This Madders To Me: Midwest Travels

I recently made my annual trip to the midwest to visit my mom's side of the family. My relatives live in small town north-eastern Iowa. Their town is so far east that it's faster to fly to Minneapolis and drive, rather than flying into western Iowa. Traveling to the midwest always entails letting go of my inner city girl and embracing a lack of cell reception. However, it also means that I get to see my adorable Grandma, enjoy her cooking, and experience life at a slower, relaxing pace. First stop, Minneapolis.

Minneapolis:

My first mission after getting off the airplane was finding coffee. Caribou Coffee was the first place I came across. I generally gravitate towards small, local coffee shops, but when it comes to the big corporate coffee companies, Caribou Coffee has NOTHING on Starbucks. Yuck. Their coffee, at least from my experience, is way too sweet.

After throwing away the rest of my coffee and settling in the hotel, my family and I made our way to the Mall of America. If the name isn't straight forward enough, it's the largest mall in America. It also has an insane Nickelodeon theme park in the middle of it. Since I visit the Mall of America nearly every summer and it seems to be under constant renovation, I always enjoy discovering new stores and attractions.

My favorite new find this time around was a store called Typo. This store is Pinterest come to life, filled with cute stationary, prints, and all things colorful and crafty. To my later realization, Typo is an extension of the Australian company CottonOn. I hope more Typo stores come to the US soon, because it's both affordable, adorable and the perfect place to find gifts.

Art installation or hundreds of Legos?

En Route to Iowa:

After a little over 24 hours in Minneapolis, we began our 4ish hour road trip to Iowa. Our view the entire car ride looked like this: flat green fields against a cloudy blue sky. The Midwest has its own beauty, but nothing can beat PNW landscapes.

We usually stay with my grandparents, but this trip we mixed it up and decided to rent a nearby house. This HUGE late 19th century home was amazing. If you can somehow imagine the combined aesthetics of the American Horror Story season one Murder House, plus farm country charm, plus a Victorian feel...that's an accurate depiction of the place.

The house was filled with dolls, but this one had ORANGE EYES! Haunted: confirmed.

The room I stayed in had this funky, purple, antique lantern. I wanted to take it home with me. Ambient lighting makes my soul happy.

The house had an endless supply of quirky carpets. The carpet in every room was different, and I often found 2 or 3 mixed-matched rugs per room. Perfect photo-op.

County Fair Vibes:

One of our family adventures was going to the West Union fair. A cute local fair filled with farm animals, crafts, and lots of small town goodness.

The fair also featured a flower show which my Grandma entered flowers in - her violets won a blue ribbon!

Said award winning violets.

My Grandma also entered some petunias, but only her violets took a blue ribbon. Still beautiful.

Dahlias...forever my favorite flower.

Shopping and Exploring:

Another local favorite is visiting a town called Decorah, which is several miles away from my grandparent's house. From the areas of eastern Iowa I have explored, Decorah is about as artsy as it gets. In Decorah, I discovered a handmade candle shop, coffee much better than Caribou's, pretty architecture, murals, and more.

Milkhouse Candles. So so so lovely. All the candles are paraffin free, and handmade from soy/beeswax. They come in cute packaging and smell amazing. I got my boyfriend Jack, the perfect candle in the scent "Jack Frost." I should have purchased more!