Recently my friends and I decided to take two days of our summer and head out to their old Alma-Mater in Iowa City, Iowa. Although I'd been there once before, I figured why not? I hadn't left the grand old state of Illinois in over a year, so a cheap, fun vaca with friends was definitely in order...even if it was just to Iowa. Yes, yes, I'm a city girl, but we'll just put that grand piece of info on hiatus for as long as possible.
I actually miss the days of road tripping with friends. Road trips with families and road trips with friends are two very different affairs, and I love the ones with friends. I made our mix cd for the journey and we busted out to some current top 40s hits as well as our old fav's: BSB and N*SYNC. Our three hour tour there included one of the girls gawking at the dirtiness of the Mississippi, since she'd never seen it before, as well as another one of the girls plugging away for Iowa and the city like a diligent campus rep.
The tour home was a greater hassle given the crazy amount of Construction on I-80 and 88, and the fact that our friend happened to come off a pit stop turning west instead of east. A comment of, "Weren't we driving away from the sun before?" caused a bit of a stir when we realized the closest exit at which to turn around was 15 miles away! Needless to say, the trip home took as long as a trip there and back would take! Yay for bladder control, good music, and girl talk!
Iowa City itself? Fun! We hit up Brothers, Graze for bubbly martinis, country night, and Marco's for a great, late night, drunken grilled cheese pit stop! Even in the summer the city is pretty active, which is nice for those students who do find themselves staying for the summer! Otherwise, if you happen to make it out to Iowa City for anything, I highly recommend heading over to the Amana Colonies for some really great Amish breakfast and shopping. We, again, got lost on the way there (noticing a pattern?) but we did have one of the best breakfasts I've ever had at the Colony Inn. They have a number of restaurants, but this one is the girls' favorite and includes fruit, homemade toast, pancakes, eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and orange juice for one family-style rate. Yum yum! And then, if that's not enough, there's always wine tasting, cheese tasting, chocolate and fudge buying, and coffee and tea shopping to take the edge off of breakfast.
Overall? Great two days. The only question now? Where to next?
Sounds fun! I've never enjoyed road trips that much since they've always been with my family. However, going with friends seems fun. Do you know any good places under a 6 hour drive that would be awesome for just relaxation?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great question, and I think the answer will have a lot to do with what you're looking to do while you're on your vacation. I'm going to have to assume, though, that you are based from Chicago so, going from there:
ReplyDeleteThere's always Galena, IL, for a cute little getaway with shopping and sights, Iowa City again (with a definite pit-stop to the Amana Colonies!), or St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Indianapolis if you like seeing other cities. If you like the water I highly recommend any of the little waterfront towns in Michigan to relax, enjoy the water and the small towns, and maybe even pick some local fruit, or a more touristy place like the Dells. (There's also apparently a way to drive to Wisconsin and take a ferry to Michigan AND put your car on the ferry, which means you drive home from Michigan. I haven't had a chance to do it yet, but it sounded cool).
Hope that helped! Happy next vaca!