Vacation Destination: Iowa...no seriously

Vacation, all I ever wanted!

     Summer after my seventh grade year my parents and I went on vacation. We packed up the trusty Impala and headed south. I had the entire back seat to myself and sprawled all my various activities about me. With a book in my hand, headphones and portable CD player splayed across the seat, my pillow mashed against the window, and my water-bottle safely in its holder I was ready to go. A few hours into the car ride I was still awake. I should have been asleep, I mean, any normal 7th grader would have been asleep after the first two antique stores, but here I was wide awake and looking for the next stop. But once we crossed the state border I was out cold, and thus began my week long vacation to Iowa.

Insert Corny Caption

    Yes, you heard me correctly I was on vacation with my parents in Iowa. Sure we had relatives there, but we were going for fun, yes, fun. The thing about Iowa is, they are not kidding when they say it's all cows and corn. The state is literally all cows and corn. If you look closely you may see some towns, or a stoplight, but you have to pay close attention. As we headed into Iowa my brain had no reason to try and keep me awake. Even when I was reading my book, I still knew that I was surrounded by agriculture and livestock. Since neither of those things are novelties for me, I went into sleep mode. My naps would be interrupted once we reached a point of interest, such as the world's largest rocking chair. Fortune must have been smiling on me as I was given the honor of sitting in this chair and having my picture taken.

The Emblem of the some kind of Amish

    On this journey we also made a pilgrimage to the Amana colonies. If that name sounds familiar to you, it should. You've  probably seen it on an appliance at some point in your life. My eyes were allowed to behold the glowing, glimmering spectacle that is the manufacturing plant. The Amana colonies are kind of like the Amish, but not really, because after all, they do manufacture appliances. I can't give you the full run down on the Amana peoples but just picture some form of Amish that allows you to construct things that use electricity.  They are known not only for their appliances, but also for their wool. We got to go to a place that was connected to the manufacturing of wool somehow. I believe it was a museum-y thing, but I had been doing some heavy sleeping that day so I can't remember. While we were there we saw some people who I believe were from an Asian country, as they were speaking a different language. This made me feel a little better, and my vacation was made less lame by the presence of people from a different continent.

We'll always have Iowa!

    After our thrilling time at the Amana colonies we went to a German themed town...which may have been connected to the Amana's somehow. I don't remember the specifics of this vacation, only bits and pieces as I have mentioned before I was asleep the whole time between stops. In this town we had arranged to meet up with my parent's friends who were passing through that part of the state. We met up for a very hearty German meal and then went about discovering the town. While we were "hitting the town" my parent's friend Randy went into a toy store and came out with five pairs of huge wax lips. He then made us put them in and get our picture taken in front of the store. I have to say, it was hilarious seeing these 4 forty-something adults with huge wax lips. As we waved goodbye to our friends we continued on our exciting taste of Iowa vacation.

The Music Man...of my heart

    The next stop was one that I can remember almost every minute of, and that is because we went to Mason City. Some of you may know it by it's movie/musical name "River City". That's right, we went to the town of Meridith Wilson's The Music Man. We went to the Meridith Wilson museum and saw 76 trombones hanging from the ceiling and we also ate at a little Tea House that Shirley Jones had once been to. But that wasn't even the coolest part of Mason City, there was another museum in town. This museum was in no way connected to Meridith Wilson, but it was connected to Julie Andrews. Thanks to the help of an Antique Store owner, we found out that the marionettes from The Sound of Music were right there, in Mason City. I stood in awe before the exhibit of slightly scary puppets, taking in the fact that they were once inches away from Julie Andrews and one of the loves of my childhood, Christopher Plummer(second only to Robert Preston, who was in The Music Man).

Maybe they import the corn from Iowa

     While it is very true that Iowa is a rather dull state at first glance, I would say that dullness is in the eye of the beholder. Looking back at my Iowa vacation I fondly remember the naps, the stores, and the glorious time spent in Mason City(not even being sarcastic here...I really want to go back there). Some of you may think I'm completely crazy, but you have to realize that my family once went to Mitchell, South Dakota's Corn Palace for a day-cation(yeah that's right a DAY-cation). It's impressive from the outside, but there's only so long you can admire a building with corn glued to the side. Maybe that's why Iowa was so refreshing, sure there was a lot of corn but no one was putting it on a gymnasium and calling it a palace. So if you enjoy naps, tourist traps, and dull mishaps you really ought to give Iowa a try.