7 Best Towns In Iowa For A Two-Day Recharge
Iowa keeps a slice of the Driftless region in its northeast corner, where the glaciers missed and left the cliffs standing. The small towns scattered through it run on rivers, lakes and prairie. Decorah sits in the heart of it and leans funky and outdoorsy. Others trade Dutch windmills or glacial lakes for the same easy weekend. If you have a day or two to recharge, these are the towns to plan around in Iowa.
Decorah
Decorah brews a beer that was once rated the best in the world. That is Toppling Goliath's Kentucky Brunch, an imperial coffee stout aged in whiskey barrels, and it put this small town on the map for people who never cared about the Midwest before. The town sits in the Driftless Area, the patch of land the glaciers skipped, which left it with bluffs, trout streams, and the Upper Iowa River running along its edge. Dunning's Spring Park, right in town, holds one of the tallest waterfalls in the state. The Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum keeps the town's Norwegian roots, and the Hotel Winneshiek anchors Main Street with terrazzo floors, an octagon rotunda, and stained glass.
Pella
Pella runs the tallest working windmill in North America, the Vermeer Windmill, and it is not even pretending to be anything but Dutch. The town was settled by Dutch immigrants in the 1840s, and the heritage is everywhere, from the Klokkenspel musical clock to the 128-year-old Jaarsma Bakery. Each May the Tulip Time Festival fills Central Park and the streets with blooms, parades, and Dutch dancing. If you miss it, the Pella Historical Village lays out the town's story across 18 buildings, and Sunken Gardens Park keeps a quiet corner downtown. The Amsterdam Hotel, a block off the square, keeps four suites for an overnight.
Okoboji
Okoboji sits on a chain of glacial lakes, and West Okoboji is one of the clearest, spring-fed and deep blue. The Iowa Great Lakes handle the boating, sailing, and swimming, with sandy beaches and waterfront dining around the shore. Arnolds Park Amusement Park, five minutes south, is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country and still runs its wooden Legend roller coaster. For a slower afternoon, The Queen II runs narrated lake tours with live music, while Parks Marina handles the dock-cruise crowd. Bridges Bay Resort keeps a waterfront base for the night.
Le Claire
Le Claire is the hometown of Buffalo Bill Cody, and the Buffalo Bill Museum keeps the memorabilia from the showman's Wild West days. The rest of the town runs on river breezes, antiques, and waterfront walks along the Mississippi. Hop aboard the Victorian-era Riverboat Twilight for a 90-minute ride, or book the two-day cruise to Dubuque and back with commentary on river history. Birdwatchers head to Lock and Dam Number 14 to watch bald eagles work the air, and antique hunters fill an afternoon at Mississippi Cottage Antiques, set in a 1915 house overlooking the Mississippi River. The Wide River Winery Inn pours award-winning wines and rents rooms by the night or the week.
Eldora
Eldora had its turn on the big screen as a filming location for the 1996 movie Twister, and the riverside calm it traded on then is still the draw. Pine Lake State Park is the centerpiece, where you can fish or kayak on Pine Lake or just take a quiet spot overlooking the water with the birds for company. In town, the Hardin County Farm Museum keeps antique tractors, a petting zoo, and live music, with food served on the first floor of the barn. For a day on the water, Rock-n-Row Adventures runs family-friendly tubing and camping. Pine Lodge keeps easy access to the park and the trails around it.
Fairfield
Fairfield is a small Iowa town with a global accent, thanks to Maharishi International University, which has drawn Transcendental Meditation practitioners from around the world for decades. That energy shows up downtown in places like Addis Ethiopian Cuisine and a row of eclectic shops. Start the morning on the 16-mile Fairfield Loop Trail, named the best trail in Iowa back in 2013. The Fairfield Arts and Convention Center books live music and touring acts, and the Carnegie Historical Museum anchors the old storefronts with a notable Civil War collection. About 25 miles away in Eldon, the American Gothic House marks the spot that inspired Grant Wood's 1930 painting.
Grinnell
Grinnell keeps a Louis Sullivan masterpiece on a downtown corner, the 1914 Merchants' National Bank, one of the architect's famous jewel-box banks. The college gives the town its energy, with the Grinnell College Museum of Art anchoring a walkable downtown full of cafes and bookstores. Just outside town, the 450-acre Jacob Krumm Nature Preserve runs trails through restored prairie, savanna, and woodland, good for wildlife on foot or cross-country skis in winter. The Grinnell Craft Brewhouse pours local beer, and the family-owned Strand Theatre still screens films in a restored space. For gravel cyclists, the rural roads around town are a regional draw, and the Grinnellian Bed and Breakfast keeps a central base.
Seven Easy Ways To Slow The Clock
These seven towns do more than frame a pretty sunset. Decorah, Eldora, and Grinnell sit at the trailheads of real outdoor recreation, while Okoboji and Le Claire run on the water. Pella and Fairfield prove a reset does not have to mean the wild, since a working windmill or a meditation town can do the job just as well. Whether your weekend comes from a morning on the river, an afternoon in a prairie preserve, or an evening under a windmill, these towns make the break easy.
