Acting on a tip from my pal Mark, the minister in training, I found my way to Pella, a destination Mark highly recommended after taking his family on an Iowa-centered vacation. Coming into town at an oblique angle, I passed by a factory owned by Vermeer, a maker of heavy-duty industrial work vehicles. Its entryway featured several rows of colorful international flags, each, once again, set at half-mask in honor of the recently deceased Ronald Reagan.

Locating the town square, a tall monument came into view, the Tulip Toren, which is used to help celebrate the city's famous Tulip Festival in May. A couple of blocks down the street is the life-sized, 124-ft tall, grain-grinding Vermeer Windmill.

I gather from all of the subtle clues around town, that Pella is a predominantly Dutch community. There are windmills on the city street signs, yard-tall windmills on people's lawns and the tourist information booth is a windmill. Somewhere, they supposedly also sell wooden shoes.

But enough of the stereotypes. Mark said the big draw to Pella was the food, and Mark should know being the stove-minded fellow he is. According to him, and a number of Internet reviewers, Pella's restaurants have quite delicious fare, and they heap it on for good measure. I guess that I'm a bad boy, because I ate in Amana, so I'll just have to go back.