Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-02-2011, 11:49 AM
 
36 posts, read 122,661 times
Reputation: 34

Advertisements

Doing a roadtrip along I-80 next week and was curious what's of note in the state near that area? Won't be hanging out too much, just curious if there's any can't miss type attractions, restaurants, etc. anywhere along 80 that I should make a point to stop for.

Also, if you've been anywhere else along 80 and have any suggestions I'll be driving along the entire length of the highway and we'll be looking for neat things to take a break and see.
(more details here: The Transition: I-80 » Big Apple or Bust)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-02-2011, 12:36 PM
 
Location: South Chicagoland
4,112 posts, read 9,065,658 times
Reputation: 2084
The largest truck stop in the world is on I-80 in Iowa.

Iowa 80 Truckstop - World's Largest Truckstop!

If you are bringing a GPS device, you can also explore Des Moines and Iowa City. They're both on 80 too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-02-2011, 07:29 PM
 
Location: Davenport, Iowa
415 posts, read 1,739,070 times
Reputation: 546
I would suggest stopping to see the Mississippi River in a more meaningful way than just driving over it. A little bit north of I-80 is LeClaire, which has a fairly nice small-town riverfront. Or a few miles south of 80 is the Davenport riverfront, which is just drying out from a flood, but is pretty nice still.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2011, 01:52 PM
 
14 posts, read 43,387 times
Reputation: 32
According to your web site, looks like you'll be spending a night in Des Moines. I'd like to offer a few suggestions:

SIGHTS

Very new and popular attraction downtown, also free
Pappajohn Sculpture Park - Pappajohn Sculpture Park | Des Moines, Iowa

See Iowa's impressive state capitol with the largest gold dome in North America
Iowa State Capitol - Iowa State Capitol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looking for an after dinner stroll around a nice lake?
Gray's Lake Park - Gray's Lake Park - Des Moines, IA

Tour a huge English-style mansion, or least drive by!
Salisbury House & Gardens - Home - Salisbury House

RESTAURANTS

Italian - Centro - Centro Restaurant

Caribbean/BBQ/Cajun - Flying Mango - http://www.flyingmango.com/

Very unique pizza joint - Fong's Pizza - Fongs Menu (http://www.fongspizza.com/home.html - broken link)

Bar & Grill w/ patio - Star Bar - Star Bar | Des Moines - Restaurant, Bar and Lounge

Upscale fine dining - Baru 66, Lucca, Alba, Django

BARS

A "1970's and fishing themed, Mexican BBQ" with over 100 beers on tap & another 100 in bottles.
Biggest selection of American Micro-brews in the world!
El Bait Shop - El Bait Shop - Restaurant & Bar

Next door to El Bait Shop, a retro 60's style corner tap. Adam Richman of Man vs. Food ate here.
High Life Lounge - High Life Lounge

Authentic English pub with a Belgian Beer bar upstairs
Royal Mile/Red Monk - Royal Mile
Red Monk

Authentic German beer hall
Hessen Haus - Hessen Haus

Cool Laid back bar & gallery specializing in Martinis
The Lift - The Lift

MUSIC VENUES
Local & National touring bands play here almost nightly:
People's Court, Vaudeville Mews, House of Bricks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2011, 06:23 PM
 
Location: Wyoming
9,724 posts, read 21,231,509 times
Reputation: 14823
Western Iowa -- There are a couple little towns about 7-10 miles north of I-80 that might be of interest for a fairly quick leg-stretching stop -- Elk Horn and Kimballton. Both are Danish settlements. Elk Horn has an authentic Danish Windmill that was dismantled in Denmark, then shipped to and reconstructed in Elk Horn. The Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, IA, USA

Kimballton, another 3 miles north from Elk Horn, has a replica of The Little Mermaid. Welcome to Kimballton


An interesting stop in eastern Iowa is Amana, or "The Amana Colonies". Amana Colonies in Iowa | The Handcrafted Escape It's just a few miles west of Iowa City. (You'll see road signs.) Amana is probably 10-12 miles north of I-80. You could spend anywhere from one to several hours.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2011, 07:05 PM
 
221 posts, read 1,194,257 times
Reputation: 386
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Living History Farms yet - just west of DM. An EASY hop off of I80 (in fact the Farm is bisected by I80 and the trolley goes under it to take you to the historic farms).
Take a breather and walk through historic farmsteads and a historic town. It's an award winning museum - no one should miss it! The exit is just after I80 takes a hard curve to the South on the West side of DM - forget the exit, but there will be signs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2011, 10:13 PM
 
Location: Des Moines, IA
1,744 posts, read 7,259,764 times
Reputation: 1239
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley View Post
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Living History Farms yet - just west of DM. An EASY hop off of I80 (in fact the Farm is bisected by I80 and the trolley goes under it to take you to the historic farms).
Take a breather and walk through historic farmsteads and a historic town. It's an award winning museum - no one should miss it! The exit is just after I80 takes a hard curve to the South on the West side of DM - forget the exit, but there will be signs.

Good call... I'd maybe suggest eating at the Machine Shed on the grounds... It's basically a rural Iowa themed place with good and ridiculously large portions of food. Breakfast there is amazing, make sure you pick up a cinnamon roll. It was on one of the food network shows for "best breakfast in America"
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2011, 07:24 PM
 
1,911 posts, read 3,754,124 times
Reputation: 933
Living history farms is really boring.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 12:54 AM
 
Location: SE Michigan
198 posts, read 508,270 times
Reputation: 247
What's in Iowa you ask?
This should answer it for you!


YouTube - Interstate 80 Iowa
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2011, 11:21 AM
 
14 posts, read 43,387 times
Reputation: 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Rhino View Post
Good call... I'd maybe suggest eating at the Machine Shed on the grounds... It's basically a rural Iowa themed place with good and ridiculously large portions of food. Breakfast there is amazing, make sure you pick up a cinnamon roll. It was on one of the food network shows for "best breakfast in America"
Sincere apologies to El Rhino & Lily0fthevalley, but I must respectfully disagree. Although the Machine Shed has ridiculously large portions of food, it's also ridiculously BLAND. It may have been good at one time, but I just went there with a large group recently and all of us were very disappointed. I can't stress enough how extremely overrated this place is. Also, the problem with Living History Farms is it's location. There's a roaring interstate running right through the middle of it and it's surrounded by hotels, office parks, car lots, etc. It really takes away from the 19th century image they're trying to portray. This place should be out in the middle of the country, away from the city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top