places to explore:
go to boone,iowa and explore the hills along the west and the east side of the des moines river....
also go west of boone to the west side of the des moines river. on the above,use old highway thirty for your exploration..
when i was in grad school we took old hiway 30 thru boone and went to the west side of the des moines river.. then we went north and found an old time tavern that was about 12 miles north of old hiway 30.
the bar had to be an early iowa bar because it had hitching rings for horses. we used to go over there for a cool brew on saturday afternoons. i do not know if the place still exists or not . i have not followed that old trail for years.. i would like to know if it still exists.
if you enjoy morel mushrooms, the hills along the des moines river valley are a great place to hunt morel mushrooms on or about the last week of april or in the first week of may... boone has some interesting trees,plants,wild flowers, birds if you are interested in those things. there many interesting things around ames,too..
something to do in ames during winter chritmas vacation is get into the heat tunnels
underneath the campus. we did that one winter when we had to stay in ames for wrestling practice . the tunnels are a real maze. what else is there to do in ames over christmas. coach nichols would kick you off of the team if he caught you drinking..nichols was a great coach. wished he was still alive.
Is it this?
riverside loc: Boone, IA 50036 - Google Maps