Creating Fun - An American Gothic Vacation

We working entrepreneurs need to remember to take some time off and do something fun. You don't even have to go far to find fun. It can be something close by that you never had time to explore.

Recently, my mother-in-law came to visit for 5 days and I wanted to make it memorable for both her and my husband. At 89, she is starting to slow down a bit, but it is still challenging to come up with activities to entertain a woman who went ski-diving on her 86th birthday, and zip-lining on her 89th.

But I did find things to do and we had a good time. The highlight of the trip for all of us was visiting the little town of Eldon, which was about 10 miles away. This town (population 1000) is on the map because it has the carpenter-style house in the famous Grant Wood painting, "American Gothic."

When I took my own mother there 10 years ago, it was hard to even find the house. Now, since the town bought the house, there are markers showing the way, and a museum built on the site and a large parking lot. The museum has the only authorized life-size reproduction of the painting and a display room of all kinds of memorabilia related to the painting, such as famous people imitating the painting and advertisements using elements from the painting, and other parodies.

They also have 2 movies about the painting, one for adults, and one for children. Some of the things I learned from the movie are:
1) The models never met until years later. They were Wood's sister and dentist.
2) Wood searched for a long time before he found the exact house he wanted to use in the painting
3) Grant Wood was from Iowa
4) That the couple are supposed to be father and daughter, not man and wife

The best part is that volunteers have made costumes in all sizes that you can put on and have your picture taken. They even have all the accessories including the pitchfork, wire-rim glasses, and cameo. I knew about this because the head of our local library did this for her engagement picture in the local paper, which caused quite a stir. But I thought she had brought her own costume and pitchfork!

My wonderful mother-in-law, who is game for just about anything, dutifully dressed up in the costume and was photographed alongside her son, creating a memory for us, and a hoot for the rest of the family.

And of course they had a small gift shop with prints, postcards, books, T-shirts, and other memorabilia. For a real touch of Iowa, the lady who rents the house sells pies to the visitors from a stand next to the house. She let us look inside the house only because I told here that my 89-year-old mother-in-law, who went ski-diving on her 86th birthday, wanted to see it. (When you have clout, why not use it?) And we bought a piece of pie! (theworldneedsmorepie.com)

Rural Iowa is not the first place you may think of for tourist attractions, and yet here was a really good one very close by. It's amazing what you can find nearby when you really look around. I encourage you to look around locally for interesting "hole in the walls" that you can visit and create a memorable experience for your family.