I think that Robert Frost and I would have gotten along very well.  After all, he took the road less traveled by.  And stopped by woods on a snowy evening.  And even believed that good fences make good neighbors.  (Wasn’t that him?)

Iowa, however, is not the land of Robert Frost.  It is the land of Grant Wood.  Most everyone recognizes American Gothic, Grant Wood’s famous painting of a woman and a man with a pitchfork in front of a Gothic Revival-Style farmhouse.  Although some of his works are sculptures or other media, Grant Wood most often painted what he knew best:  Iowa.

In driving through Northeast Iowa, we found rolling cornfields with grassy waterways that help to prevent erosion.  Sure, we could have taken the straighter road, but we opted for the “scenic route.”  It paid off when our 9-year-old said, “Guys!  Look!  Do you see all of those hills?”  The hills around Decorah were exciting for him.

Northeast Iowa is also where we found that our 4-year-old is disappointed if someone else spots a barn quilt while sailing down the road and she misses it because her head is turned the wrong way.

It’s where we all stopped to ooh and aah at the World’s Largest Strawberry.

It’s where we took some time to play on the Field of Dreams and to see what really is out there in that cornfield.

It’s where one of the most scenic roads we found, US 52 northeast of Dubuque, is not even designated as an Iowa Scenic Byway or the Great River Road or any other scenic destination.

And it’s there that our 7-year-old, looking down at the rolling hills and cornfields from atop the ridge, said, “I’m seeing a Grant Wood picture, only in real life.”  Yes, Grant Wood painted what he knew:  the landscape and the people of Iowa.  And my kids seem to have figured out that a road doesn’t have to be labeled as “scenic” to be interesting and beautiful.  An attraction doesn’t have to be big or expensive to be fun.

Is this heaven?  No, it’s Iowa.  We’ve enjoyed it.  And that has made all the difference.

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