Cool Iowa small towns

This thread reminds me of when I was a kid and our family didn't have money for regular vacations. On some weekends in the summer, we would take day trips. Only far enough away to see something cool and still get home before we four kids drove our parents nuts. The Grotto at West Bend was one such place. At the time, we lived in Buena Vista County.

Now, there are all kinds of opportunities and promotions to keep people close to home. If you're interested in Iowa wine and/or beer, consider doing one of these "trails Wine Trails in Iowa

(Why is this in General College Sports?)
 
Thats like saying St. Joe, Sexton or even Irvington have 299 people!!

there might be ... LuVerne has a surpising amount of houses on the south east corner.

and they probably counted the population on a Sat night when the people at Quarters counted.
St. Joe, Sexton, Irvington, Bode, Livermore, and LuVerne might not add to 299 people. :wideeyed:
such a hater, I bet knock knock jokes really **** you off.
That Cheeto let me down so much. I expected a good sized Cheeto. The stupid hype machine got me. :confused:
 
St. Joe, Sexton, Irvington, Bode, Livermore, and LuVerne might not add to 299 people. :wideeyed:

That Cheeto let me down so much. I expected a good sized Cheeto. The stupid hype machine got me. :confused:

A) St Joe and Bode are the same town - how that works I don't know, but it does.

B) It IS a good sized Cheeto - easily 5 x as big as a normal cheeto ... but cheetos are pretty small. What would you think a "giant" ant would look like?
 
Are you drinking? If so you have to stop in Jefferson, IA at the Ol Time Saloon (I think thats the name)

Are you talking about Ferg's because that place is great. Another good small town bar isThe Ranch in Everly, try the Ranch juice it will knock you out after a while.

Pocahontas isn't anything to special, but when you come in on highway 3 on the east side, there is a giant statue of pocahontas.

You have to eat at the Udder Cow there...they claim its Iowa's best Tenderloin.
 
If you come up here to NW Iowa, I agree with the Grotto in West Bend, really cool. If you like Ice Cream, stop by the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor here in Le Mars. Just show up hungry!

Don't forget to grab the best steak in Iowa at Archie's Waeside. Dry aged beef at it's finest. In fact, Rachael Ray's magazine listed it as one of the top 4 steakhouses in the entire country.

:: Archie's Waeside :: Home

Nearby Orange City is interesting...

Orange City is pretty cool, and has a great golf course - Landsmeer. Also, check out the windmill in front of the Diamond Vogel headquarters. The founder of the company, Andrew Vogel, built it after retiring (he was 70+ at the time).
 
St. Joe, Sexton, Irvington, Bode, Livermore, and LuVerne might not add to 299 people. :wideeyed:

Livermore gets to claim Spring Valley golf course though, which is a pretty nice course for the middle of nowhwere, Iowa.
 
Livermore gets to claim Spring Valley golf course though, which is a pretty nice course for the middle of nowhwere, Iowa.

Not a big golfer, but I believe they were voted the best 9 hole course in the state of Iowa - they then expanded to 18 the following year. It's pretty nice, and its at least 15 miles from any town with more than 5,000 people.
 
Castles

It sounds like the castles were started by one rich guy who liked castles. He built a few for his business, and others followed. If you go to Ida Grove, you have to see the Pizza Hut if for no other reason than to see what's probably the world's fanciest Pizza Hut.

sPizzaHut.jpg

My wife's family is from Ida Grove and I would like to personally thank you and everyone else that has mentioned Pizza Hut for not calling it "Pizza Hut on an island". You'll here this often, when it is not on an island or even a peninsula. It is "Pizza Hut next to a pond (with suspect service at best)." That's all I've got.
 
Are you talking about Ferg's because that place is great.

Ferg's (at least the only Ferg's I know of in WC Iowa) is in Grand Junction, about 15-20 miles east of Jefferson. It was a hole when I was in school, which made it a great place for house/date parties.
 
Ferg's (at least the only Ferg's I know of in WC Iowa) is in Grand Junction, about 15-20 miles east of Jefferson. It was a hole when I was in school, which made it a great place for house/date parties.

Ah yes...they all blend together for me. It was Grand Junction not Jefferson
 
Hampton (my hometown) has a neat courthouse, good state park and one of the better mid-size county fairs in the state.

Columbus Junction(my hometown) has an original main street all intact and the historical swinging bridge. It also has one of if not the best county fair in Iowa for cattle shows.

And we've got the Hog Wild Rodeo and Watermelon days.
 
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Any place with a good tenderloin, like the one at Tojo's in Jamaica:
2930269960_65821f540b.jpg

Sorry for the super old thread resurrection, but if not for this thread (specifically this post) I wouldn't have had a fantastic lunch today. I've been staying in Jefferson for work this week and saw Jamaica on the map which reminded me of this thread.
 
Ida Grove with the castles and the Grotto in West Bend are a couple of the top of my head

You have to hit West Bend when the wind is coming from the right direction though. They have a fertilizer factory, or used to, that really stinks up the place. My Grandma used to live in Ottosen and we could smell that stench from there when the wind was out of the right direction (northwest).

If you're going to go through West Bend, though, you might as well swing through Humboldt and eat the best pizza anywhere at Pasquales.
 
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Sorry for the super old thread resurrection, but if not for this thread (specifically this post) I wouldn't have had a fantastic lunch today. I've been staying in Jefferson for work this week and saw Jamaica on the map which reminded me of this thread.

Try ordering a pork tenderloin sandwich where I live and they'll look at you like you have antennae sprouting out of your head. There is no such thing in the deep South, at least in my experience. I really miss pork tenderloin sandwiches.
 
My mom's from woolstock, it's like a town that's literally like two blocks big near fort dodge and eagle groove. I went there for a family reunion a few years back, some dude was hammered on the corner and walk up to my mom and hit on her in like a total drunken stuper. And everyone was like oh don't mind Sam(or whatever his name was) he's just the town drunk. I was like that's hiliarious any place where everyone in the town identifies one person as "the town drunk" is a cool small town to me. I really didn't think small towns had town drunks, I just thought that was something you seen on the Andy Griffith Show.
 
I've got to throw some love out for Delhi. I used to date a girl who lived near there and I always enjoyed the town and Delhi Days was a blast. Also, nearby Lake Delhi is a hidden gem.

Well, it was. Too soon?

Someone mentioned Dyersville. I moved here a year ago because it was the cheapest option for my commute. $350 for the lower level of a duplex. However, the town sucks. No one my age, more specifically, no women my age. Real conservative, real old, real Catholic. Thats Dyersville in a nutshell. Don't throw in the Field of Dreams because that sucker is so far out of town its almost in Farley.
 
Well, it was. Too soon?

Someone mentioned Dyersville. I moved here a year ago because it was the cheapest option for my commute. $350 for the lower level of a duplex. However, the town sucks. No one my age, more specifically, no women my age. Real conservative, real old, real Catholic. Thats Dyersville in a nutshell. Don't throw in the Field of Dreams because that sucker is so far out of town its almost in Farley.

This is why I moved to a city of more than 4K people.
 

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