Iowa

Year of First Visit – 1979
Point of Entry – I-35 Near Albert Lea

On our road trips over the years, my dad would often say, “I think we need to stop for a while.” Even though we sometimes didn’t seem to think we needed to, we were always glad we did.

Many of those stops were in Iowa.



We stopped and toured Herbert Hoover’s birthplace and his Presidential Library and Museum. We stopped at the Amana Colonies. We stopped in Oceola for a good meal. We stopped to get off I-80 to drive country roads for a while.

I’ve been a part of a helping a lot of people stop in Iowa for a while, too. My first trip there was to take my brother to college in Lamoni. Over the years, I’ve taken or sent many kids to Spectacular at Graceland University where they could stop their inner-city lives for a break in Iowa.

I took 5 different kids to Iowa to attend college. They were able to take a much needed break from their families and lives in Baltimore to learn and grow out in the country.



I lived in Iowa for a couple of years when I attended graduate school in Iowa City. It was an especially busy time with school, working at both Target and MCI, getting married and starting life as a couple (while she worked two jobs, too).

Though the budget was excessively tight, Iowa sill provided plenty of places to stop feeling busy and poor for little a while. A drive to the Field of Dreams. A visit with my aunt and uncle in Cedar Rapids. A tour of the state capitol. A window shopping trip to the outlets in Williamsburg. A walk around the Amanas. A visit to the (then newly renovated and updated) Herbert Hoover sites.



And though I didn’t always appreciate it or think it was necessary at the time, a stopover in Iowa --- for a couple of hours or a couple of years --- was more needed than I thought. I’m glad I did.