Planning a road trip with the hubby is always fun. I must check every bridge to make sure it isn't too high. I have to check freeway interchanges to make sure they flyover ramps aren't too high. I have to make sure there aren't any crazy switchback through the mountains. Sometimes I miss something or Googlemaps hasn't caught up to the construction yet. The latter is how we discovered the hubby doesn't like the flyover ramp going from I-80 East to 380 North and we now needed to avoid that interchange. I realized by going to the Amana Colonies, we can afford the interchange and it adds 5-10 minutes to drive. That's how I convinced the hubby to go to the Amana Colonies on our way home this year.
The Amana Colonies were German communal villages that started in the mid 1850s. Everything was shared among villagers. Life continued this way until the Great Depression. Today they welcome visitors into their community and their stores to learn about the past and enjoy their stores and restaurants.
Knowing we only had a little time to explore, I wanted to go to the Chocolate Haus and maybe the general store both were in Amana. The hubby initially wasn't too thrilled about going but once we got there, he definitely showed some more interest. We ended stopping at several places in Amana. All the buildings are German style buildings. There are parking lots by some of the buildings otherwise public parking down various streets.
Chocolate Haus -- The chocolate store. We had samples of homemade caramels which were very good. They had many good treats that it was hard to decide what to get. I played it safe and got a truffle. The hubby got a truffle and a bag of caramels. There was fudge, truffles, chocolate covered cherries, peanut butter cups just to name a few.
Bakery and Coffee Cafe -- I am a sucker for a good bakery. Their baked goods looked amazing but the hubby was being cheap and refused to pay $5 for a single treat. Little does he know that most cafes that is about the going rate. A whole pie was like $15. The cookies were reasonable but nothing special. I felt bad for leaving without buying anything.
Amana General Store -- This is your typical general store. It has a wide variety of items including local made food products and a whole wall of cookie cutters. There was even an entire Christmas store on the one side of the building. There was plenty I wanted to buy but wasn't sure what I would actually like. The hubby was far less impressed than I was with the general store. Apparently he needed to go on vacation with mom and dad as a kid and experience the general stores of the south to truly appreciate a good general store.
Amazing Grace Antiques and Gifts -- Antique stores are big in the Amana Colonies. Neither the hubby nor I are big antique shoppers but we wandered in this one just to see what they had. They also were a soap store and you could buy many scented bars of soap. The smell was not overwhelming which was surprising.
Village Winery -- I really wanted to hit a winery in the Amana Colonies as there are several fruit wineries. I figured the hubby really wasn't into wine tasting but he was like we are here so we might as well stop. Nothing like a little wine tasting at 11 AM. I sampled about 6 different flavors of their fruit wine. The cranberry was a surprising favorite. I even tried dandelion wine which was also good. The apple was sweet but that might have been because it wasn't chilled. A good apple wine is hard to find. Basil has ruined any other blackberry wine but his. The rhubarb wasn't bad. I did come home with 3 small bottles of wine.
Amana Meat Shop and Smokehouse -- The hubby wanted to stop here. I am glad we did. We picked up some summer sausage and ring bologna. They even had knockwurst but $16 it was staying in the colonies. Everything looked good though.
We had a good, short visit to the Amana Colonies. The hubby says he wants to visit all seven villages. Since it's only about 4.5 hours from us (still closer than going to the Apostle Islands), it is easy to get to. I'm sure we will be back and explore more of the shops. Personally I think March was a perfect time to visit. It wasn't too crowded, parking was easy, and there was plenty of things to do. If you have never been, check them out when passing through Central Iowa.
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