Which Are Iowa and Minnesota’s Best Weekend Road Trips?
Recently we told you about South Dakota's lone entry on a new list of the Top 100 Weekend Road Trips - the 180-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 81 from Yankton to Watertown.
But which scenic drives from Iowa and Minnesota were deemed worthy enough to make the list?
Gunther Motor Company picked a pair from each state.
Iowa's top drive actually cracked the Top 25.
At number 21 overall it's the 386-mile jaunt from Sioux City to Burlington. Now granted, you could make a large portion of this trip on I-29 and I-80 and save yourself 21 miles and nearly an hour, but they recommend taking U.S. Highways 75 and 34 for maximum impact. You'll get plenty of windshield time using this route, which clocks in at just under seven hours.
Iowa's next entry on the list is a bit of a head-scratcher.
They have you going from Council Bluffs to Dubuque, which would take five hours to cover the 322 miles if you stick to interstates and the main highways.
That's not the way they want you to go.
Instead, the route chosen is U.S. Highway 20, which would require a detour to Sioux City and add an hour and 70 miles to your trip.
Minnesota's two road trips make a lot more sense.
At number 74 it's the trip from Minneapolis to Grand Marais. Sticking to I-35 for the majority of the trip would take four hours and 20 minutes to cover the 268 miles. Their choice for U.S. Highway 61 only adds 30 minutes to the trip since it pretty much parallels the interstate.
Minnesota's other trip, at number 79, is the roughly 300-mile journey from Rochester to Bemidji. They're actually on to something here. By taking their preferred route of U.S. Highways 52 and 10, you actually save a couple of miles and about seven minutes by staying off of the interstates.