Information on Iowa State Capitol Tours in Des Moines

Historical Midwest

The Iowa State Capitol tour takes you right into the heart of political grandeur in Des Moines, Iowa. The capitol building itself was built from 1871-1886. It is absolutely stunning with its world famous dome gilded with 23-karat gold leaf as well as its magnificent 19th century architecture.

Below is all of the information on Iowa State capitol tours that you will need to schedule your visit.

Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

How to Sign up for an Iowa State Capitol Tour:

If you would like a tour of the Iowa State Capitol building and have less than 10 people in your group, you can call 515-281-5591 to schedule a free tour. For groups of 10 or more you’ll need to register online for a capitol tour here. Here you can request both building tours and dome tours.

Guide Tour Times:

Tours are only available Monday through Saturday and last approximately 75 to 90 minutes.

Monday through Friday – Tour Times Vary
Saturday – Every hour starting at 9:30 am and ending at 2:30 pm.

**NOTE – Dome tours are restricted to 4th grade students and above. One adult chaperone is required for every 10 children touring.

Self-Guided Tour Times:

Self-guided tours of the Capitol and Capitol grounds are available anytime during normal business hours.

Get a closer look inside the Iowa State Capitol building here.

What do you see on the Iowa State Capitol Tour?:

Ground Floor:

Gift Shop

First Floor:

Ground Stairway Statues
Inner Dome / Glass Floor / Flag Display Case
Capitol History Display Case
USS Iowa Model
Secretary of State’s Office
Capitol Supreme Court Chamber / Judicial Display Case
Original Railroad Commissioner’s Office
Treasurer of State’s Office
Governor’s Office / Governor’s Reception Room
168th Infantry Photo / Inaugural Gown Doll Display Case
Auditor of State’s Office

Second Floor:

Westward Mural
Lunettes / Statues
State Law Library
West Capitol Terrace

Third Floor:

Senate
Mosaics
House of Representatives

Iowa State Capitol Building Hours:

OPEN:

8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday

9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday

CLOSED:

Sundays
New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Memorial Day
Fourth of July
Labor Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving (and day after)
Christmas Day

Where to park for your Iowa State Capitol Tour:

Iowa State Capitol Address:

1007 East Grand Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50319

Buses:

Bus parking is on the west side of the Capitol (along East Ninth Street). Buses may load and unload from the circle drive located directly in front of the west Capitol ground-floor handicap-accessible entrance. For a bus parking map visit here.

Visitors / Public Parking:

Visitor parking can be found on E. 12th St and also on Court St. surrounding the capitol building. Additional accessible parking can also be found in employee and visitor lots. This complex parking map shows you exactly where the various parking areas are.

*To view and print a map of the Iowa Capitol Complex visit here.

Where to Enter the Iowa State Capitol Building:

Although tours meet on the ground floor in the rotunda area, there are multiple entry points open to the public. Public entrances are located on the ground floor of the Iowa State Capitol on the south and west sides of the building. You must walk through a security scan upon entrance.

Iowa Capitol Gift Shop:

The Iowa Capitol Gift Shop is located on the ground floor of the rotunda in the Iowa State Capitol. It’s small but has great souvenir options featuring both Iowa and the Iowa State Capitol and includes a small historical display.

Capitol Gift Shop Hours:

9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Capitol Gift Shop Phone Number:

515-281-5591

More information about the State Capitol Dome Tours:

If you would like to include a tour of the Iowa State Capitol building dome you will simply add that on to your tour reservations. If you have less than 10 people in your group, you can call 515-281-5591 to schedule a free tour. For groups of 10 or more you’ll need to register online for a capitol tour here and make sure that you request both a building tour and a dome tour.

Iowa State Capitol Monuments and Memorials:

Below is a list of monuments and memorials at the Capitol Complex. You can find a map of locations here as well as QR Codes for a Cell Phone Audio tour.

Parrot Rifle
Spanish-American War Cannon
Cornerstone
Mortar
Lincoln and Tad Statue
G.A.R. Sundial
V.F.W. Monument
Daniel Cooper Memorial Tree
Great Seal of Iowa
Bicentennial Fountain
Pioneer Statuary Group | Buffalo Fountain
West Capitol Terrace Memorial Benches
Holocaust Memorial
Bryant Boulder
Teacher Boulder
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument
Bicentennial Time Capsule
Centennial Time Capsule
G.A.R. Memorial Tree
Iowa Peace Officer Memorial
Revolutionary War Memorial
Allison Monument
Sesquicentennial Tree
Christopher Columbus Monument
Submarine Memorial
Vietnam War Memorial
Purple Heart Combat Veterans Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. Tree
Korean War Memorial
Crocker Memorial
Five Stones — One Tree Sculpture
Scott’s Grave
G.A.R. Flagpole
G.A.R. Memorial Bench
Peace Pole
Japanese Bell | Bell House
Memorial Bench
Shattering Silence Monument
Oley Nelson Tree
Spanish-American War Monument
Statue of Liberty
Liberty Bell
Memorial Plaza (World War II)
The Pinnacle Monument
Iowa: A Place to Grow Symbol
Spanish Howitzer
Workers’ Monument
Cosmic Seed Sculpture

Other places to visit in or near Des Moines:

State Historical Museum of Iowa – If you would like a self-guided tour you must register at least two weeks in advance using this online visit request form.
Adventureland
Big Creek State Park
Blank Park Zoo
Boone Scenic Railway
Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden
Heritage Carousel
Ledges State Park
Pappajohn Sculpture Park
Science Center of Iowa

Can’t Make it to the Iowa State Capitol? Check out these Videos:

Secretary of State’s Office:

Iowa Governor’s Office:

Iowa Senate Chamber:

Iowa House of Representatives Chamber:

Inner Dome:

Iowa State Law Library:

Inaugural Gown Doll Display Case:

Iowa State Capitol Building Mosaics:

View more videos of the Iowa State Capitol Building here.

Spook Cave & Campground in McGregor, Iowa

Campgrounds Caves Midwest Nature

Iowa has so many amazing campgrounds and places in nature to visit (but then again doesn’t every state in the USA?) but I was incredibly excited when I discovered Spook Cave & Campgrounds in McGregor, Iowa. I’m a hardcore cave enthusiast so any cave you have to take a boat through is always on my list. We actually decided to rent a cabin for 2 days and just enjoy a restful weekend away.

Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

There’s not too much in McGregor but nearby Dubuque has plenty to keep you busy. And if you enjoy relaxing and being outdoors you may find that you’ll just want to settle in at Spook Cave and skip any surrounding destinations anyway. (Although we couldn’t resist also checking out Crystal Lake Cave which was pretty awesome too!)

The campgrounds were very quiet and serene our entire weekend there and we saw very few people even though the campground looked pretty full. We hopped on the small boat and waited for our cave tour to begin.

I loved that there was this little bridge over the “lake” (more like a very small pond!) so that you could walk directly in front of the entrance for pictures and watch the boats glide underneath you.

Everything out of the experience was like it leaped off of the pages of a serene mystery book….right down to the birds nest hanging under the old iron bridge.

WARNING – Spook Cave is NOT for the claustrophobic. Just in case you couldn’t tell by these photos. YES – you must actually LAY DOWN in the tiny little boat to fit through the entrance. It definitely adds to the aura and allure of Spook Cave but please be forewarned that you must duck or lay down quite low for a good 20 seconds in the boat in an awkward position and in an extremely tight space.

Once you make it through the opening the cave opens up though and you can enjoy the rest of your damp spooky ride with tall ceilings.

Believe it or not my husband and I actually went on the cave tour twice. My 7 month old (at the time) screamed almost the entire way through it which was pretty awful since you can imagine the echos the cave produced – our poor tour guide! I couldn’t hear a thing over her screams. (she decided she was hungry again and we didn’t have her bottle with us!)

Thankfully my in laws offered to watch her so I could go back through and actually enjoy the cave! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and really seemed to enjoy his job.

If you have small children you may want to remind them before you go in that there is nothing that will pop out or hurt them! Although it is not truly spooky it’s a dark cave and both of our tour guides told tales as we boated past a fake floating alligator and loudly banged on the side of the boat. Honestly I thought it was an awesome effect but could certainly bother skittish children. Overall definitely a cool experience!

As for the campgrounds itself we just fell in love with the property and wish it were closer to visit more often! The cabin we rented was just stunning and fit all 7 of us (4 adults & 3 kids) nicely with a giant wrap around porch and awesome fire pit.

There was a swimming lake out in the back that was just so quiet and serene. Portable bathrooms were nearby and you could drive right down to the lake which was nice. I did notice there were some tent sites available down there too. One side of the lake was for fishing and one was for swimming.

A Train passing by Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

As we were enjoying the lake and fishing my boys were psyched to watch a train roll on by! It was just a surreal weekend – we had such a great time and my boys are already begging to go back.

Catching crawfish Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

Up in the front of the campgrounds you actually drive past a small waterfall and creek where you can go fishing. We didn’t have any luck with fish up there but my boys did have a blast catching tons of crayfish! We made good use of our GoPro camera here and really took some cool shots of the crayfish in action as my boys chased them around! They left no rock unturned!

Beulah Falls Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

Macro Snail Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

Water Wheel Spook Cave & Campground in MacGregor, Iowa

The Stunning King Tut Exhibit at the Putnam Museum

Historical

Ever since I was in 5th grade, and perhaps even before then, I found myself deeply obsessed with King Tut. I’m not really sure why – perhaps it was the 24 page magazine that we spent all year creating in class (I chose King Tut as my subject because I always had a fascination for Egyptian mummies) or maybe it grew over time after collecting every news article I could get my hands on about this famous pharaoh and discovery.

Or maybe it was the secret (or not so secret) desire to be an archeologist and discover my very own mummy!

Either way when I saw that there was a King Tut exhibit – piled with exact replicas of his tomb – just a few hours from where we live there was absolutely NO QUESTION about it. We were going for our 12th (wedding) anniversary – and we did!

The Putnam Museum has SO much more to see but by the time we made it through the King Tut exhibit my 1 year old was ready to head out and take a nap so we’ll have to come back to explore the rest. (The exhibit is open through September 5, 2016.)

Please enjoy this small yet picture heavy post full of amazing wonders from the exhibit – hand created exact replicas from Egypt. Upon entry we received audio handsets and the first few sections of the exhibit were timed in conjunction with the headsets.

I would have loved to stand there and take more photos and stare in awe at some of the scenes – exactly built just as Howard Carter saw it when he entered King Tut’s tomb!

I mean look at the incredible detail! Can you imagine the splendor Egyptian pharaohs had during their reign?!

I entered the exhibit thinking that I already knew most of the history around King Tut – after all I’ve been obsessed with his story and Carter’s incredible discovery for over 20 years now – but guess what? I learned WAY more that I had no idea about! My husband was so kind and generous as I spent forever at each exhibit totally geeking out.

My dream is to actually go to Egypt someday and tour INSIDE these tombs although I know it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever have the opportunity to do so!

There were items from the tomb, replicas of jewelry, swords, boxes, and all sorts of things.

And oh goodness I felt like I was staring at the real artifacts themselves. The replicas are incredibly stunning. I just wanted to reach out and touch everything (but I didn’t!).

I’m not sure why but this display really caught my eye – perhaps the milky white against the colorful sarcophagus.

Not the best picture because of the many reflections but to me this was the saddest part of the museum. I did not realize that King Tut even had children (as he was a child himself!) and I definitely did not realize that they were buried with him! (although already deceased) Such tiny sarcophaguses!

This shrine replica was absolutely the most stunning piece in the museum collection simply due to it’s sheer volume and shine. I just wanted to hug it – haha!

Here is the back end of the same shrine. Look how tall it is!!! Can you imagine that inside a pyramid tomb!

Standing there staring at the death mask made me feel like I was looking at a photo in a National Geographic magazine. It was absolutely mesmerizing. I really loved that I saw some of the same artifacts displayed differently throughout the museum. First in the piles laid in the room as Carter found it – then more up close and singled out.

Look at that shimmer!

One of the room replicas – I love the Egyptian box with hieroglyphics in the front!

The exhibit was a little confusing to follow and find my way out since I had to use the elevator with our stroller as it was on various levels and floors.

In the “basement” there was an exhibit “Unearthing Ancient Egypt” where there were real Egyptian artifacts and a mummy along with equally stunning displays and an interactive video for kids.

Overall – definitely one of the most exquisite museum exhibits I’ve ever been to and I can’t imagine going to anything finer. My heart was so happy after going to this exhibit! I learned a lot, I was rightfully awestruck at the artifacts and I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could!

Exploring the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Historical

Our family LOVES to travel and educational travel is a really big part of our experiences. Between educational travel and exploring outdoors that covers a good 98% of our time on the road together.

My middle son has a fascination with anything related to presidents so anytime we are in the area of a presidential home or grave we make it a point to stop. We have been to two of Lincoln’s homes (Springfield, IL and DC area), his grave, Ford’s Theater, George Washington’s homes & grave (Mt. Vernon & Philadelphia), the White House and National Mall area (Lincoln Memorial) just to name a few locations.

Plus most of the time these locations are partnered with the Junior Ranger Program and my kids are eager to grow their Jr. Ranger pin collection.

Most of my photos this time mainly have my kids simply because I had the 3 kids (including the baby) in snowy freezing cold weather and it requires mostly outdoor walking. I couldn’t whip out my camera with painfully cold hands in wet weather and keep the baby warm enough!

But let me give you a few tips – before you go understand that on site in Iowa is the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site area (free) is ALSO the Presidential Library (free) AND the Herbert Hoover Museum (NOT free!).

We started inside the visitors center at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site which is extremely kid friendly. In addition to a short film there is a room where kids of any age can touch pretty much everything and interact with some of the exhibit pieces. It was GREAT! I was very impressed with how much it catered to kids even though it was small.

National Junior Ranger program at Herbert Hoover Historic Home

Admittedly none of us actually knew very much about Herbert Hoover before our trip so it was all new to us! In my first photo you see Herbert Hoover’s boyhood home. I’ve been in the small country houses of presidents before but Hoover’s house FLOORED me.

It was 2 tiny rooms that we barely walked in before we were walking out. I simply cannot imagine living with a slew of kids in that tiny living space – especially in the harsh Iowa winter months! We also walked through the blacksmith shop, the Quaker meeting house, and the one room schoolhouse all close by to Hoover’s home!

All of the buildings were impeccably kept and open on the cold wintery day we visited.

National Junior Ranger Program Exploring Herbert Hoover National Historic Home

A short walk from the historic buildings we also solemnly visited Herbert Hoover’s resting place along with the grave of his wife Lou. It was an astoundingly gorgeous open area up an extremely steep hill laid out beautifully with plenty of surrounding nature.

Nearby is also a prairie overlook but seeing as it was in the 30’s and drizzly when we visited we skipped the overlook path!

If you have children you absolutely MUST look up the National Junior Ranger program. Not only is it highly educational and teaches your kids (and you!) SO many details about the locations all over our country that you are visiting but it also keeps your kids busy at some of the locations where there are fewer things to hold their interest.

Upon arriving just ask for the Junior Ranger book and they’ll need to fill out some activities with info they’ve learned from their trip. Once they show their book to a park ranger they can be “sworn in” (although this varies depending on the ranger at each location) and they’ll receive a pin (or rarely a patch) they can keep with the name of that location on it.

You can see some of the pins my kids have displayed on their hat.

I love that my kids are SO into this program and they still take being sworn in VERY seriously. We started the program 2 years ago when we first visited Mount Rushmore which is where we bought their ranger hats. We can’t take a road trip without their hats and they’ve been begging me for quite some time to purchase ranger vests.

Although a little pricey I know how much this program means to them and our family and it was a small way I could give back to the program by supporting it with our purchase. Over the next 2 years we have some pretty massive road trips planned so I bought the vests big and know they will last my boys at least several years throughout our upcoming trips.

Just a SIDE NOTE on the Herbert Hoover Museum in case you were wondering! The Presidential Library and Museum are a short walking distance from Hoover’s home and the visitor center but you can drive over there and park right in front of it if you want.

Because we were FREEZING cold and my baby was in need of the trip being cut short we did not stop into the Presidential Library. I didn’t want to bring a wet soppy stroller and irritable baby inside of a quiet presidential library!

The Herbert Hoover museum was a little pricey but of course contains a priceless collection relating to Hoover and his accomplishments. Honestly (and we’ve been in a TON of museums!) I probably wouldn’t go back to the museum.

It was expensive and much of the museum contained documents and letters which did not hold my kids interest at all. It was small and we walked through pretty rapidly. If you are really into Herbert Hoover’s life and presidency or love old documents this is definitely the place for you!

A Day Trip to the Des Moines, Iowa State Capitol Building

Big Cities

After a busy spring day at school packed with all sorts of meetings, travel, and chaos my husband and I looked at each other and declared it was past time to schedule a hooky day. We scheduled a personal day off to spend together and decided to explore the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines – the state capitol of Iowa.

For more information about tours, directions, etc. you can visit the Iowa Legislature page.

WARNING – LOTS of photos ahead of the Iowa state capitol building inside and out! It’s just stunning! It’s the whole reason I wanted to visit the capitol building – just to take photographs and explore!

I’ve driven past this stunning building multiple times but never had the chance to take a photo of it. That gorgeous dome is covered in 23K gold. It’s even more stunning in person and you can see it from far away while traveling through the city. If you take a special tour you can go almost all the way up in the dome.

Inside the Iowa State Capitol Building:

interior stairs of the Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Building

This marble grand staircase inside the capitol building is absolutely grandiose. Although my husband takes the students at school every year for tours we decided since we wanted to maximize our day out that we would just wander around inside the capitol building until we were done.

Unfortunately that means we did not get to go up inside the dome since our friends in the Senate were off for the day so hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back and do that sometime.

wooden stairs in the Iowa State Capitol Building

As you can imagine just like any state capitol building the Iowa capitol building is beautiful. The architecture and detail everywhere is worth taking your time walking through to appreciate.

Des Moines is a fascinating city to explore and it’s capitol building is PACKED with history – everything from showcases of the current governor’s keepsakes to models of the USS Iowa – including it’s ship bell! (Did you know that Iowa residents get to board and visit the USS Iowa for FREE? It’s stationed in California!)

looking down the stairs in the Iowa State Capitol Building

So I’m not going to lie – it was really easy to get lost here! It didn’t seem that you could just go up the stairs and see everything on that floor – there were different stairwells for various sections of that floor just like in the University of Iowa.

Governor Wife Dolls in Des Moines Iowa State Capitol

This was an interesting feature of history – every governor’s wife gets a doll made fashioned to her style at the time. It was neat to view the various fashions over the decades. A little creepy maybe? A nice nod though to hidden women in history!

Law Library in the Iowa State Capitol Building:

Library Stairs in Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

AH-HAH! T.H.I.S. The Des Moines capitol building law library – that’s exactly why I wanted to visit the capitol building in the first place! I saw a photo of the library on Pinterest a while back and the ornate decor immediately caught my interest. These library stairs are something special – even if you can’t go all the way up.

ornate Library in Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

The library is packed floor to ceiling with all sorts of nooks, crannies, and original furniture. In fact the glass lamps are original with the building – they wired everything to transform the gas lights to electric and kept the original globes.

Vintage Books in Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Building

Unfortunately you are only allowed to walk around on the main floor but thankfully they do allow you to climb part of the stairs to get a better view of the library.

I wish I had brought my zoom lens because we could see amazing tattered books high on the 3rd floor that looked ancient. I can only imagine the age of the books in this treasure trove.

law Library in Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

I’m so glad I had the chance to drool at the library for a little bit! It even had an old card catalog stationed by the desk!

rotunda Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

Here’s an inside shot of the rotunda – I was fascinated by the top squares you see there – every single square had an individual light that was lit up inside.

warm Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

Strangely enough I found this to be the most beautiful spot in the state capitol building. We were walking around behind this set of stairs to look out the window over the city and as I glanced up I was hit by the colorful ornateness. (ok – probably not a word but it sums up the feeling!)

vintage newspapers and book inside Iowa State Capitol

In the bottom of the capitol building, which is actually the main hallway you walk through after going through the metal detectors is a small gift shop and display with historical items from the original building between large sections of the building in 1904.

The few items there are fascinating (especially the library door hinges!) and the gift shop is CHEAP CHEAP! If you ever wanted an Iowa souvenir that’s the place to go!

gold dome Des Moines Iowa State Capitol Square Building

We stopped in for a quick bite to eat at Zombie Burger (our fav!), watched the National Parks movie at the science museum IMAX, and popped in to explore at West End Salvage (freaking AMAZING!!!).

Although we didn’t have time to do everything in such a short time some of our other favorite Des Moines area spots to explore are at Big Creek State Park, Jester State Park, the Des Moines Botanical Garden, of course Blank Park Zoo and the Iowa Science Center. If you’re into history Living History Farms and the Jordan House are both great places to schedule a stop.

BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Caves Nature Oddities

Recently my husband had some out of town work meetings to attend for several days in central east Iowa so I decided to tag along and while he was set up in meetings 14 hours a day (poor guy!) my 1 year old and I hunkered down and looked for something to do. We stayed between Marshalltown and Anamosa give or take a bit.

In the town we stayed at there was nothing other than a small city park near a busy road so I began to widen my search. After 2 separate trips (a total of 3 days) we have hit up all of these places to visit in Central East Iowa. So if you find yourself looking for something to do – look no further than scrolling down below and seeing all that I found!

I found some of the ideas through Roadtrippers (my favorite travel site!) as well as Roadside America.

haunted Edinburgh Manor - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Edinburgh Manor – The spookiest place to visit in Iowa. Seriously – don’t watch their episode on The Travel Channel on Ghost Adventures if you get scared easily – it’s pretty intense! Although it wasn’t open when I drove by it’s totally worth the drive if you’re up for a haunted geocache on site! If you’re really brave look into their overnight options.

Edinburgh Ghost Town Pioneer Village - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Edinburgh Pioneer Village (AKA Ghost Town) – Literally right down the road from the haunted Edinburgh Manor this original town has been restored and is only open certain times of year so make sure you check before you stop by!

haunted Black Angel - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Black Angel – Deemed the 2nd most haunted location in Iowa the Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City is home to the Black Angel. I didn’t find this spooky at all but quite stunning and gorgeous. And the log shaped tombstone next to it fascinated me!

There are many stories and legends behind the Black Angel in Iowa so google it and take your pick! The cemetery itself is filled with century old tombstones which makes it an amazing place to walk through and pay your respects.

University of Iowa Natural History Museum - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Museum of Natural History – Also in Iowa City nearby located on the University of Iowa campus is what I’d call a mini-Smithsonian museum. It’s absolutely worth the stop in and although a little difficult to figure out where you’re going the exhibits are packed with large and lesser seen skeletons and taxidermy animals.

My kids were just fascinated! Don’t forget to stop in their small gift shop. You can find metered parking right across the street.

Herbert Hoover Historic birthplace and museum - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Herbert Hoover Historic House & Museum – We chose to visit the Herbert Hoover birthplace and the museum / presidential library mainly because they participate in the Junior Ranger Program and is only one of two National Parks in Iowa. (The other is the Effigy Mounds.)

It reminded me of visiting Lincoln’s home in Springfield. A nice little film to watch and “touch me” museum for kids and then a short walk around the original house, school, blacksmith shop, etc. The Museum is privately owned and does charge a fee.

Personally I wouldn’t pay for it with my kids as they weren’t terribly interested (which I was surprised because normally they love museums) but if you like old documents this is the place for you. This one had more written papers and documents than anything. And make sure to pay your respects to President Herbert Hoover and his wife’s burial area on site.

Devonian Fossil Gorge in Iowa City - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Devonian Fossil Gorge – This is a fabulous treasure for your prehistoric lovers! Walk through acres of rocks packed with fossils which are easily visible to the eye as you walk down into the gorge. My kids could have spent hours there looking at the fossils! If you look closely at the puddles in the gorge you might find some incredibly prehistoric little creatures running around. I have no idea what they were but it really made us feel like we had stepped back in time.

Iowa City Children’s Museum – A fun stop for your younger kids – mine (6 & 8) were a bit too old for this one. It’s a great museum for kids to touch everything in! Plus there’s a carousel right there in the mall. It’s easily right off of I-80 too!

Anamosa Penitentiary - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Anamosa State Penitentiary – I stopped here at this stunning and HUGE penitentiary while out poking around Edinburgh and Anamosa. The entire building takes up more than a full block and while it is a functioning penitentiary for some of Iowa’s toughest criminals there is a section open to the public with a history museum attached.

Sadly it was closed for the season when I was there but I really want to go back to check it out!

Matchstick Marvels - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Matchstick Marvels – This little treasure is tucked away in Gladbrook and is absolutely worth the drive. It’s extra tiny but the stunning designs here are all made of matchsticks!

This truly is an incredible place to stop in and although it won’t take long to walk through the one room you’ll be glad you went! You can also find these matchstick marvels all over the country at various Ripley’s Believe it or Not locations.

Iowa's Largest Frying Pan - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Iowa’s Largest Frying Pan – This quirky roadside attraction in Brandon is pretty much “what you see if what you get”. I was expecting some ginormous frying pan but it’s still a fun stop to stretch your legs and take silly pictures at!

Waterloo Science Museum Imaginarium - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Grout Museum District – Needing to “waste” a little more time during one of our trips we stopped into the Imaginarium in Waterloo which is a small but highly educational and hands on museum. Although it was older and small it has pretty impressive exhibits to keep the kids busy for part of a day.

Next to it are also the Grout Museum of History & Science, Rensselaer Russell House Museum, Snowden House and the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum.

Twister Movie Site in Eldora Iowa - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Twister Movie Site – I totally drove right past these signs shown above on my way into Eldora as I was heading to Pine Lake State Park and quickly made a U-turn! Twister was one of my all time favorite movies and I couldn’t believe that I had actually driven right past a movie site!

These signs are displayed just before you enter town on Hwy 175 but the actual house in the movie can be found by heading east out of Eldora, turn south on Avenue Y and follow the dirt road about 2-3 miles down just south of 245 street. You’ll see the house on the left.

Here is the updated house from the movie Twister. Although it’s a private residence it was still neat to see. If you look off to the right of the house when you are there you can see an imploded barn remains piled there still.

Pine Lake State Park – Just as you head into Eldora on the right side is the entrance to Pine Lake State Park. It was a fabulous place to hike around in! A beautiful little beach with hiking trails as well as a dam and historic bridge – it’s the perfect picnic park.

Wapsipinicon State Park – ALL of the photos from here to the end of the post are of Wapsipinicon State Park – I had such a wonderful time here and it’s 100% worth making the trip to! I went specifically to hike into the Ice Cave and Horse Thief Cave as I’m a nut about caves – especially ones that are easy to access without paying for a tour!

ice cave in Iowa - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

As you drive through the park you can’t miss the signs for both caves. You can literally just stop your car right there and explore.

stairs to Ice Cave in Iowa - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

I do, however, recommend bringing a flashlight at least for the Ice Cave. And if you’re claustrophobic you won’t want to head into this cave. It’s extremely tight and narrow and I couldn’t even make it all the way back.

As you can see the path is just big enough for one person at a time. And as you would expect it’s quite cold in there! It was my first ice cave to visit so I was pretty excited – even if it was small but long!

Iowa State Park - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

The park is just absolutely gorgeous with a small stream running through. You could spend all day hiking and picnicking here.

Horse Thief Cave in Iowa - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

Horse Thief Cave, as the name explains, was a legendary cave for horse thieves to hide in! Just park near the sign and take the grassy path next to the stream until you see a rocky set of stairs.

state park in Iowa - BEST Places to Visit in Central East Iowa

The path up was easy enough for my 17 month old to climb up on her own.

The cave is just at the top of the stairs and SO much larger than I was expecting! It’s very large and open with plenty of light shining in so even those who don’t like tight spaces will be fine here!

Just stunning. Above I am inside the cave looking out – a great hiding place! There’s a small opening in the back of the cave to a tiny closed space but I couldn’t fit back there. I’m SO glad I stopped in here!

Did I miss a great spot in central east Iowa? Please leave a comment and let me know what else I need to go back and check out! If you venture over to the Des Moines area check out our photo gallery of the state capital building – it’s stunning!

Koated Kernels Jolly Time Popcorn Shop in Sioux City, Iowa

Roadside Attractions

Every other year we find our family road tripping it up to the north western corner of Iowa for a conference my husband attends. If you haven’t been up in that direction…..well…..there’s not much to do! And when you have kids with you there REALLY isn’t much to do!

Desperate to find something (anything!) to do I resorted to my favorite travel attraction site Roadtrippers praying that something would pop up on my map! That’s when the Jolly Time Popcorn shop showed up in Sioux City, Iowa! I was SO excited – my kids LOVE popcorn! I wasn’t quite sure what it was but it was better than driving around doing nothing so I quickly put the address into my GPS.

After MUCH confusion and driving in circles I realized that the name in my GPS was under Koated Kernels – the technical name for the popcorn shop! Took me 20 minutes driving in circles to figure that out!

We were pleasantly surprised to open the doors to the amazing smells of candied popcorn, and quickly realized that one side of the smallish room was an ode to Jolly Time’s history and the other 3/4 of the room was a gourmet popcorn shop!

There were all types of sizes and flavors of gourmet popcorn to buy and sample! Above was one of the original popcorn poppers!

To ensure my kids didn’t just run and gobble all of the samples (which they were quite generous to hand out to my eager children!) we paused for a little history lesson on the evolution of popcorn! It only took a few minutes and then it was off to decide WHICH flavors to buy and sample! I pretty much wanted to take everything home with me!

Although I’m pretty sure my husband’s eyes would have popped if I had brought all 20 flavors home with me! Or the garbage sized bag sizes of party popcorn!

If you love popcorn and ever find yourself in Sioux City, Iowa you should add Koated Kernels to your list! It just might be the yummiest and most interesting stop in the area.

Although I gobbled down my white chocolate drizzled popcorn quicker than I could snap a photo of it I did share the Birthday Cake popcorn with the kids and grabbed my husband the Buffalo Blue Cheese popcorn.

And since my father in law is quite the expert of gourmet popcorn and weird flavors – I decided to buy him some Pumpkin Pie popcorn and some Key Lime Pie popcorn – both of which he enjoyed!

If you’ve ever found any treasures to stop at in the Sioux City area in Iowa I’d be delighted to hear of them!! I definitely need more places to stop every time we find ourselves in the area!

Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque, Iowa: Family Cave Exploring Attraction

Caves Midwest Nature

Visiting Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque, Iowa was an unexpected stop for us on the way up to the Spook Cave & Campgrounds in MacGregor, Iowa. We had wanted to spend the day at Maquoketa State Park (tons of caves there!) but it was pouring rain so we opted to Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque instead and I’m glad we did!

beautiful Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque, Iowa

As you can see we weren’t disappointed with it’s beauty! I was expecting a larger body of water in the cave considering “lake” is in the cave name but this lake was more like a small pool of water high up in a crevice that was difficult to see. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend long staring at it, but it made for some great quick photos!

cave room in Crystal Lake Cave Dubuque, Iowa

As with most toured caves we’ve been in things are nicely lit and there were plenty of formations in Crystal Lake Cave to see.

cave formation in Crystal Lake Cave Dubuque, Iowa

Formations were nicely labeled…..even if we couldn’t always figure out what they were!

soda straws in Crystal Lake Cave Dubuque, Iowa

The field of soda straws in this cave are so cool! In fact there was SO many right above the walk way that a metal fence was in place to catch any that might fall and accidentally hit someone in the head. I’ve been to over 30 caves and seen all sorts of formations but the amount of soda straws at this cave in Iowa was crazy!

rock tunnel in Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque, Iowa

Although this photo is blurry Crystal Lake Cave is an endless weaving of underground tunnels, many of which are very tight and small compared to other caves we’ve been in. This passageway shown here is one of the largest areas we were in on our tour.

I’m about 5’4″ and I still had quite a bit of ducking and maneuvering to do to get around. So if you’re afraid of small places this is not the cave for you!

family photo in Crystal Lake Cave Dubuque, Iowa

As you can see we took the grandparents and kiddos along so it’s definitely a doable cave for those equipped to get around but I’d say about easy to medium difficulty for them. It’s really not bad as long as you are expecting a lot of bending and ducking to get through the tour….more so than other toured caves we’ve been in.

The taller you are the tougher it is…..and if you’re carrying a baby. We may have been slightly puffing by the end of this cave tour but we’re rock enthusiasts so it comes with the territory! I’m glad I can check off another cave in the Midwest off of my list!

Check out some of the other caves we’ve been to!