Best Iowa
Effigy Mounds National Monument is a protected area in northeastern Iowa established in 1949 by the National Park Service. The monument preserves more than 200 prehistoric mounds constructed by Native American cultures, including the Woodland and Mississippian periods. Along with conical burial moun...
Broken Kettle Grasslands State Preserve is a protected natural area located in the Loess Hills of Plymouth County, Iowa. It is recognized as the state's largest contiguous native tallgrass prairie, preserving an ecosystem characterized by deep loess soils and undulating ridges. Managed primarily by...
The Hitchcock Nature Center is a 1,300-acre preserve in Iowa's Loess Hills that protects a unique prairie ecosystem formed from wind-deposited silt. The Loess Hills, stretching along Iowa's western border, were formed from glacial silt carried by wind during the last ice age, creating one of North A...
The Marching Bear Group is an archaeological site consisting of a series of bear-shaped earthworks located within Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa. Built by Native American cultures of the Woodland period between roughly 600 and 1200 AD, the mounds form a distinct line across the...
Estherville is a mesosiderite meteorite that fell in Emmet County, Iowa, in 1879, producing a witnessed shower and a recovered mass of roughly 320 kilograms. Mesosiderites are stony-iron meteorites composed of metal mixed with fragmented silicate rocks, including material resembling differentiated a...
The Marching Bear Mounds are a group of ten effigy mounds located within Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa. Constructed by Native American Woodland culture populations between approximately 650 and 1400 CE, these earthworks are shaped to resemble bears in a sequential, marching pr...
Waubonsie State Park is a conservation area located in the unique Loess Hills region of southwestern Iowa, near the Missouri border. Established to protect the area's distinctive rugged landscape of steep ridges and sharp peaks, the park spans over 2,000 acres of natural terrain. It is named in hono...
Stone State Park, located on the border of Iowa and South Dakota near Sioux City, preserves a tract of the Loess Hills, a landform of wind-deposited silt that rises steeply along the Missouri River valley. The prairie portions of the park support native tallgrass species such as big bluestem and Ind...
Steele Prairie State Preserve is a protected prairie site in Cherokee County, Iowa. It conserves a remnant of mesic tallgrass prairie, a grassland community associated with relatively moist soils and a diverse mixture of native grasses and wildflowers. The preserve also provides habitat for native b...
The Pine Creek Gristmill is a historic watermill located within Wildcat Den State Park in Iowa. Constructed in 1848 by Benjamin Nye, it represents an early example of agricultural machinery in the region. The mill’s operation relied on harnessing the power of Pine Creek to grind grain into flour. It...
Preparation Canyon State Park is a protected natural area located in the Loess Hills of western Iowa. The park encompasses a rugged prairie landscape characterized by steep ridges and deep ravines that define the region's unique terrain. Historically, the canyon within the park served as the site of...
The Polk County Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa, is a county government and court building erected in 1906. Designed by the Des Moines firm Proudfoot & Bird, it uses Beaux-Arts planning and ornament, with a rectangular structure and a gray limestone facade occupying a full courthouse block. Its posit...
The Marching Bear Group represents an ancient geoglyph site located in Iowa. Ten earthen mounds shaped like bears are arranged in a linear procession, likely representing a significant cultural or spiritual event for the Mississippian culture. These structures offer insights into the beliefs and pra...
Turin Loess Hills State Preserve is a protected natural area in Iowa’s Loess Hills region. It conserves steep landforms formed from wind-deposited loess, a fine sediment that can produce narrow ridges, sharp slopes, and unstable bluffs when deeply accumulated. Native prairie vegetation occurs on par...
The Des Moines Marathon is an annual long-distance road race held in Des Moines, Iowa. The course takes participants through the city's downtown area, past the Iowa State Capitol building, and along the extensive trail system bordering the Des Moines River. It is a Boston Marathon qualifying event t...
The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve located in Iowa, established in 1990 to reconstruct the native tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems of the American Midwest. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge actively works to restore these historically dim...
Sioux City Prairie State Preserve is an Iowa protected area that conserves native tallgrass prairie in the Loess Hills landscape. The preserve is co-managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and The Nature Conservancy. Its significance lies in protecting prairie habitat within a region whe...
The Great Bear Mound is a large animal-shaped earthwork within Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa. Measuring about 137 feet from head to tail, it belongs to a wider landscape of Indigenous burial and ceremonial mounds constructed in geometric and animal forms by peoples of the Wood...
Maytag Blue is an artisanal cow's milk blue cheese produced by Maytag Dairy Farms in Newton, Iowa. The dairy was founded in 1919 by E.H. Maytag, and began producing the cheese in 1941 using a recipe developed by Iowa State University microbiologists. It is aged in hand-dug caves, resulting in a nota...
Rolling Thunder Prairie State Preserve is a protected natural area in Warren County, Iowa. It conserves mesic tallgrass prairie, a grassland community with soils that receive more moisture than dry prairie but are not continuously wet. The preserve is also associated with prairie pothole and wetland...
Broken Kettle Grasslands is a Nature Conservancy preserve in the Loess Hills of western Iowa. It protects the state's largest remaining contiguous tract of native prairie, where steep ridges and deep valleys formed from wind-deposited loess support tallgrass and mixed-grass communities. The preserve...
Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve is a protected area in Iowa's Loess Hills managed by The Nature Conservancy. It contains the state's largest remaining contiguous tract of native tallgrass prairie, along with woodland, streams, and steep loess ridges. The preserve supports a managed bison herd and...
The High Trestle Trail Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge on the High Trestle Trail in central Iowa, opened in 2011. The bridge rises approximately 130 feet above the valley floor and is one of the longest recreational trail bridges in the state. Its most distinctive feature is a series of de...
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1995, recognized for their intensely chaotic live performances and complex, often abrasive musical arrangements featuring masks, gore imagery, and a blend of death metal, industrial rock, and alternative influences.
Hayden Prairie State Preserve is a protected tallgrass prairie in Howard County in northeastern Iowa. The approximately 240-acre site preserves one of Iowa's largest remaining examples of largely unplowed native prairie and has been designated a National Natural Landmark. Its plant community include...
Pepper is an American trick-taking partnership card game that functions as a variant of Bid Euchre. It is played with a 24-card deck and features a bidding system where players compete to determine the trump suit and contract. The game is particularly popular in certain regions of the United States,...
New Melleray Abbey is a Trappist Cistercian monastery located near Dubuque, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1849, it is one of the older Trappist communities in North America. The monks follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and have historically engaged in agricultural work and, at times, the production...
The Iowa-Iowa State football rivalry is the annual college football meeting between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State University Cyclones. The game is played for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, whose name combines Iowa State's mascot, the Cyclone, with Iowa's Hawkeye identity. The schools are Iowa'...
Clay Prairie State Preserve is a 40-acre protected natural area located within Clay County, Iowa. Dedicated for conservation in 1985, the preserve safeguards a surviving segment of native tallgrass prairie that has developed on flat, poorly drained glacial till. The landscape is dominated by big blu...
Five Ridge Prairie State Preserve is a 990-acre natural area located in the Loess Hills of Plymouth County, Iowa. The landscape is characterized by steep ridges and rugged topography formed by wind-deposited silt. It maintains a mix of tallgrass prairie and bur oak woodland, serving as an important...
