Goal #54) Visit Eldon, Iowa

Finally!

Visiting Eldon, Iowa has been a goal of mine for the past few years and despite having been in the area more than a dozen times, I never made the journey.  There was always some sort of reason not to go, the most convenient of which was always that it was “too far out of the way.”  That changed today when Erin and I took her niece on the three hour drive and played dress up at the house that inspired the famous painting by Grant Wood, American Gothic.

Was it worth the drive?  As silly as it might sound to drive three hours through the cornfields of Iowa to put on costumes and strike the same parodied pose as thousands of others, yes, it was worth the drive!  The one person staff seemed genuinely happy to see us and even helped us into our outfits.  She  followed us outside and took our photo, a photo which she has obviously taken hundreds, if not thousands, of times before.

We spent the rest of our time fooling around outside of what is quite possibly the most famous house in America (except, of course, the White House).  After taking some goofy pictures of us pretending to attack each other with the pitchfork (a real pitchfork, I might add), we visited the little museum and gift shop.  We dropped $5 into the donation container along with a Hundred Goals business card before leaving.

If you would like to see pictures from our visit, click here.