Addison LathersDes Moines Register
Just curious:This occasional feature in the Des Moines Register aims to answer your questions about Iowa. Is there some place, event, lore, history or cultural quirk you're just curious about? Email your question to the Des Moines Register's Bill Steiden atwsteiden@registermedia.com.
You can only make so many day trips to Adventureland before wondering, "What am I missing?" Thankfully, Iowa is home to an endless supply of weird, wacky and skin-crawling pastimes that'll make the most seasoned traveler do a double take.
Here are five tourist attractions for those looking to get off the beaten path.
Get all strung out on puppets in Mason City
Ever heard of Bill Baird? No?
You probably know Jim Henson though. Henson of Muppets fame interned with Baird before going on to create "Fraggle Rock" and the characters for "Sesame Street." The influence of Baird on Hensen's Muppets is clear at the Charles H.MacNider Art Museum in Mason City, which houses a special collection ofhis marionettes and hand puppets, including those used for "The Lonely Goatherd" scene in the film"The Sound of Music."
Baird himself moved with his family as a teenager to Mason City, where he gave performances of “Treasure Island” in their attic, then returned there in his retirement. In between, Baird created thousands of puppets, including Charlemane the lion (which played sidekick to legendary TV news anchor Walter Cronkite on a short-lived morning show), performed on Broadway and helped design floats for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The museum received its puppet selections directly from Baird.
Previously: Mason City museum improves display of puppet collection
The MacNider Museum building alone is worth a visit. The Tudor-style mansion is a former convent remodeled into a museum in 1965 with the goal of retaining the original home's personality. It now houses a permanent collection of American art, traveling exhibitions and an Imagination Playground for children.
The MacNider Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, and admission is free.
Spend the night at the haunted Edinburgh Manor
Many people have heard of Edinburgh Manor in Monticello, a former mental institution and retirement home rumored to be one of the most haunted places in the Midwest. It's been featured on Zak Bagans' show "Ghost Adventures" and the Travel Channel's "Destination Fear."
But did you know you can stay there overnight?
The manor offers private rooms for one to five people starting at $275 a night, with each additional person costing $55. Guests can explore the bedroom of “Susie” the ghost, listen for voices or look for the shadowy figure that lives in the basem*nt. The owners claim to have had ghostly hands touch and squeeze them at night, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported.
More: These 9 creepy Iowa ghost stories will give you goosebumps
It's not a hotel though; the building has electricity but no heat or running water.Overnight visitors have access to a house on site that has a bathroom and kitchen. Plan to bring your own sleeping bag because bedding isn't provided.
If that sounds too extreme, the owners offer a one-to-two-hour tour during daylight hours. Visits must be booked in advance and are typically offered on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.Admission to the day tour is $10 per person.
Or, visit the slight less spooky Spook Cave
If you're looking for an excursion for all ages, Spook Cave and Campground, about 7 miles west of McGregor in rural Clayton County, gives guided boat tours through a flooded cavern.
Early settlers near McGregor heard strange noises coming from a spring and originally called it Spook Hole. Only when local resident Gerald Mielke blasted into the bluff where the spring was in 1953 did he discover the flowing water that made the sound. He opened the cave to commercial touring in 1955 with an unusual underground boat tour — the only one in Iowa.
Spook Cave is open from May to October with reservations available on weekdays. Rides cost $16 for visitors 13 and older and $11 for children ages 4 to 12. There is no charge for children 3 or younger.
You also can turn your visit into a sleepover. Spook Cave offers camping nearby and a range of cabins to rent, all of which have electricity, heating and air conditioning. Swim at Camp Spook Lake, try your luck fishing at the Bloody Run trout stream or visit the nearby Railroad Employee Cemetery. A little more off the grid is Bloody Run Park, which has 19 primitive campsites for rent in a campground that is notably a home to Iowa’s largest woodpecker, the pileated.
Wander over to the Hobo Museum
Once a year in Britt, population 2,017, the largest documented annual gathering of hobos, rail-riders, and tramps in the United States takes place.
Since 1900, the city has been hosting the hobo convention — a weekend festival that includes a parade, entertainment, food and the election of the king and queen of the hobos. The hobos set up a hobo jungle, selling crafts and chatting with visitors.
The history of this relationship between Britt and its annual guests is documented at the National Hobo Museum, which began as the dream of three lifelong hobos determined to preserve the history of the American hobo, according to the museum's website. Opened in the 1980s, the collection housed in a former movie theater celebrates the lives of traveling laborers.
Make the most of your time in Britt by stopping by the Queen’s Garden across from the Hobo Museum and the National Hobo Cemetery in the northeast corner of Evergreen Cemetery.
The Hobo Museum opens after Memorial Day and closes after Hobo Days weekend, Aug. 8-10 this year. The museum will open during the off season, but only by appointment.
Get wheely into wheels at the L.J. Maasdam Wagon Wheel Sculpture
Leonard Maasdam of Pella loved unusual things.
He had a collection of more than 4,000 elephant figurines, a chandelier made of birthday balloons and a disco ball, and a model train that circled his home. One of his most eccentric creations, a 60-foot tower made of roughly 220 wagon wheels, can still be seen near a soybean field just a few miles off Interstate 80 north of Sully.
"The wheel is one of the oldest inventions of mankind. It goes back to Bible times," Maasdam told the Register in 1996. "I thought, 'There's a surplus of these wheels. Why not make use of them?'"
With the help of a hydraulic crane from Marshalltown, the 91 year old erected the rusty sculpture on a concrete base and surrounded it with a fence made of — wait for it — more wagon wheels. Maasdam's family maintains the site to this day at the intersection of South 48th Avenue East and East 140th Street South.
After you appreciate the art, head back to Sully for a bottle of almond mead at the Van Wijk Winery or grab a piece of coconut cream pie at the Coffee Cup Cafe, where Lance Armstrong stopped for a slice during his 2006 RAGBRAI ride.
Addison Lathers covers growth and development for the Des Moines metro. Reach her at 608-931-1761 or alathers@registermedia.com, and follow her on X at @addisonlathers.
