Lens Artists Photo Challenge #260 – Overlooked

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For this challenge our guest host Janet from This, That and the Other Thing.has asked us to “share photos of something you normally overlook or something you think other people would overlook.”

It’s not the Destination, It’s the Journey

Ralph Waldo Emerson

During all our years of wandering Henry and I have traveled the back roads to discover places that many travelers overlook. When planning a road trip we try to find interesting and fun things to do in between our major destinations. We’ve discovered delightful small towns and during our camping days went miles out of our way to camp in a campground with a beautiful view.

In 2009 we made an RV trip that took us through Iowa. There were two places on our Bucket List in Iowa that I’m sure many travelers overlook. Both of the destinations had movie themes.

The first was the Field of Dreams Movie Site near Dyersville, Iowa where the movie with the same name was filmed. It was magical being there standing in the cornfield, walking around the bases, and imagining Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other ball players coming out of the cornfield to play baseball. I posted more about our visit here.

Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa
It was easy to imagine the players coming out of the corn to play ball

We were traveling in our RV and couldn’t find an RV park close to Dyersville. I searched all around the area before I found a Corps of Engineers park on the Mississippi River in Petosi, Wisconsin across the river from Iowa. We love camping close to bodies of water so it was perfect for us. If we hadn’t wanted to see the Field of Dreams we would have never discovered the Good Old Potosi Brewery or the Grotto we passed as we drove from the campground to the Field of Dreams.

Good Old Potosi Beer
Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin

Our second Iowa destination was the town of Winterset. Not only is Winterset the setting for the movie “Bridges of Madison County” but it is also the birthplace of John Wayne.

We didn’t have as much trouble finding a place to stay there. We stayed in our first ever city campground and we loved it. We set up the camper, put our payment in an envelope, and dropped the envelope in a drop box. The park was nice and the location was perfect for exploring the covered bridges and John Wayne’s birthplace.

Roseman Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
John Wayne’s birthplace in Winterset, Iowa

Flash forward to 2013 when we took our RV to Alaska from Georgia. We loved every place we went but our favorite place was Haines, a small waterfront town. The view from our campsite was spectacular, the people in Haines were friendly, the scenery and wildlife were amazing, and we loved the laid back atmosphere there. Where else can you visit the Hammer Museum and eat fresh Dungeness Crabs straight from the boat?

To reach Haines by road travelers drive south on the long, scenic Haines Highway from the Yukon Territory in Canada before entering Alaska. Most RV’ers we met had been to Skagway but overlooked Haines because of the driving distance between the two towns. We opted to take the one hour trip by Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines. I’ll be forever grateful to the guy from Anchorage who was camped next to us in Skagway and suggested we look into the Ferry. We were sad to leave Haines but enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we drove north on the Haines Highway to continue our Alaska adventure.

This is the view from our campground in Haines
We saw many Bald Eagles while in Haines. This one was at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Sometimes in our travels we like to go for scenic drives and if we see a gravel road that looks interesting, we’ll drive on the road just to see where it goes. We stumbled upon this view of the Crazy Horse Monument when we took a turn on a gravel road in Custer State Park in South Dakota

View of Crazy Horse Monument from the top of the Coolidge Overlook in Custer State Park

We’ve discovered many more overlooked destinations in our travels. There are many great places along the way if you can just take the time to look around.

Many thanks to guest host Janet of This, That and The Other Thing for the challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #260 – Overlooked

18 thoughts on “Lens Artists Photo Challenge #260 – Overlooked”

    1. M, thanks for your comments. Yes, we had a lot of adventures in our RV. Ours was a 35 foot fifth wheel which we towed with our truck. With a class B camper van you have a lot more places you could camp. These days we stay in Airbnbs and motels when we take a road trip. We also recently discovered cruising.

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    1. Thanks Judy! I could have added a lot more fun places but I had to stop somewhere! One of the things we love about out of the way places is asking a local to recommend a good local restaurant. We had some really good meals that way!

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  3. Thanks for getting in with an entry for the challenge. I loved the beer can and the grotto. I enjoyed reading about your adventures but my favorite scenes are the last three. I’d love to see Alaska some day and taking your RV there must have been quite an adventure. As we don’t RV, I think we’ll probably take the one and only cruise of our lives up the coast to Alaska. I’ve heard it’s a stunning cruise. I’ve been to South Dakota, that part and a number of other ones. Lots to see in that state. Thanks again for not overlooking the chance to participate in my challenge.

    janet

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    1. Janet, thank you so much for your comments and for this fun challenge. I hope you get a chance to take the Alaska cruise very soon. We took an Alaska cruise last summer and loved seeing it from the water and seeing some parts of Alaska we couldn’t by land.

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  4. We love taking the backroads too. You guys sure had some great adventures that resulted in wonderful photos and memories. Winterset is one place on my list for Iowa. Hopefully, we will get there one day. Have a wonderful week ahead.

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      1. I just read your Iowa post, and now I’m a little more gung-ho about visiting. There is a national park unit there that we want to visit too, but Winterset will probably always top our list. I thought your photos of the bridges were beautiful.

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  6. As we travel through this beautiful country, you know I love this so much! The grotto was a fantastic find. We move along wandering and enjoyed those backroads as you say. The eagle, the ferry ,the brewery, love it all. Thank you for this!!

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  7. Loved your post Beth – laughed at the Iowa adventure (after all how many people can say they had a great visit to Iowa LOL. My brother and family lived there for a while and we visited but never did any touring. Who knew Bridges of Madison County was filmed there?! also loved the Alaska images, one of our favorite trips (but out of season for eagles!).

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    1. Tina, many thanks! The story of the Bridges Of Madison County took place there and one of the bridges we visited was part of the story. So sorry you missed the eagles in Alaska. We were lucky to see many Eagles during that trip.

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