row coffee shop. The bakeries (Jaarsma is my go-to shop, but Vander Ploeg Bakery is also very good) are the BEST at Christmas because in addition to the usual Dutch letters and other goodies, they have gingerbread houses, spicy St. Nick cookies in many sizes, and other holiday treats. I always buy coffee cakes and macaroons (coconut and date), frosted sugar cookies, caramel tarts (which never make it all the way home), and at least a dozen St. Nicks.

After the bakery, I like to go to Ulrich Meat Market – not to buy meat (although I am told it is very good), but to buy imported cheeses. Ulrich (and In’t Veld Meat Market on the next block) have Dutch cheeses that are hard to find in central Iowa, plus Ulrich has a good selection of other European and Iowa cheeses, including Maytag’s delicious blue cheese and white cheddar.

On this trip to Pella, for the first time, I visited the Scholte House Museum to see how it was decorated for Christmas. In my spring visits, I have always gone to the Scholte Gardens, because they are bursting with tulips of every color, shape, and size. But I had never taken a tour of the Scholte home. It was well worth the $5 admission charge. Beverly Graves, the home’s director (and live-in caretaker) gave me a thorough tour that covered not just the history of the house, but a history of its early owners and how they settled the city of Pella. I especially enjoyed the 15 Christmas trees, historic artwork, and cozy furnishings.

There’s more to do in Pella during the holidays, including a Pella Historical Village Christmas Walk (“a walk through  20+ buildings ‘dressed-up’ for the holidays,” now through Dec. 31) and Pella Christmas in the Country (an annual country light display, each evening through Dec. 31).

Shopping and dining in Pella have changed over the years. Some of my favorite shops and restaurants have come and gone, but they always seem to be replaced with something new to explore. One shop, De Pelikaan, has been there for years and features unique imported Dutch gifts. Just stroll around the downtown area, wander through the shops, enjoy the windmill, and you’ll be sure to find something that catches your eye.

Not far from Pella is Lake Red Rock. I am not big on water sports, but I like to go to Red Rock for the walking trails, though not so much this time of year.

Pella is actually a wonderful place any time of year – although most people mainly think of Pella during Tulip Time (held May 5-7 in 2011). Tulip Time is a festival that features parades, costumes, flowers, street scrubbing, Dutch dancing, crafts, food (lots of food), and music. If you’re not into the festival itself, go the week before like I do, and just enjoy the tulips and bakeries without the crowds.

Don’t go to the Jolly Holiday Lights display in Des Moines thinking you’re going to be wowed by the spectacle, because you won’t be. The 15^th annual event, which benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Iowa, is a nice cause, but it’s hardly impressive. The drive through Water Works Park offers a series of lighted holiday scenes with no apparent theme, and for the most part the scenes are of similar quality as those you see in residential neighborhoods these days. Have they updated it at ALL in 15 years? For $10 a car, I expected more. Jolly Holiday Lights continues through Jan. 1.

The problem with this time of the year is that there are all these holiday activities and events but NO TIME TO ENJOY THEM. I have a long list of things I’d like to do and see – holiday home tours, tree lightings, perhaps a dozen performances of The Nutcracker – but I am missing them as I instead opt to decorate my house, shop for gifts, send holiday cards, bake cookies, and all the rest of my seasonal duties.

I’ve been advocating lately to move all the holiday activities to January when people have more time to take advantage of them, but so far no one has listened. It’s kind of like my earlier push to get Thanksgiving and Christmas moved farther apart – a similarly unsuccessful campaign.

Anyway, I was planning for sure to go to the Holiday Promenade in Des Moines’ East Village (Nov. 19) and the Amana Colonies’ Prelude to Christmas (Dec. 3-5). I didn’t make it to either one. I am still hoping to see Des Moines’ Jolly Holiday Lights and go to Pella sometime before Christmas. I’d also like to go to performances of A Christmas Story, Utopia, and Triple Espresso – but I doubt I’ll find the time.

I did make it down to Des Moines twice this weekend, first to Nada Silent Night (on Friday, Dec. 3) and then to the touring production of Mary Poppins on Saturday. These performances could not have been more different, but I enjoyed them equally well.

First, the Nadas. This is a band that was born in Ames (by two Iowa State students, Jason Walsmith and Mike Butterworth) and grown in Des Moines. The group has been together more than 15 years and is popular throughout the Midwest (wildly so in Ames)…and yet I had only heard them in concert once before and own only one of their CDs. So call me a fan-come-lately, but I really do like this band a lot, now that I am paying attention and not just dismissing them as The Band that Played at People’s.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Nada Silent Night – although I’d been aware of the event for many years. Would they be singing Christmas music? (Happily, the answer was no.) The show was held at Hoyt Sherman Place, not exactly known as a rock’n’roll venue.

But rocking it was. The place was filled with happy Nadas fans. I had the strange feeling that everyone in the audience knew each other.

The theme for the concert was A Nadas Christmas Carol. The band did three sets – music from the group’s past, then songs from the present, and, of course, the future.

The “past” set was made to look like People’s bar and grill in Ames, with the band (complete with their old drummer Tony Bohnenkamp) dressed in college-era grubbies and drinking from Mug Night mugs. In the “present,” the band returned in snappy suits; the stage sparked with holiday lights; and the music sounded like I remember – more sophisticated. The group’s third set, the “future,” began with children on the stage and the band dressed in white jumpsuits and sunglasses, the stage filled with white sparkling lights and fog machines.

By the end of the night, the audience was dancing in the aisles, and the security guys were letting them. It was a fantastic concert. I got to hear all my favorite songs from Almanac, and the experience made me want to go out and buy more of their music. Maybe next year I will dance in the aisles.

The next day I went to the Broadway touring performance of Mary Poppins at the Des Moines Civic Center. This is material I grew up with (I remember seeing the movie when it was released in 1964, and I sang along with the soundtrack LP as a child), and it’s a story my oldest daughter, Katie, always loved. I’d heard great things about the show, from its debut in London to the production in New York. Still, for some reason, I wasn’t terribly excited about going to the show on Saturday.

Well, I totally should have been. Because this is one amazing production. It has everything you’d ever want in musical theatre: great music, strong storyline, well-written characters – plus a fabulous set, good choreography, and flawless performances. And did I mention magic? The special effects were absolutely magical.

The show follows the plot of the Disney movie that showcased Julie Andrews as everyone’s favorite flying nanny and features all of the movie’s best songs. The stage show adds several new songs and mixes the others up a bit for a fresh, new sound. The Julie Andrews role is played in the touring production by Welsh actress Caroline Sheen. This woman was born to play Mary Poppins. She was spit-spot, for sure. Not only can she sing and act, she can also dance…and fly. (Who needs Spider-man when you have Mary Poppins?)

The whole thing was delightful, from the un-precocious but incredibly talented children to the chorus line of chimney sweeps. There was dancing on the ceiling, shooting stars, a big nanny smack-down scene, and fabulous stand-up-and-cheer choreography for the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious number. The set itself practically knocked my eyes out. I tend to be very critical when I go to a show like this, but I can’t think of one thing I’d change about this production. It was, as Mary herself might say, practically perfect in every way.

For the fifth year, the Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Winter Market was held this weekend in Capital Square and Nollen Plaza. It’s an opportunity for shoppers like me to buy our favorite local foods as we settle in for the winter, and it’s an opportunity for vendors to sell their wares in a guaranteed high-traffic venue.

Vendors sell a wide variety of products: cookies and cinnamon rolls, soaps and jams, carved wooden Christmas decorations, late-season produce, bread and cheese, flowers and wreaths, nuts, wine, pasta – you name it. I discovered a couple of vendors last year who sold packaged herbs that you add to sour cream or cream cheese to make simple dips and cheese balls. I think these vendors probably sell at the regular farmers’ market, too, but these products really only interest me at the holidays when I have to come up with something simple and portable to take to our family gatherings in Kansas City. Last year’s cheese balls got rave reviews, so I stocked up on more for this year.

Capital Square (400 Locust Street) is really too small and not exactly set up for this kind of event. Vendors are located around the perimeter of the facility’s two floors, and it’s not unusual to encounter impenetrable traffic jams, not to mention scarily overcrowded escalators. But it’s become a tradition for me, like the regular farmers’ market, so I make the trek downtown in November and December and fight my way to the Maytag Dairy and Frisian Farms cheese booths, the South Union Bakery booth, the Beaverdale Confections booth (for gourmet marshmallows and hot cocoa), and, of course, the Strudl Haus booth for yummy Dutch letters.

If you missed this one, there’s one more Winter Market Dec. 17-18.

I was working in Seattle for three days this week, so I tried to explore the city a little bit since I had never been there before. The two things I really wanted to do were to go to the famous Pike Place Market (where they throw the fish) and find a really funky Seattle coffee shop.

The first thing I learned, at lunch on Tuesday, was that just because you’re in Seattle, it doesn’t mean the coffee is going to be good. In fact, the coffee they served in the diner where we ate lunch was pretty nasty.

Not surprisingly, the weather was nasty, too. The temperatures were in the low 40s the whole time we were there, with strong winds and rain to make it feel completely miserable. Umbrellas didn’t help, because they turned inside out, so I spent three days with very attractive Hood Hair from wearing my raincoat the whole time.

We went to Pike Place Market early one morning. The market is pretty cool, although I’m not sure who really shops there. I enjoyed the neon signs and the mix of vendors. The fish throwers are famous, but that part just felt so touristy…I was not a huge fan.

In the market area, I ducked in to a Seattle’s Best Coffee shop and ordered a latte to warm myself up. The shop was cute in a trying-to-be-cute sort of way, and the baristas were friendly (and also cute, as if cuteness is a prerequisite). It definitely was not the grungy, Kurt Cobain-worthy coffee shop I was looking for.

A few more blocks past the market is Pioneer Square, a historic district with art galleries, antiques, bookstores, restaurants, and bars. One of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, it’s really not a square, and it’s home to a lot of homeless people and odd sorts. The streets were fairly quiet when we were there in the morning, so it wasn’t threatening, but I’d be wary about going there at night. I liked the architecture and I’m sure the shops would have been fun, but I was with my photographer/friend Jim Heemstra and he is not one for shopping.

As we traveled the city to our photo-shoot locations, I kept an eye out for the city’s most sincere and authentic coffee shop. Downtown, everything seemed too upscale. In the areas around the universities, I didn’t see anyplace that oozed the ambience I was looking for. I actually drank one cup of coffee at the University of Washington bookstore café, but it was in a paper cup and nothing to get very excited about.

At one point during our visit, the rain stopped long enough for us to take a walk in Discovery Park. The walking paths took us through rainforest, along a driftwood-stewn beach, and down to a lighthouse. We also got to see some breathtaking views of Puget Sound.

On the way to the airport Thursday morning, we attempted to find a neighborhood called Georgetown that Where magazine described as “beautifully gritty.” It’s not an area that’s easy to find, we learned, since it’s wedged in a triangular-shaped area with a rail yard on one side, an airport on another side, and the freeway on the third side. Trains, planes, and automobiles, indeed. I was ready to give up twice and go on to Sea-Tac, but Jim did a lot of his famous U-turns and persisted until we came upon a scroungy, industrial couple of blocks filled with the most wonderful little shops. There was a coffeehouse called Ground Control, presumably a nod to the nearby airport, and around the corner another one called All City Coffee. That’s the one we chose, and it was utterly delightful in a minimalist, grungy, real-Seattleites-with-lots-of-piercings-hang-out-here kind of way. I had the most awesome latte, served in a brown mug, with one of those little foam designs on top. A coffee-lover’s mecca! And the perfect ending to my trip to Seattle.

The Wild Rose Independent Film Festival came to town last weekend. Held at the Fleur (my favorite movie theater in Des Moines), it ran from Nov. 4-11 and featured short films produced by students and other independent filmmakers, feature-length films, lectures, panel discussions, an acting workshop, and more.

This seemed like a lot of fun, but the only day I could make it down was yesterday – the last day of the festival. It still seemed cool, because they were screening three feature-length films in the New Iowa Film Showcase Series. The first one started at 4:30 p.m. – awfully early, if you work an 8-5 job – but we made it there in time.

The film showing at 4:30 was The Experiment. I remember when it was being filmed in Des Moines because Adrien Brody was in a war-protest scene with hundreds of local extras, and it was filmed near the capital so it got a lot of news coverage – but I didn’t really know much about the storyline. I was actually more interested in the later films – one called Haunting Villisca about the unsolved Villisca axe murders of 1912, which you may remember reading about in this very blog, and one called A Million Spokes, a RAGBRAI documentary.

When we got there, I was rather horrified to learn that each film was going to cost us $10 – which seems like a whole lot considering the normal matinee price is $6.50 and regular evening shows are $8.50. I was hoping we could view all three films for $10, but nope.

At that point I wasn’t about to walk away, so we paid for two tickets and went in. I think there were five other people in the theater, all of whom looked to be retired. Before the show began, a woman from the film festival welcomed us, talked about the film, and showed us a trailer for another film shot in Iowa – Molly’s Girl.

And then The Experiment began, and I can’t begin to tell you how horrible it was. Dave said afterwards that he has a pretty high tolerance level for bad movies and this was one of the worst films he’d ever seen.

Let me just say that this film went directly to video, and there’s a reason for that. (Come to think of it, perhaps the fact that they showed it in the middle of the afternoon should have been my first clue.) The basic plot involves a group of men who volunteer to participate in a psychological study that takes place in a mock prison in the middle of a cornfield. The subjects will be paid $1,000 for each day of the two-week experiment – that is, if they make it to the end.

Think of it as Lord of the Flies For Grownups, Trapped In a Concrete Building.

I objected to the extreme violence, yes, but more than that, I objected to the ridiculous storyline and the evolution of these characters from mild-mannered guys to full-on sociopathic cretins in something like three days. It was totally laughable.

I would have laughed more if I hadn’t been robbed of my ten dollars. When the film was over, we decided we were NOT going to take a chance on the second film about Villisca, even though the subject was interesting to me. The running time was more than 2 hours – way too long for “paranormal thriller” about a haunted house.

We decided to salvage what was left of the evening and go to dinner. On the way there, we wondered aloud why two such excellent actors (Brody and Forest Whitaker, the film’s other “star”) would take on such terrible roles. Both men have won best actor Oscars (Brody for The Pianist and Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland). The only thing we could think of was, like their characters in The Experiment, these guys were told they could make $1,000 a day if they made this film. Or something like that.

Anyway, we headed downtown Des Moines to eat dinner, which is something we rarely get to do on a weeknight. We went to Django, a cozy French restaurant on 10^th Street. I had been there once before for happy hour (a great deal) but never for dinner. I thought it was amazing. We started out with fresh-baked twists of bread with big slabs of real butter while we looked at the menu – a menu that actually had many vegetarian selections. I’m not used to having that many choices, so it took me a long time to decide. Would I have wild mushroom crepes? The grilled cheese with white cheddar and swiss on South Union bread? The daily special veggie pot pie? Or just a wine flight and cheese plate? I ended up with the spinach and goat cheese ravioli tossed with fresh thyme, tomato and champagne beurre blanc. And a generous glass of Oregon Pinot Noir (not cheap, but the irony of that $10 glass of wine was not lost on me. Good wine trumps bad films every time.) I was hoping to have room for dessert, because the dessert list looked spectacular, but alas, I was too full from the bread and pasta.

With no little kids in the house these days, and no grandkids yet, Halloween does not interest me very much right now. I used to sew the kids’ costumes and decorate the house and buy lots of candy and carve jack-o-lanterns, but not anymore. And since Halloween and Iowa State’s Homecoming fell on the same weekend, that was one more reason to ignore the holiday.

I did, however, find one fun Halloween-y thing to do. Katie and I took Charley (my new grandpuppy) to the Ames Dog Park for the first annual Parks and Recreation Howl-O-Ween costume party.

Charley was the cutest little pink butterfly you ever saw. There were lots of other dogs there, dressed as bees and corn on the cob and pirates and cowboys and little ballerinas — all sniffing each other madly.

Some big dogs (on the other side of the fence) came dressed up, too, although it’s not so easy to get a 100-pound dog in a tutu.

Happy Halloween!

I was very excited when I heard Spring Awakening was coming to Stephens Auditorium this fall. I can still remember watching the 2007 Tony Awards, not knowing much of anything about the show, and seeing the reaction of the crowd every time it got nominated. And then, when the cast performed, I understood what all the fuss was about – this was a groundbreaking musical. This was something really different.

Spring Awakening ended up winning eight Tony Awards that night: best musical, book, score, direction, choreography, orchestrations, lighting design, and best featured actor in a musical (John Gallagher, Jr.). We were lucky enough to get tickets to see the show on Broadway a few months later, with the original cast still intact. I was thrilled! I would easily count it in my top five all-time favorite shows.

Two of the three original lead actors, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff, have gone on to become famous for their roles in the popular TV show Glee. And Gallagher is currently the lead in the Broadway musical American Idiot. So the show had a lot of star power. In fact, I believe that every member of that young original ensemble cast could have sung the lead roles – it was such a great group of voices, and each character was so strong.

In the bus-and-truck version, which came through Ames Friday night, the voices were far less impressive. The cast was very young and, I learned afterwards, had only been performing together since September.

The show, set in late 19th century Germany, is about the sexual awakening and civil disobedience of a group of adolescent students. On Broadway, there are a few moments of humor, many moments of tragedy, and a lot of rock and roll.

The touring company, perhaps inadvertently, put far more emphasis on the humorous aspects of the musical. Or maybe it was the audience’s reaction — not knowing the tragic consequences that would ultimately befall the show’s young characters. Nevertheless, it was difficult to sit through the performance after seeing the true greatness of the original production.

After being on the road the past two weekends, I contemplated doing NOTHING this weekend except sleep late, drink coffee in my backyard, and attend the wedding of a friend’s daughter. But today was such an incredible fall day, and I keep thinking that one of these days this beautiful fall weather is going to end, so I decided to take advantage of it.

I started out this morning at Ledges State Park, where I ate a muffin and drank some coffee that I bought at Café Milo in west Ames. Then I hiked the upper part of the canyon despite the warnings that there were bow-and-arrow deer hunters about. Yuck! Fortunately, I did not see any hunters.

Ledges State Park is one of my favorite places, and it’s only about 15 minutes from my house, so I go there a lot.

After a quick hike, I decided to go to Northern Prairie Chevre, which is south of Ledges near Woodward, Iowa. I’ve been there before, because we did a VISIONS story on the three women who run the goat cheese business – Wendy Mickle, Connie Lawrance, and Kathy Larson. Since that story ran in 2004, they’ve added a gift shop and have frequent open houses, but I’ve never gone to one because I can always find their products at the Des Moines Farmers’ Market and at Wheatsfield grocery here in Ames.

I decided it was worth the drive this weekend because – sadness! – the women are calling it quits at the end of the year. They’re selling the business. I know there are other local goat cheese producers but I am going to miss this one, because it’s my favorite.

There were tons of people at the open house. I bought some goat cheese and toured the barn. I love the goats – one of them tried to eat my purse – and also the huge guard dog, Honeybump, a Great Pyrenees.

When I was buying my little tubs of spreadable cheese, Kathy asked if I was going to the other open houses in the area: Flowers by Donna Jean, Prairieland Herbs, and Picket Fence Creamery. Well sure, why not? My car was already filthy from the gravel road.

I followed the directions into downtown Woodward to the first stop, Flowers by Donna Jean. I’ve never been to this shop before; in fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever been in downtown Woodward before. I was really impressed; the shop is a mix of flowers, gifts, antiques, and other home decor, all extremely well-priced. Today they even had samples of Olde Main Oktoberfest, my current favorite local beer. I bought a couple of pieces of pottery for a Christmas gift.

I got lost trying to find Prairieland Herbs (I missed the road after the golf course because the sign was covered by a tree). It’s on a gravel road, too, so by this time my car was really, really dirty. People were parked up and down the road, but honestly, I didn’t see much there that I was interested in buying. It did smell good, though.

From there, I toggled between S Ave. and Hwy. 210 a couple of times and ended up at Picket Fence Creamery. This is one place I’ve visited before (the next sample Sunday is Nov. 17, and there are two sample days in December). They have the most amazing ice cream there. You can find it at Hy-Vee and Wheatsfield, but I think it tastes fresher when you buy it at the farm. They also have farm eggs, milk, cream, butter, pie, Iowa wine, pumpkins, local honey, and a bunch of other stuff. It was so crowded I could hardly see everything that was in the store. I ate a sample of a pumpkin muffin and drank a little bit of apple cider and then bought a couple of cartons of ice cream. On the way out, I stopped by an apple vendor and bought a half peck of yellow apples.

I could do nothing fun on the way home because it was a race against time before the ice cream started to melt.

I thought I had been to northeast Iowa before, but only after spending two days up there earlier this week do I truly appreciate the beauty of this part of the state. It’s really not at all like the rest of Iowa. In the fall, it’s sort of the New England of the Midwest.

I headed northeast last Sunday morning, full of advice from my friends Scott and Jim and accompanied by a fall color tour guide written by Mike Kilen of the Des Moines Register. From Ames, I took I-35 north to Hwy. 20 because I wanted to get there fast, but once I reached Hwy. 150 at Independence, things started to slow down. There truly is no easy way to get there, and that’s part of the fun.

So I took Hwy. 150 to Oelwein (a funny name for a town) and then Hwy. 3 to Strawberry Point. Scott told me the drive from Strawberry Point to Elkader was pretty, and it was. It’s amazing – when you turn north on Hwy. 13 it’s like the land just changes. Suddenly my car was groaning up the hills. IN IOWA. Just outside Elkader is the Barn on the Bluff B&B, where I stopped to take pictures. You apparently can reserve the entire 100-year-old barn for a family getaway. I did not go in (I was more or less trespassing as it was) but the outside looks beautiful and the pictures on the website are really cool. One thing I will say for sure: the view is fantastic.

From Elkader I stayed on Hwy. 13 up to, well, I’m not sure where, but I came to a sign that said “this way to Guttenberg” so I took that road (Hwy. 52). If you are following along on the map, you will see that I backtracked about 20 miles, but that’s OK. The drive was pretty, with a great payoff in Guttenberg: a view of the Mississippi River.

I’ve seen the Mississippi dozens and dozens of times, but I have to say that it looks very, very different in northeast Iowa/northwest Wisconsin. Lots of picturesque little “islands” and cool inlets and steep bluffs and unique bridges. It’s nothing like crossing the Mississippi in St. Louis, or the Quad Cities, or even Dubuque. So I took some pictures up on a bluff overlooking the river and then went into Guttenberg and walked around. It was a nice, warm day and lots of people were strolling the park that runs the length of the town along the river.

From Guttenberg, I took the Great River Road to McGregor, stopping in Pikes Peak State Park just long enough to realize I didn’t want to be there. By mid-afternoon, the temperature had reached the upper 80s and I swear every man, woman, child, and dog had driven their car to the park for what might be the last nice Sunday afternoon of the season. I literally could not find a place to park, and after being in a traffic jam for about half an hour, I headed OUT of the park and into McGregor.

My originally plan was to hike in Pikes Peak and then go to Effigy Mounds and THEN go to McGregor, where I had a hotel reservation. But I hadn’t counted on the crowds. And here’s the thing about me and crowds: I don’t like them. I love the idea that people are using and enjoying our state parks, but I just wish they wouldn’t do it when I’m there. I much prefer being alone. So I quickly changed my plans and decided to do those two things on Monday instead. Which left me with lots of time on my hands on Sunday afternoon.

Lucky for me, the town has several antiques stores. And there was a fall arts festival going on. Plus, I found the Old Man River Brewing Company, a wonderful bar and restaurant located in a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I had no problem killing time at the bar, watching the people out on the street and downing a few Scottish ales.

I stayed at possibly the weirdest hotel EVER that night in McGregor. It’s called the Alexander Hotel…well, technically, it’s the Latinos Mexican Restaurant Bar Hotel – at least that’s what the sign says on the front. Now, I chose this hotel with my eyes wide open. Here is what it says on the hotel’s website: “Seldom, in a small Mississippi River town will you find a hotel with nicely furnished rooms, good food and drink, meeting rooms, high speed Internet connection and a festive, relaxed, friendly Mexican atmosphere.”

True, right? I actually chose the hotel based on the address, because it seemed to be within walking distance of pretty much everything in McGregor, which it was. So I am not complaining. In fact, I sort of liked the place, even though when I first saw it I laughed out loud and figured my room would definitely smell like salsa. But it worked fine for me – the ultimate anti-chain hotel.

So I slept at the weird hotel and got up early the next morning because at this point I was behind in my itinerary. I headed straight for Pikes Peak State Park where – hallelujah! – there were about three people (plus me) watching the sun come up and the fog roll off the river. A more spectacular sight there never was. I took a lot of pictures and congratulated myself for being so smart to come back on a Monday morning. Good decision!

I needed to eat something after that, and the restaurant Mike Kilen recommended in McGregor wasn’t actually open despite the three huge signs declaring it was NOW OPEN. So I drove about 30 seconds to Marquette and ate eggs, hashbrowns, and toast at an authentic little riverfront diner. I know I was the only tourist there, because I was the only one carrying a camera.

My next stop was Effigy Mounds National Monument, which I am embarrassed to say I had never visited before, even though I’ve lived in Iowa for 13 years. Well, it’s just an absolute state treasure and I can’t believe it took me so long to realize this. I paid my entrance fee (just $3, or free with a National Parks pass) and hiked up to the Great Bear Mound Group and then on to Fire Point and Eagle Rock, both of which offered spectacular views of the Mississippi River. I literally could have spent a full day at Effigy Mounds, because is has everything: history, scenic beauty, great hiking through gorgeous woods. But I needed to move on. And besides, just about the time I got back to the visitors’ center after my hike, a busload of middle school kids unloaded…and you know how I feel about crowds. And groups of kids are the absolute worst (sorry!)

From Effigy Mounds, I took Hwy. 76 to Yellow River State Forest. I was hoping to do a little hiking there, but I ended up mostly just driving through the forest and enjoying the quiet and trying not to get lost. After that, I drove through Harper’s Ferry (disappointing) and then up to Lansing.

Lansing is a really, really cool little river town. For one thing, it’s got the scariest bridge I’ve ever driven across. And it’s got a park at the top of a tall bluff that to get there you have to literally make these steep, climbing, hairpin turns. Again, my car was groaning. But the top of that peak (Mount Hosmer) offered yet another extraordinary view of the Mississippi. I’m pretty sure it makes the cover of the state tour guide every year (and now it’s on my Facebook page).

I got gas and ate lunch in Lansing at a place called T.J. Hunter’s where the nice waitress let me order a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids’ menu. As I sat in the restaurant, I noticed a place across the street called Horsfall’s Lansing Variety, which Mike Kilen had specifically mentioned in his article was a not-to-be-missed attraction. So after I finished my meal, I walked across the street and went in Horsfall’s. It’s definitely an experience, that store. Have you seen the show “Hoarders: Buried Alive” on TLC? I am ashamed to admit that I watched that show once, and Horsfall’s kind of reminded me of the crazy people who can’t throw anything away. But it’s really a fun store and I bought a couple of books there for $1.49 each. You can’t beat that.

From Lansing, I probably would have taken Hwy. 9 to Waukon and then on to Decorah. But my friend Scott’s dad said to tell me to take Elon Drive (which is also called Alamakee County Road A52), so I did. After seeing so many breathtaking views of the Mississippi River and such pretty wooded areas, I was not expecting that FARMLAND would be the highlight of my northeast Iowa adventure, but indeed it was.

The whole area of far-northeast Iowa has pretty farmland. I kept stopping and taking pictures of it. Sometimes I’d round a curve and there would be a little white church with a steeple and a little country cemetery next to a cornfield or a rolling hillside with a barn and some cows and a grain silo and I’d think, MAN, this is really pretty. But the 13 miles of Elon Drive / A52 have got to be the absolutely most beautiful farmland in America. Hands down. It’s like a freaking Grant Wood painting from end to end. (Thanks, Scott’s dad, for the tip! I never would have gone this way.)

Once I got to Waukon, I hooked up with Hwy. 9 and headed to Decorah, a super nice town where I was hoping to eat ice cream and fill up my coffee cup for the drive home. Alas, to my great disappointment, the Sugar Bowl ice cream store was closed for the season. I had to make do with a strong cup of coffee and a power-walk along Decorah’s fine main shopping district.

I took Hwy. 9 back across to I-35 and tried to stay awake and not hit any farm equipment. The highlight of that section was driving through Osage, Iowa, only to realize that town had the most brilliant fall color of anywhere I’d visited in the last 48 hours. Truly, all of the trees looked like they were on fire. In Osage, Iowa. Who knew?

I’m back home now, with more than 2,000 miles on my car since Oct. 1.