If You Build It- They (we) will come! - Road Trip to Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Our family is attempting to travel to all 50 states through creative road trips. We prefer to choose a route which may have several destination stops throughout the trip. This often results in spending a short amount of time in one city. We love to get the flavor of the place that we are visiting by experiencing dining experiences, seeing a well-known icon from that area or simply experiencing the understated charm of that particular area.

During summer 2025, we visited three states as a family. Two of the states were new states for our family. There is a lot of dispute over what constitutes crossing off a state. Our family decided that we would count a state if we completed an activity or had a meal in that state. I should note that my husband and I have visited some of the states prior, but we are trying to achieve all 50 states as a family.

Indiana is our home base and we were traveling to the following states : Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. (We had visited Wisconsin several times before, but had never been to this particular area.)

Here is how we did it!

Day 1: Indiana to Dubuque, Iowa (We also stopped in Galena, IL)

Day 2: Explore Dubuque, visit Field of Dreams, travel to Rochester, Minnesota

Day 3: Rochester, Minnesota to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

Day 4: Wisconsin Dells to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

Day 1: We started out by making the 5.5 hour drive to Dubuque, Wisconsin. Before arriving in Dubuque, we stopped in its sister city, Galena, Illinois. Galena and Dubuque are just 20 miles apart. Galena is known for its historic main street full of brick buildings and over 125 shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, we arrived in Galena late afternoon and most shops close at 5:00. We did have time to look around a bit in several shops. We stopped for a bite to eat at the Green Street Tavern & Restaurant inside the DeSoto House Hotel. The DeSoto House opened in 1855 and was once "the largest hotel in the West." We enjoyed seeing this historic building and the pictures they had inside. After grabbing some food, we visited a shop across the street called Elle and Beck's Lifestyle Boutique. We were pleasanlty surprised that they also had gelato and coffee drinks. We got a couple flavors of gelato to share.

On our way towards Dubuque, we stopped at the Ulysses S. Grant home which is also in Galena. Another great opportunity to explore some history.

We continued on to Dubuque and arrived at our hotel, Grand Harbor Resort Waterpark. We aren't big water park people, but this was a fun experience for a reasonable price. The hotel also had an arcade and a laser maze which was fun as well. We had some pool time and headed to bed.

Day 2: My favorite part about this hotel is that it is right on the Mississippi Riverwalk in Dubuque. I was able to get a walk in while my family was getting ready for breakfast. It was fun to walk along the mighty Mississippi. We had the included breakfast buffet in the morning and then headed out.

We explored some of the shops in downtown Dubuque. We also took a ride on the Fourth Street Elevator which is also known as the Fenelon Place Elevator. This is one of the last remaining funicular railways in the United States. There is a small fee for riding the elevator- $2 for children and $4 for adults. It was definitely fun to check out. Dubuque is also known for its street art and murals. So, we checked out several murals as we drove and took a picture at the Dubuque mural located between 10th Street and Jackson Street. (See picture above.)

After our time in downtown Dubuque, we wanted to visit the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. I really love visiting gardens and, luckily, my family indulges me. But, everyone had a good time at this visit. The arboretum is free and there is a lot to explore. It had beautiful flowers and the Japanese gardens area is amazing. We really enjoyed this visit and would highly recommend this if visiting Dubuque.

After our garden visit, we were looking for a nearby spot for lunch. On a whim, we chose Roses and Berries Cafe. This was the perfect spot for lunch after the gardens. The decor was perfect- floral and fancy. The menu was vast and the prices were reasonable. They also had unique drinks such as specialty coffee and tea drinks, smoothies and refreshers. We were so pleased with this experience! It made an unexpected lunch feel like an entire event.

After finishing up lunch, we were on the road to visit The Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. This was about a 30 minute drive.

I watched Field of Dreams as a kid so I was a bit intrigued by this, but this was really a stop for my husband. There was a baseball tournament that had just finished. We got to see the grounds. You can purchase tickets to do a tour of the home. We likely wouldn't have done that part, but didn't have to make the decision as we arrived after it was closed. It was cool to see the field in the middle of the cornfields. There is a cute restaurant that sells (appropriately so!) hotdogs and ice cream. We took several pictures. The coolest part is that there are actual "ghost players" at certain times that come out of the cornfields to interact with visitors. We were lucky and got to experience this so that made for some fun pictures.

After visiting the Field of Dreams, we traveled on to Rochester, Minnesota. On our way, we stopped in Chatfield, Minnesota at Jac's Bar and Grill. The food was good and reasonably priced. They also offer a salad bar which was a nice plus. We contniued on to our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites Rochestser- North.

Day 3: The next morning, had our Hampton Inn breakfast and then headed out to the Zolman Zoo. Zolman Zoo has over 30 species of animals native to Minnesota. My family enjoys animals so we thought this would be a great way to get a taste of Minnesota. There is a nature center to visit as well. The zoo is located in Oxbow Park which also offers interesting nature opportunities. In fact, there is a Path of Imagination Natural Playscape which looked so fun to explore with young children. We enjoyed seeing all the animals and the nature center. This zoo is free with donations encouraged. We, of course, provided a donation to this amazing attraction. We enjoyed seeing otters and prairie dogs play. There was a small farm animal area, many birds, a bear and mountain lions. We also walked across the path to see the bison and elk. This made for a full morning.

After visiting the animals, we stopped for lunch. We were on the hunt for a juicy lucy burger as we heard those were iconic to Minnesota. We ended up at Hot Chips Burger Bar. I don't think we ended up with a true juicy lucy, but we enjoyed our smash burgers. Menu had a lot of choices and everything was very good. Definitely quality food for a fast casual option.

We did venture into Rochester's downtown for a bit. Honestly, there was a festival going on and parking was difficult. We opted to head on our way to the next destination. I am positive that we did not get the full offerings of Rochester, but we enjoyed what we did see!

We headed on to our destination of Wisonsin Dells. We have been to Wisconsin several times to spend a week at a family camp. However, we had never experienced the Dells. We arrived in Wisconsin Dells just in time to attend the Rick Wilcox Magic Theater on a whim. We enjoy magic shows, the timing was matching up and tickets were still available. It ended up being a fun way to spend the evening. After this, it was time for some dinner. We quickly learned how packed the Wisconsin Dells can be which can result in long waits for a dinner table without a reservation. We ended up doing an easy dinner at MACS (Macaroni and Cheese Shop.) This offered good variety of choices and everyone was pleased with their menu choice. This made for a fast and easy dinner. After dinner, we ventured to Huckleberry's Ice Cream and Bakery nearby. We are always up for ice cream, but it was the beautiful vibes of this place that drew us in. It was such a cute shop. After ice cream, we wondered down Broadway street which is also known as the Dells Strip. We took in the sights and ventured in a few other shops that were open. We headed back to the hotel to call it a night. We stayed at the Ramada by Wyndham. We had limited choices when we booked. This hotel was fine, but I might look for other choices if I was going to return. Many families choose to stay at one of the numerous waterparks. We had booked late and had already stayed at a water park in Iowa so this wasn't a priority for us.

Day 4: In the morning, we decided to take a classic duckboat tour. We chose to take our tour with The Original Wisconsin Ducks. If you have never been on a duck tour, you ride in an amphibious vehicle which can go on land and water. Apparently, the ducks were used during the World War II era. It was a cool experience and allowed us to take in the beautiful scenery of the area. I think this is a "must-do" if you want to see the nature aspects of the Wisconsin Dells.

After we finished with the duck tour, we noticed that there was an outlet mall nearby. We had some back-to-school items that the girls were going to need soon so we spent some time at the Outlets at the Dells and came home with a couple deals. Following the time at the outlet mall, we needed to get on the road as we were due at our stay for our family camp for the following week. I'll post about that another time, but if you have the opportunity to do a family camp while your children are young- do it! We grabbed some fast food in the car and were on the road to the next adventure.

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