Bloganuary writing prompt

Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.

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Since I was in the peewee baseball league as a child, I’ve always love baseball. Although my talent wasn’t the greatest, my attitude was right up there with the likes of Nolan Ryan and Rod Carew (my favorite player way back then)!

In the late 80’s, I did take in the Kevin Costner-led film “Field of Dreams”, a baseball film set in Dyersville, Iowa (my home state). In the movie, Kevin Costner’s character builds a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends.

With the filmmakers planting the cornfield (and waiting for it to grow) and constructing the baseball diamond you see in the film in Dyersville, it was only a matter of time before enterprising landowners turned the site into a tourist attraction in northeastern Iowa, open from sunrise to sunset all year-round.

Complete with youth tournaments, ghost Saturdays shows, home rentals and tours, as well as the occasional big-league event game, the Field of Dreams has been a popular site for tourists since it opened 35 years ago.

Yet, it is one place in Iowa I haven’t visited yet. Perhaps it’s the distance or that we normally don’t get up to that neck of the Iowa countryside. I’m not sure, but after researching today’s post and contemplating a place I’d love to go, I’ll be adding this to our vacation short list.

With so much fun and nostalgia to offer, I still occasionally hear people have conversations that end with a question…and an answer:

Q: Is This Heaven?

Shoeless Joe Jackson

A: No, It’s Iowa.

Ray Kinsella

That it certainly is.