Would you believe me if I told you Iowa was one of my favorite states to drive through? Maybe even my most favorite? At this point in the trip we had only one day to make it from the western border of Iowa to Detroit, and with no National Parks or cool monuments to see and Bambi’s health giving us a bit of concern on this particular day, I was ready to buckle down and just get through it. I had done some research on Roadside America the night before and knew that the Danish Windmill (pictured above) was only about twenty minutes down the road from the hotel we had stayed at the night before, so we hit it right at sunrise. It is obviously very quaint and totally cute, but the drive off of the highway to get there was some of the best scenery we’d see the entire trip.

When you’re on a trip of this nature, you learn to look for the brown “point of interest” highway signs as potential great stops. We were needing a bathroom break and passed a sign for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, so we decided to give it a shot and pull off of the highway. Friends, if you have ever wanted to live in Stars Hollow, or maybe in a present day real-life version of River City, this is the place for you. I personally have longed my whole life to live in such a place, and here it was, right in front of me. The epitome of American small town charm. We didn’t have time to explore the interior of the buildings, but Herbert Hoover’s childhood home and the entire street that it stands on are impeccably preserved and open for exploration. I HIGHLY recommend this stop if you are ever passing through!

Our last unintentional stop in Iowa was at The World’s Largest Truck Stop. Yes, that is a thing, and yes, it is enormous. It’s like a whole mall…if it were a truck stop. We got Wendy’s.