@powderfreakand all the other skiers in our NE group. I’m out in Dubuque, IA for a snowmobile conference. We had some free time this afternoon and went out to the Field of Dreams site. Not really my cup of tea. On the way back, as we were driving through a hilly (for Iowa) area, I spotted what looked like ski slopes in the distance. Everyone in the car thought I was crazy but sure enough we were soon at a place called Sundown. We pulled in to the lodge parking area, which was at the summit of the slopes, got out and started looking around. Pretty soon a guy came out and asked us if we needed anything. We told him we were there from VT and were surprised to see a ski area in Iowa. He invited us into the lodge for a beer with the summer maintenance crew and gave us the scoop on the area. He was the son of one of the founders. Sundown is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year and is still owned by the local families that built it. They have 77 acres and 475’ of vertical. The season usually lasts from Thanksgiving through mid-March. They have a junior ski program with 100 kids. It was great talking to him. He had us stick pins in the VT Mts that our group had skied. This was one of those small, unexpected things that make traveling to new places so fun.