We are having the most unseasonably warm winter I can recall – which I know is ultimately not a good sign of our environmental health but it’s sure helping my mental health. So we’re off on a road trip, driving about an hour east to Grinnell College to see an exhibit by a guy who’s illustrating an “American Quran.” Afterwards, we’re driving about 45 minutes (I think) further east to Mount Vernon, a pretty little town that’s home to Cornell College and to one of our favorite restaurants in Iowa – the Lincoln Cafe. The cafe doesn’t take reservations – and it’s always busy on Saturday nights but one trick – which we’ll use – is to call at 5 p.m. and put our name on the waiting list. The nearby winebar is closed for renovations – apparently it’s being spruced up for, among other things, live music.
Tag Archives: mount vernon iowa
Mount Vernon, Ia. – one of 10 cool small towns
I didn’t know until I heard a plug on Iowa Public Radio this morning that the small northeast Iowa town of Mount Vernon was named one of then “cool small towns” by Budget Travel Magazine. Turns out this was back in 2009. But I’d have to agree. It’s the home of Cornell College and the wonderful restaurant the Lincoln Cafe and is smack in the middle of some bucolic farm country and about a half hour south is the booming artsy college town of Iowa City. One place I don’t know that was mentioned in the Mount Vernon blurb: Fuel, a coffee shop/antique store.
The 2009 cool town list also includes Jacksonville, Oregon, which my husband and I visited in 2010 during a visit to my sister-in-law’s house in nearby Medford, and Tubac, Arizona which we visited many times during visits to see my dad in Tucson. (In Tubac, the mag recommends the interior design story Pancho’s, Tubac Center of the Arts, and Tubac Country Inn. Good to know since I’m sure we’ll be back there.)
A place to stay in Mount Vernon Iowa
The pretty eastern Iowa college town of Mount Vernon (home to Cornell College) is one of our favorites – especially with its great restaurant the low-key but ambitious Lincoln Cafe and its offspring, the Lincoln Wine Bar. Now comes word in the DM Register of a place to stay overnight when we don’t feel like making the two-hour drive back to Des Moines after dinner or from Iowa City (where I daughter will be a student at U of Iowa next fall). It’s the Blythe Cottage Inn and the rates are tres reasonable – $60 to stay in one of the guest bedrooms or $75 for an entire guest cottage. http://www.pollyanns.com/blythecottageinn.html)
TakeBetsywithyou 