Although at times serene, and almost always verdant, nothing about IOWA truly stands out: this 55,000-square-mile chunk of the Great Plains doesn't even manage to be completely flat, it just wobbles up and down a little. The state is the very essence of smalltown America, close to the geographical center of the mainland US, and ranking decidedly average in size, population and level of personal income. Even the cities seem at times to be merely villages grown large.

Iowa's history, too, has been relatively uneventful. It was opened for settlement after the Black Hawk Treaty of 1832, a one-sided exercise in negotiations with the Sauk Indians, conducted after many of them had been chased down and slaughtered in neighboring Wisconsin and Illinois. The Northern European immigrants who replaced them made agricultural development their prime concern, turning Iowa into the " Foodbasket of America " - a role it generally achieves with scrupulous efficiency.

Tourist attractions in Iowa are few and far between; its most visited destination is the throwback Germanic enclave of the Amana Colonies . However, the state does also hold a few oddball sites, such as the original locations for the movies The Bridges of Madison County (in south central Winterset , birthplace of John Wayne) and Field of Dreams (near Dubuque in the northeast). You can also see, but not enter, the original house that featured in Grant Wood's much-parodied American Gothic painting (at Eldon in the southeast, and now owned by the state).