ode to the plains

iowa

dear farmers of iowa and wisconsin,

thank you for preserving what rural america should be like.

sincerely,

rebecca and laura

if i could mail the above message to every farmer in these two beautiful states, i would. i never thought that i would want to spend any time at all in iowa, but i find myself actually wanting to go back. there is something incredibly peaceful about rolling hills and fields of corn, even if they are barely sprouts. in addition, every farm that we saw was taken care of with pride and love--maybe this is due to the vast numbers of germans and scandinavians who settled in the area. while the one i got a picture of is all red, not all of them were. it really was beautiful, and with the exception of some high-tech grain silos, could be exactly as it was one or two hundred years ago.

we stopped in dyersville, iowa to see our first actually planned stop--the field of dreams movie site. even today it is actually still a functioning farm, and the souvenir shop is still run by members of the family, some of whom appeared as extras in the film. apparently they get an average 65,000 visitors a year--quite a lot for a farm in the middle of nowhere, iowa. there was a family playing catch on the field, and a few more people on the sidelines. we weren't able to go into the house, seeing as how people live there, but were able to walk around. unfortunately the corn was only sprouts, but it was still pretty awesome to see--and it's free, if you find yourself in the area. of course, it helps if you go on a day as beautiful as that we happened upon.

after leaving the field of dreams we happened upon a sign on the side of the highway for trappists, so we exited to go find the abbey. called the new melleray abbey, it was set in the beautiful iowa fields in the midst of some giant trees that must have planted when the abbey was founded about 160 years ago. we went into the church, pictured, to pray, only to find that someone was apparently being given an organ lesson. this particular monastery is known for its woodworking, and they had some beautiful walking sticks, birdhouses, and caskets for sale, although the last was a bit morbid.

after another hour or so of iowa, we came to wisconsin, land of cheese and green bay packers. the southwest corner of wisconsin, as we found out later, was the only part of the state not leveled by the glacier which flattened the rest of the state and great lakes. like iowa, it was beautiful, with rolling hills which turned into bluffs pretty quickly. we headed up to spring green, near the home of frank lloyd wright, on the docket for later. a little further north is the small town of plain, population 791. here we spent the night at the bettinger bed and breakfast, pictured below.run by the very friendly elderly couple jim and marie, we really enjoyed our stay. jim particularly, had a fantastic wisconsin accent since he was born in the northern part of the state. we ate a picnic dinner which we had picked up at a local grocery, and then hit the sack. we, or at least i, woke up groggily to a house full of cheerful folk ready for breakfast--rounding out the guests were a biker couple from kansas and an attorney and his wife from michigan. we sat down to a delicious repast of asparagus crepes, fresh fruit salad, fresh sausage, fresh pineapple pound cake, and fresh rhubarb sauce (like applesauce, but made of rhubarb, which i love). just a note about food in wisconsin: our host grew his own asparagus and rhubarb, and collected wild black raspberries for the fruit salad. in addition, there was a fabulous butcher shop in town with tons of delicious looking meat cuts, and i'm not even a meat person. this morning on our way out, in addition to the butcher, we visited a local cheese-maker, and stocked up for the rest of the trip. and this is real cheese, sealed in wax. talk about legit. currently, i am sitting in the visitor's center for taliesin, wright's home. tour in a couple hours, wisconsin below.