Maybe Iowa is Heaven

I never finished sharing my photos from Thanksgiving so, after stopping by a point we never knew existed. . .

. . . We stopped long enough in St Joseph to snag a photo of the Pony Express building. Then we were off to Iowa.

We travel Iowa differently than we normally do. Typically we go pretty much straight through the middle on Interstate 35, through Des Moines. This time we went up the western side and across the top. I would like to show you that Iowa has more than corn fields, the bridges of Madison County and Field of Dreams, oh and John Wayne’s birthplace. Iowa amazed me this trip through, finding pieces of it I never knew existed

We stopped at a couple of Lewis & Clark historical markers. At this first one you could picnic and during the summer go out on the pond in boats similar to the ones Lewis and Clark used.

These last two are across the Missouri River I believe. It made sense that they would use that area as a lookout. There’s a curve in the river in each direction so it seems like a great spot to watch the river.

It’s funny to me that when I was in school I hated history. I thought it was over and done - how cares. But now, I love to read our history. Geocaching takes us to a lot of historical places and I love it. Maturity I guess. Btw, all of the photos were taken while geocaching. Without the sport I would find little to share.

In the tippy-top, NorthWest corner of Iowa, there is a little sign on the curve of a side road that tells you that patch of cornfield is public hunting grounds. As you walk the dirt path you wonder what you will see, all of a sudden you are face to face with this.

Not only are you faced with this beautiful water and rocks that look so much like the southwest but you find cactus. Cactus! Wild in Iowa.

A little deeper into Iowa we stopped by Fort Severson.

Then Dennis got his ear cleaned by an immigrant statue.

Our last stop in Iowa before daylight left us was the Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve.

This 400-acre park is a unique attraction, being one of only three known public fossil collecting sites in the nation (CNN, 2003). The Devonian fossils can be easily collected by visitors of any age, attracting school groups from elementary through college, as well as researchers and families. The park also has historic beehive kilns, over 60 acres of virgin prairie, re-created sod house, and visitor center. In the Center, museum quality exhibits interpret the natural and historic features of the park. Trained staff and volunteers greet visitors and answer questions about the park and local tourism.

Although it’s open year round, sunrise to sunset, we had the place to ourselves and we spent a couple of hours there looking for fossils.

We brought home a few fossils but I’ll have to find the photos I took of them. I do have a few more photos of these places on flickr.

tags: iowa  fossils  sightseeing