On my recent journeying through Iowa, I departed Ames (blog) and headed north to Mason City. I made a quick stop at their Visitor Center, where Lindsey helped me plot my course. Then she strongly encouraged me to go see Buddy Holly’s crash site (blog), which has had a continuing and deepening effect on me. I was so grateful to Lindsey for her advice. The locals who work at Visitor Centers know their hometowns best.
Per Lindsey, I first went to the Historic Park Inn Hotel. It is renowned as the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright hotel in the world! It opened in 1910 and is based on the concept of “prairie school architecture”. The design is naturalistic, and is in response to the over-adorned era of the Victorian age.
I liked the warmly serene sitting areas. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the furniture as well, although these pieces are replicated, not originals. I roamed throughout the hotel and would describe its feel as – peaceful. Just like the peacefulness of being in nature.
I then drove over to the shopping district and especially enjoyed Simply Nourished. It has a beautifully-presented selection of organic, local foods and gifts. It was a treat to shop here. I grabbed a quick lunch at Thai Bistro, which was deliciously refreshing. Afterwards, I continued on to my next stop: the Kinney Pioneer Museum. So many of the displays were intriguing to me and I was glad for the docent’s willingness to answer my numerous questions.
I cringed at the permanent wave machine. Women scorched their hair and often lost chunks of it in order to try and curl their locks. No thank you!
I laughed at this gentleman attempting to drive through ruts in the mud on the pre-Jefferson Highway. How was this feat even possible?!
The museum has an original, tiny pioneer cabin (which once housed a family of seven!), and a one-room schoolhouse.
But the most gripping display was this iron lung. It tells the story of Frederick B. Snite, Jr. who was placed in an iron lung in 1936 after surviving polio, but incurring infantile paralysis. Just above his face, a mirror would have been attached to the machine so he could see what was behind him.
This article stunned me. Frederick had a family, and toured Europe, covering 25,000 miles in his iron lung. What an enormous inspiration. It caused me to ask myself what holds me back from living life fully. Frederick will now be my motivating star.
When I returned home, I was ruminating on everything I had learned on my Iowa trip. Randomly, I started watching the #1 Netflix series – The Blue Zones. I also read the book by the same name, whose author is the show’s host, Dan Buettner, a National Geographic researcher. The Blue Zones are the 5 places on the earth where people live the longest and age in the best of health. Dan has initiated creating Blue Zone communities around the world. I looked at their website and discovered that Mason City, Iowa was the third Blue Zone Project established in the U.S.! I was so excited, that I went to my Mayor to proffer the idea of creating our city into a Blue Zone. It was obvious to me that it is working in Iowa. I sensed their vibrancy, and the pull to return will cause me to visit often.