Crawford County

Here we are in Denison Iowa home town of Donna Reed, a fact that the town will never let you forget. People have this really wholesome view of her because of  The Donna Reed Show and It's a Wonderful Life but I think she was just as beautiful as Ingrid Bergman or Liz Taylor or anyone else around at that time (or since).  

The buffalo girls are coming out tonight. 

Carroll County

Shockingly, Carroll is the county seat of Carroll county. We drive through here all the time on the way to visit Laura's family in western Iowa. Seems like a nice town, too bad about the courthouse though.

All thats left of what was once a cool courthouse. Carroll obviously feels the shame.

Carroll County is also where the city of Templeton is and thus the source of Templeton Rye Whiskey (sort of). The story goes that Al Capone was a big fan of "The Good Stuff" which is the main selling point of the whiskey. The distillery has had some bad press lately, but word is they're trying to move everything to Templeton and make right. The truth is, while not my favorite Iowa Whiskey (that would be Cedar Ridge) it's not bad. The story is still pretty good too.

Al Capone is a fan of Carroll County

A bottle of Templeton Rye

Adair County

The Adair county seat of Greenfield is one of those quintessential Iowa towns. So much so that Hollywood once filmed the Dick Van Dyke comedy "Cold Turkey" here. The town square is still vibrant and interesting, and the courthouse is charming. I'm starting to notice that all the nice small towns don't have a Wal-Mart

Also they make a pretty good tenderloin at the bowling alley.

The bowling alley is not a fan of Nebraska

 

Union County

The Union County seat of Creston was build by the railroad and named because it's at the "crest" of elevation between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It's like the continental divide...but for Iowa. The courthouse isn't much but it has a very cool railroad depot. After visiting we had a picnic at nearby Green Valley State Park.