If you like spending your vacations away from crowds or exploring beautiful, perfect natural landscapes, Iowa might be just what you re looking for. Author Lauren Rice traveled throughout her home state to find the best it has to offer. Everywhere she went she learned something new a fascinating bit of local history, a little restaurant serving great homemade food, some terrific tucked-away place to visit and there are countless other treasures just waiting to be discovered As with all Explorer s Guides, handy icons point out places of extra value, kid-friendly sites and activities, and...

South Dakota offers travelers some wonderful destinations to explore, among them the Black Hills, the Badlands, and Mount Rushmore, but there's so much more to the state than merely those famous sites. South Dakota is a diverse landscape of plains, rivers, buttes, and mountains. It is gold and brown and green, and the bright blue sky goes on forever. There's abundant wildlife, including mule and whitetail deer, antelope, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions. South Dakota is a natural wonder. It's also an outdoor recreation paradise: Mountain bikers are in...