We made our way across eastern Iowa to what turned out to be a total tourist trap. There are some small towns called the Amana Colonies. They were a series of villages settled by German pietists. In the modern day, those communities have been absorbed into American culture and the people who run it now, according to a woman who sold us some chocolate cheese there, are mostly not the ancestors of people who settled the area, but just people who happen to live there now and have lots of vaguely old time-y cheese shops. As far as I could tell this was a place to hang out and the country and have wine and cheese tastings (which I am all for by the way – I certainly did try both). For the record, the chocolate cheese was not a good idea. Stick with the smoked cheddar or the baby swiss.
Less than the sum of its parts.
Next we headed off to Iowa City, which is home to the University of Iowa and the former capitol city of Iowa:
It was a very attractive and well maintained city. We both quite liked it. I think it was our favorite place in Iowa in terms of feasibility. Check out the video:
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