“Is This Heaven?” Field of Dreams, Dyersville, Iowa

We leave Minneapolis and head to Iowa. Our first stop in Iowa is the Welcome Center. Since Iowa is filled with farms, the visitor center looks like a barn.

Again today we pass lots and lots of farms. With lots and lots of corn and soybeans.

We stop at a campground at a dragstrip near Dyersville, Iowa.


We have driven out of our way today so Jere can visit the location where the movie, Field of Dreams, was filmed. To the non-baseball fanatic (that would be me), it's a baseball field in the middle of some cornfields and no big deal. BUT to baseball fans who love baseball, the field seems to represent everything that is good about baseball. So we quickly set up camp and drive over to the Field of Dreams movie site.

There are about a dozen cars there with others visiting the Field of Dreams. It's free to come here to see the movie location, read the signs and play ball on the field.

The family that owns the farm has a souvenir stand where they sell souvenirs and use the profits to pay for the upkeep of the field. Interestingly, the family does not own the left field and part of the center field of the playing field. So a group of investors has purchased this part of the field and has set up a competing souvenir stand by the left field, calling it "Left and Center Field of Dreams". Very odd.

Anyway, we buy a few souvenirs, including a bumper sticker with one of my favorite lines from the movie, "Is this heaven?". Joe has started a bumper sticker collection over our kitchen table and sofa in the trailer.

We read the boards about making the movie and then get on with the serious business of going on the field. First we go check out the cornfield and take the requisite pictures of walking out of the cornfield (just like the 'ghost' baseball players do in the movie).

Then we take turns tossing the baseball to each other in the outfield.

We sit on the bleachers for awhile watching a group play baseball. We had hoped to have a little batting practice ourselves, but it gets late and the field closes to the public at 6pm. Jere and Joe go to the outfield for some batting practice, but Joe smacks the first ball almost to the cornfield and they concede there's not enough room for Joe to hit. They'll have batting practice in the field next to the dragstrip at the campground instead.