In my previous missive, I forgot to provide a little background about my choices while visiting Iowa. The trading post is a true crossroads where every day we meet people from all corners of the country and world. One of my best forms of research for this trip came from customers walking through the store and sharing what they like best about their home locales.

Whenever I questioned people about Iowa, it was a cold water shower on the conversation. Every other queried city or state, people offered forth a plethora of information. When it came to Iowa, an uneasy silence or look of consternation crossed their faces and the only thing that came to mind was cornfields. "Poor Iowa!" I thought to myself. I finally came upon some information about the Iowa State Fair and thought, "Well, here's an event which should give me a flavor for this poor neglected state."

Fortunately, deeper research and other conversations led me to other treasures of this corn and soybean state. When visiting Bob Sanders in Lincoln, his girlfriend Erin mentioned a place she visited as a child called the Living History Farm. It was located in Des Moines and her description made it sound like a place worth visiting.

This "farm" features an 1830’s farm, a 1900’s farm, an 1870’s town and an Ioway Indian camp. Except for the Indian camp, every other location includes people reenacting a typical day of the particular era their farm or town represents. In trying to keep things as realistic as possible, they were doing whatever a person is doing at that particular time of day.

A tractor shuttle carried us back in time to the Indian camp where we embarked on a walk venturing through the various stages of history. An interpreter was available at the Indian camp and the kids were able to scrape a buffalo hide and see the inside of a typical dwelling.

We walked through a wooded area with signs telling us what was occurring in history as we moved forward along the living timeline. The 1830’s farm was quite primitive. As our shuttle driver shared, “I think I would have been comfortable in every era represented in this outdoor museum except that 1830’s farm.”

We came first to the pig pens and Kira being the animal lover that she is immediately fell in love with the piglets. Sheep and two oxen were in the field grazing and the family was having lunch inside the log cabin, a small, two story structure. They shared with us that it was a more bountiful time of the year so fresh meat, bread and vegetables were part of the meal.

We moved through another wooded area to the 1900 farm. Large draft horses were next to the barn and once again, the family was inside the farmhouse having lunch and digesting their meal. In both cases, the woman spent her mornings preparing the noon meal which is the big meal of the day, cleaning up and moving on to preparations for the evening meal except for perhaps a bit of time weeding the garden. Watching women’s roles historically has always made me feel extraordinarily grateful for being a woman of the present.

Catching the shuttle once again, we stepped back a few decades to an 1870’s town. After having a nutritious hot dog lunch (yum), we stopped at the furniture maker’s shop. Grange bonded with John and helped him carry boards for a shelf he was making. We then sauntered on to the blacksmith’s shop and enjoyed a visit with him. The village featured a number of other businesses, a church, a newspaper all of which interested us although it was time to start wrapping up our visit and heading for Dubuque.

Tuesday, August 22 - Dubuque and Effigy Mounds, Iowa

We spent the night in Dubuque and headed for the National Mississippi River Museum, recently voted Iowa’s #1 attraction. Their animal exhibits feature wildlife all along the river so Grange had a good close-up look at an alligator and snapping turtle. In first spying the Mississippi, I reminded Grange that this is the river of Mark Twain. Although the settings for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, two books Steve read to Grange this past winter, are much further south, it gave Grange an initial sense of the river.

Two hands on exhibits captured the kids’ and my attention. The first called “River of Choices” led the children through a discussion of Mississippi River ecology versus economy. It introduced them to the difficult balance of keeping the river healthy while providing for farming needs and product delivery downstream. Kira and Grange both locked onto the fact that an expanding Dead Zone starts at the mouth of the Mississippi and extends into the Gulf of Mexico. Barge shipping is by far the cheapest way to move produce to New Orleans, yet it doesn’t change the fact that the river’s ecology has been greatly compromised in the process.

Our other favorite exhibit was the barge pilot simulator. We each flunked horribly, having no understanding of steering a large vessel. We ran over sailboats, into other barges or pushed sideways down the river. (It sort of looked like the time my dear friend Patt and I took a canoe down the Rio Grande!) We shared a good laugh and gained a healthy respect for anyone safely piloting a barge down the river!

We left Dubuque and headed for the northeast corner of Iowa to Effigy Mounds National Monument. Arriving in late afternoon, we spent time around the visitor center before it closed and then departed on our hike. Their trails are lined with wood chips and I have to say in all of my life, it is the cushiest hike I have ever attempted.

This site overlooks the Mississippi and the mounds are an interesting remnant of Woodland culture. It is difficult to see the raised forms at eye level since they are quite large. It didn’t detract from the experience however. The beauty of the surroundings and the interest created by the groupings of bears, birds, dots and dashes made the entire experience enjoyable for the kids and me. This serene wooded paradise overlooking the Mississippi allowed us the vision of a sacred burial site, an honored location for the People.

Iowa, my hats off to you. Your corn and soy fields dotted with white or red barns and houses, grain silos, green tractors, 970 pound pumpkins, butter cows and Woodlands culture made us all fans. No more will an uncomfortable silence accompany the utterance "Iowa". The kids and I will have plenty to say!