Hello and welcome back to Travel Talk! This month Michelle and I are starting a multi-part series about one of our favorite travel destinations – Iowa! Yeah, I know, Iowa is often maligned as boring (I just heard Jimmy Fallon call Iowa boring on the Tonight Show – grrrrr) and flat (yeah, join me on a bike ride and I’ll show you “flat”!) – no big cities (sorry Des Moines!), no dramatic mountains or beaches, no famous historical sites. If you believe that Iowa isn’t worth exploring, Michelle and I are here to change your mind. Iowa is full of beautiful and interesting places with the added bonus of close-to-home and smaller crowds.
Michelle starts us off with some hidden gems!
For the last 5 years or so, my husband and I have trekked around our great state of Iowa in order to discover out-of-the-way places and things. Whether we start heading north, south or west we have discovered all sorts of interesting and notable places that are definitely worth a look if you want to discover all our state has to offer. The following is the first of a blog post series with some remarkable points of interest. We are starting with one of my personal favorites – architecture in Iowa.
Frank Lloyd Wright in Iowa – If you are an architecture fan, Mason City should be high on your list. Mason City boasts one of the largest concentrations of Prairie Style architecture. Among the highlights is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Park Inn Hotel that has been restored to its full glory. The hotel restaurant, 1910 Grill, is fantastic and worth a stop for either breakfast or dinner. Within walking distance is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Stockman House, which is open for guided tours and is accompanied by a noteworthy interpretive center. Along the way check out the Music Man foot bridge and the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, which holds a large collection of Bil Baird puppets. The museum also includes the marionettes from The Sound of Music. The museum also has an impressive permanent collection, including works by Jasper Johns, Keith Haring and Arthur Dove.
A gem of Iowa architecture can also be found in Cedar Rock in Quasqueton, near Cedar Rapids. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a home for Lowell and Agnes Walter, which was completed in 1950 during the time Wright was designing Usonian houses. After their passing, the home was given to the State of Iowa and now the Department of Natural Resources offers tours with a small suggested donation of $5. Built near the Wapsipinicon River, the home has all the furniture and design elements original to the home. Walk the grounds to the river and you can explore the boat house, also designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Merchants National Bank (now the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce and Grinnell Visitors Center) Architect Louis Sullivan, who was Frank Lloyd Wright’s mentor and first employer, designed this bank in 1914 and it makes up part of Grinnell’s downtown. It is one of the eight “jewel box banks” that Sullivan designed in the Midwest. Sullivan came up with the term and designed each bank to take on appearance of a jewelry box. Stop by the bank and take in the ornamentation and details on both the interior and the exterior, which includes radiant stained glass windows and lion-like figures guarding the front doors.
What architectural gems have you found in Iowa? Share in the comments!
Stay tuned for the next installment! Still to come – wild places, museums and uniquely Iowa!