Iowa

New Reports

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  Main Street Gorge

  Dysart, Iowa

  Mary Snyder Behrens turned Main Street into an artwork by painting onto it an anamorphic illusion of a Grand Canyon-like gorge.

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  Joy, the Movie Theater Pig

  Newton, Iowa

  Joy can usually be seen in her dressing room, just off the lobby. She plays a tiny piano with her snout.

Sights for Oddball Excursions

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  Grotto of the Redemption

  West Bend, Iowa

  A priest promised the Virgin Mary he'd build a wondrous shrine if pneumonia didn't kill him. It didn't, and he did.

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  Albert the Bull

  Audubon, Iowa

  Albert is a 45-ton, 28-foot-tall concrete replica of the perfect Hereford bull. Push a button and he'll tell you his story.

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  Squirrel Cage Jail

  Council Bluffs, Iowa

  The largest revolving jail in the U.S., although it no longer revolves. Three stories high, built in 1885. Experience the horror of hi-tech Victorian criminal justice.

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  Spook Cave: Underground Boat Tour

  McGregor, Iowa

  All-boat, all underground tour. Relax, but don't ignore warnings to duck.

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  Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk

  Riverside, Iowa

  This is the place. Photo-worthy monument marks the spot, which is behind a downtown hair salon.

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  Star Trek Voyage Home Museum

  Riverside, Iowa

  Star Trek collectibles, home-built exhibits, and occasional artifacts in the town where Captain James T. Kirk will be born in the 23rd century.

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  Snake Alley - A Very Crooked Street

  Burlington, Iowa

  A combatant in the World's Crookedest Street battle, in an unexpected place. No traffic back-ups to drive down Snake Alley, unlike San Francisco's more famous crooked street.

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  Buddy Holly Crash Site

  Clear Lake, Iowa

  Corn field where the pioneer rocker with the geek glasses and hiccup-y voice met an early end, along with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.

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  Surf Ballroom: Buddy Holly's Last Gig

  Clear Lake, Iowa

  Preserved as 1959 site of the last performance of rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, before their plane crashed nearby.

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  Field of Dreams

  Dyersville, Iowa

  Hollywood's baseball tourist attraction in Iowa: the cornfield ballfield created for the Kevin Costner movie.

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  Replica Cardiff Giant

  Fort Dodge, Iowa

  Full-size copy of the famous prank. Fort Dodge is where the gypsum block came from that was carved into the original Cardiff Giant.

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  Matchstick Marvels Museum

  Gladbrook, Iowa

  Pat Acton builds impressively-detailed, giant models of buildings, spaceships, whatever, out of hundreds of thousands of wooden matchsticks.