What is there to see in Iowa? Plenty! A new book by a central Iowa woman offers dozens of entertaining options, including the world’s largest popcorn ball, the biggest bull, the most crooked street and the smallest church.
Megan Bannister‘s book is called, “Secret Iowa: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure.”
“So there are 84 secrets that you’ll discover in the pages,” Bannister says, “and they all include kind of a question-based ‘Did you know?’ and then some information about the place, and then everything you’ll need to know to plan a visit of your own to get there.”
Originally from the Chicago area, Bannister moved to Iowa 14 years ago for school and says discovered she loved it and never left. And why would she? After all, the state boasts destinations like the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, the only remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world, and the world’s largest strawberry.
“It was really fun for me, even with places I had been before, to kind of dig in and learn something new about them,” Bannister says. “Then to talk to family and friends who maybe have lived here their entire lives and still found something new, and then also to be able to give it to friends and family members who are outside of the state who maybe were looking to see, ‘What is there to see in Iowa?’ and why might you need to come plan a visit.”
The book is filled with suggestions for fun road trips that are strewn across the entire state, from the familiar and famous Field of Dreams in Dyersville to the lesser-known Lover’s Leap Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction.
“From kind of start to finish, the writing process took about nine months,” Bannister says. “So in that time, I was visiting places again, making sure I had good photography that we could use, doing a lot of research, and then also talking to some people so there were some really fun stops.”
Bannister lives in Des Moines and this is her second book, following “Iowa Supper Clubs.” The author is holding book signings and presentations Saturday in Pella and Des Moines, with more events in the coming weeks in: Windsor Heights, Muscatine, Cedar Falls, Van Horne, Marion, Bedford and Oskaloosa.