Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, asserts in his book The Making of Star Trek that the character of James Tiberius Kirk had been born in the state of Iowa. In March 1985, when the city of Riverside was looking for a theme for its annual town festival, the Riverside City Council decided their town was going to be the birthplace. So they put up a monument, started a festival and just claimed it. It's non-canon, but several references have since been made to it.
The marker is a nice marble affair that's situated in a little park behind a hair salon. You have to hike down an alley to find it. It's almost hidden. There's also a little museum that's heavy on the cheesy/homemade vibe, but with a lot of memorabilia. Heavy on the toys and books.
They also have their town history museum in the same place and are quick to herd you in there after seeing the Trek stuff. The town was also the unwitting stars of a Spike reality TV show in 2004 where Shatner came to town under the guise of filming a scifi movie. They took the joke in good spirits and made THAT memoribilia a part of their collection as well. I don't know if this town is just the most relaxed group of people in the world or if they'll pimp anything to bring a little commerce to town. Everyone in the town seems to send you on to the next business. The museum suggested the other museum, then the restaurant, who suggested the marker, etc.
Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, asserts in his book The Making of Star Trek that the character of James Tiberius Kirk had been born in the state of Iowa. In March 1985, when the city of Riverside was looking for a theme for its annual town festival, the Riverside City Council decided their town was going to be the birthplace. So they put up a monument, started a festival and just claimed it. It's non-canon, but several references have since been made to it.
The marker is a nice marble affair that's situated in a little park behind a hair salon. You have to hike down an alley to find it. It's almost hidden. There's also a little museum that's heavy on the cheesy/homemade vibe, but with a lot of memorabilia. Heavy on the toys and books.
They also have their town history museum in the same place and are quick to herd you in there after seeing the Trek stuff. The town was also the unwitting stars of a Spike reality TV show in 2004 where Shatner came to town under the guise of filming a scifi movie. They took the joke in good spirits and made THAT memoribilia a part of their collection as well. I don't know if this town is just the most relaxed group of people in the world or if they'll pimp anything to bring a little commerce to town. Everyone in the town seems to send you on to the next business. The museum suggested the other museum, then the restaurant, who suggested the marker, etc.
It holds nearly 600 eggs, and it's about all there is in town.
The Place the Music Died is commemorated with a set of glasses on a pole and a little memorial in a corn field. Very modest memorial. The memorial was a half mile trek through the cornfields, so we settled for the glasses.
A big ole Jolly Green Giant. Quiet little town and park - nice relaxing photo op.
It's the biggest mall in America. 4 floors, 520 shops, 50 restaurants, an amusement park, an aquarium and a comedy club. Mostly just the same stores in your own mall, just more of them. Why does anyone need 5 "Lids" franchises under one roof?
I'm not a shopper, so I was nonplussed. I did get to try Tim Horton's for the first time, so I'm good.
Rock in the House - Fountain City, WI
A two story, 55 ton boulder fell on an old couple's house. A local real estate guy bought them out and decided to sell tickets rather than repair it. The house is open and the rooms converted into a little museum of newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. There's a rusty lockbox with a slot where you leave your $2 admission fee on the honor system.
Yes, I tried pushing it. It didn't budge.
This is a neat, neat stop. The Pastor of the Dickeyville Parish spent about 5 years building these grottoes and gardens. He built all these structures in stone and mortar, then decorated everything with colored stone, shells, glass, gems, petrified wood, moss, fossils and ores. I can't decide if it's a tribute to vision or obsession.
I loved this visit. We watched the movie just before beginning this trip so it was fresh on my mind and it looks just like it did in the movie. We were lucky that IA had a late harvest this year, so the corn was just as tall as it was in the film. It's not commercialized at all - one little souvenier stand and an option to pay for a tour of the house (that was barely in the film).
It's literally just out on a gravel road in the corn fields. You're driving along kicking up dust and turn in at the sign and BOOM - Shoeless Joe is the only thing that's missing. We didn't bring equipment, but lots of people were playing catch, running the bases, wandering through the corn to find where it ends. Field was spotless - the owners keep it as fresh as the movie - not a blade of grass out of place, not a bare spot in the turf.
If you ever come near this area, swing wide. I don't cotton to ghosts, but there's definitely something moving out there in this place.
The Amana Colonies is a German settlement in Iowa in seven villages called the Ebenezer Society. If I understand the history, they more or less lived something like an Amish community for about 80 years, sustaining a self-sufficient local economy. These days it's open to the public and they have a ton of wood/leather shops, a brewery, wineries, candy shoppes, etc. And the biggest Christmas store I've ever seen - really neat off-the-wall stuff.