Tama County

Tama County.,,

Benton County

The County Courthouse in Vinton is one my favorites. It's like a mini-Iowa State Capitol. Plus it has one of the best preserved open bell towers I've seen,

Buchanan County

The Buchanan County seat is Independence Iowa

those windows!

I've noticed a lot of courthouses like to have mini-lady-liberties

Pretty cool Church across the street

This is a fantastic theatre. Someone needs to save it!

The downtown looks pretty rough. But so many great things here. The city planner in me wants a crack at it.

Delaware County

Delaware County's seat is Manchester. Much less English than the other one. Nice courthouse though.

Linn County

Linn County is home to Cedar Rapids. Iowa's 2nd largest city. It is also home to more goose poo than I've ever seen in my life (and I've been to West Des Moines).  

That's not grass in front of the impressive Veterans Memorial Building. It's 100% goose poop.

the courthouse is on an island in the middle of the Cedar river

Reenie reacting to the massive amounts of goose poo

They have buildings

I like this sign

Jackson County

We spent a lot of time in Jackson County at Maquoketa Caves State Park.

Oh yea, there was a courthouse too. But it's falling apart and was swarming with black wasps.

Jones County

Jones county is the home of master artist Grant Wood who painted many of it's landscapes.  It really is some of the most picturesque countryside in Iowa. Literally.

Stone City, Jones County Iowa

This is the state penitentiary in Anamosa. The kids thought it would be a nice place to live. 

Hardin County

Hardin County is where they filmed Twister starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. They also have a really nice state park, a cool old movie theatre and a wonderful courthouse.

Grundy County

Here we are in Grundy County. The courthouse is impressive and in great shape.

Chickasaw County

Chickasaw County was against us. First it was thunderstorming, then the road to the Little Brown Church In The Vale (where my grandparents got married) was closed.

Bremer County

In the late 1800's various Bergman's, Bravener's, Buhr's and Liebau's transplanted from Germany (and England in the case of the Bravener's) to Bremer County Iowa. The cemeteries around Waverly, Bremer, Tripoli and Fredericka have a lot of relatives. My dad did most of the grunt work on the genealogy.  

Me at the family homestead. The current farmers can thank us for digging up the prairie here 

The Courthouse in Waverly

Apparently the Bergman's Waspsipincon river

At some point my great great great grandfather owned a German Beer Hall in Frederika. I don't know if this was it but there's not much else here.

Black Hawk County

Black Hawk County is home to John Deere Tractors which started as the Waterloo Boy Tractor Company before being purchased by Deere. They have a great (and free) little museum next to the old factory in downtown Waterloo,

Helping Audrey do setup on the Gen4 CommandCenter in a 7-R

This is my favorite old model

Transmissions are cool

Dickinson County

Dickinson County is home to the "Iowa Great Lakes" and was the destination for this leg of our tour. These lakes (particularly West Okoboji) have long been been a vacation destination for the region.

The mini roller coaster at Arnold's Park