There is a lot of corn in Iowa. Seriously.
I think we might have crossed back into Wisconsin when this photo was taken, but you get the idea. Actually most of the day we were driving through southern Minnesota, and it was all corn fields, too.
We spent the night at the Hotel Julien in Dubuque, which is right at the corner of Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. The recently renovated downtown Dubuque is cute and clean, and pretty devoid of people, at least on a Sunday evening. The hotel, thought to have once been owned by Al Capone, has recently had a $30 Million renovation itself, and is quite nice. The woman at the front desk was extraordinarily gracious, and seemed please to have customers. Not sure how they’re going to pay off that investment, though.
In the morning we drove across the bridge into Illinois, and a fairly boring drive. I was surprised that the corners of Wisconsin, Minnesota and even Iowa that we drove through were all more scenic than the middle of Illinois.
A good road trip. Friday-Monday, 900 miles roundtrip.