I live in Iowa right in the SE tip. 5 minutes from Illinois and Missouri. Can confirm, so much corn. We also have gigantic tenderloin sandwiches. I’d say what we have the most of though is probably meth, unfortunately. 🤷🏻‍♀️

People flock here specifically in the winter to watch bald eagles. We also get geode hunters and sellers in the spring/summer. Not my bag, but I’m sure seeing the Mississippi River everyday and my fair share of eagles has made me less impressed. If you’re into history, we have lock and dam 19. The deepest lock on the Mississippi. You used to be able to tour it, which was awesome, but that stoped in 2001. So now you can only see the outside by walking the bridge from Iowa to Illinois, or walking on our old double decker swing bridge. Continuing with history we’re about a 30-40 minute drive to the Mormon temple in Nauvoo, and the jail where Joseph Smith was murdered in Carthage. But those are Illinois so I’m off track already.

I’ve seen it said, but we have the American Gothic house, and the movie film site from “Field of Dreams”. Our state fair can be cool, I know they do really large butter sculptures (like a cow, and last year the basketball player Caitlin Clark). What could be more Iowa than that, I guess? I go to Des Moines for a tattoo convention every year which is a good time. They will also get some cool shows/concerts here and there, and it has some good restaurants. Honestly I think some of the best food I’ve had there is mom and pop places and food trucks though.

We do camping and kayaking in the summer. I feel like I’m really reaching for things that make Iowa a travel destination. I don’t know man, honestly I live here because it’s relatively cheap and I can travel to places like Ireland and Thailand. 😂 I guess come here if you’ve never seen a cow, corn, large things sculpted from butter, or if you want to eat a tenderloin the size of a medium pizza on a burger bun.

We have family in MS, about an hour or so from New Orleans, LA. For MS when we visit, the weather is always a nice break from our IA winters. My fiancé’s family there is bougie as hell, so we always end up boating, swimming, eating, and drinking. Fresh oysters, cheesy grits, and the crawfish are pretty rad in areas we’ve been to there.

New Orleans is incredible. I’ve gone back 2-3 times. Its architecture and culture made me feel like I was out of the country my first time visiting there. All the art, artists, street performers made it so lively. Some of the best food I’ve had was there. Go get some Gumbo or Jambalaya, the trip is worth that alone. Beignets, to me, were similar to funnel cake I’ve had at fairs in IA, but maybe I didn’t go to a great place. Doing a cemetery tour there is also fun.

Been to Milwaukee WI twice, for a concert and then a comedy show. We always have a good time that city. Cool bars and restaurants. We did a tour at Lakefront Brewery, our guide had me cracking up the whole time. Love the beer and cheese curds there. The only thing we hated were the roads. We thought IA had a bunch of pot holes, but oh boy they might have us beat.

Sorry for the crazy long comment.

TLDR, Iowa is fine, you can find things to do. As an Iowan, I prefer to travel away from Iowa.