August Ag-venture in Iowa

  CENTRAL & EASTERN IOWA - 3 days

Day 1: Des Moines

Tour Time - 8.5 hours

• Arrive at the country's most famous state fair - Iowa State Fair, listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Greeters will board the coach to give you the day's highlights, answer questions and provide daily programs and coupon books to all guests. From here, endless fun awaits. Learn about the animal birthing process, witness a live birth, or hold a newborn piglet in the Animal Learning Center. Next, visit the Agriculture Building, home to Iowa's finest agricultural commodities, an apiary exhibit and the World-Famous Butter Cow - an Iowa State Fair tradition that began in 1911. As you head south on Rock Island Avenue, you can't miss the Livestock Pavilion on your left. Take a seat inside and witness the finest livestock the Fair has to offer from one of the world's largest livestock shows.
• Break for lunch - Taste delicious Fair food classics, including foot-long corndogs, elephant ears and blooming onions. Don't leave without sampling something unique on-a-stick! Remember to use your coupon books for extra savings.
• Save room for dessert and head to the Dairy Parlor, seated on the north side of the Cattle Barn. Here you can watch the process of fresh cow's milk ultimately becoming fresh ice cream. This ice cream is rumored to be some of the best on the Fairgrounds. Continue to the Cattle Barn to see the Super Bull, often weighing in at over 2,000 lbs. Next door you'll find the Swine Barn. Step inside and experience one of Iowa's most important products. In the northwest corner of the building, you will find the Avenue of Breeds, where there are many different breeds of ducks, chickens, horses, cattle and fish on display. Make your way across the street to finish out your barns tour in the Sheep Barn, home to over 1,000 bleating examples of the country's finest sheep.
• Shop and browse more than 500 booths, displays and exhibits, explore, take in a show at one of the Fair's five free stages and eat some famous fair foods before returning to your coach.
• Depart the Iowa State Fair. Check into hotel and rest up for another exciting day.

Day 2: Des Moines - Story City - Waterloo

Tour Time - 9 hours

• Living History Farms is a one-of-a-kind self-guided tour through 300 years of agricultural history. Discover America's agricultural heritage as you walk through three working farms - each with authentic crops and livestock. Next, stop by the 1875 town of Walnut Hill. Join in the excitement of a bustling Iowa town with 14 shops and business including a general store, blacksmith shop, print shop, drug store, implement warehouse and two Victorian homes, including the Flynn Country Home, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Historical interpreters work at each of the farms, homes and shops are ready to show you the what, whens, hows and whys of everyday life in the past.
• Des Moines to Story City.
  Drive Time - 60 minutes - 55 miles.
• Enjoy a sumptuous mid-day meal in Story City at a beautiful home built in the 1880's. The award-winning Chef will create unique menu selections sure to please you and your guests.
• Visit a working furniture museum. This museum and workshop builds superior-quality utilitarian furniture with only the tools, techniques, and finishes of the 1800's. On display is one of the Midwest's largest assortments of 19th-century woodworking tools, including an 1860's foot-powered lathe. Tour the shop, learn the history of woodworking, watch a demonstration and take part in the woodworking process.
• Take a spin on Story City's antique carousel. Whirling to the merry calliope tunes, enjoy this restored merry-go-round and be transported back in time during the leisurely ride. The splendid wooden figures are hand-carved from poplar and include 20 horses, two chickens, two pigs, two dogs, two chariots, and a whirling tub. Calliope tunes are generated by a 1936 Wurlitzer Military Band organ housed in the center of the carousel.
• Story City to Waterloo.
  Drive Time - 56 minutes - 51 miles.
• Arrive at your Waterloo hotel for dinner. Visit with the Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau and Silos & Smokestacks for planning assistance for several fun agriculture related activities.

Day 3: Fredericksburg - Waterloo

Tour Time - 9 hours

• Waterloo to Fredericksburg.
  Drive Time - 51 minutes - 34 miles.
• Start your day on a farm in the Fredricksburg area with chores at a working local farm, but first, fill up with a full-course farmer's breakfast in the farm's gathering room. After breakfast experience farm life by milking cows, feeding baby calves, gathering eggs or just enjoying this slice of heaven by walking on the adjoining five-mile nature trail. The Farm House, built in the late 1890's with the architectural styling of the late Victorian period is home to a vineyard and you'll also see dairy cattle, goats, chickens, peacocks, llamas and donkeys.
• Explore at a buffalo ranch south of Fredericksburg. Participate in a Native American blessing ceremony before boarding the wagons for a ride out into the buffalo herd where you'll actually feed these giant shaggy beasts ears of corn right out of your hand. Enjoy a catered lunch including the surprisingly tasty bison meat. On the way out you can look over the "artifact" room and take along some buffalo jerky if you're game enough!

• Fredericksburg to Waterloo.
  Drive Time - 48 minutes - 34 miles.
• Arrive at a tractor assembly plant in Waterloo. Hop aboard a tram piloted by a former employee as you follow the building of the "Green and Gold" tractors famous the world over. Amazing technology is the watchword here as you learn how it all fits together.
• End our tour with everyone favorite dessert, ice cream! Tour a family own dairy near Hudson. This family run operation includes Jay & Jeanne Hansen's own on-farm bottling and ice cream plant. Sample the fresh milk and get some exercise as you make your own batch of ice cream and eat the results. Also see their cute wallabies. Yes, wallabies in Iowa!

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