We stopped off at Albia, IA because I had been there before and was impressed with the town square.
The town square however, was not always this nice looking.
Apparently some years ago a journalist was traveling through the town and wrote an article severely criticizing the shabby appearance of downtown.
The article got wide enough circulation that the local government took notice.
Today, Albia is worth a stop if only for lunch at a genuine soda fountain, located on the north side of the square. That wouldn't be for the lunch itself though.....that truly sucked.
We both ordered patty melts and the patty melts came as a 3-4" piece of hamburger with some questionable looking yellow-white cheese on it, wrapped in a bun that looked more like a cheap breakfast roll than anything else. This was topped off with one pickle spear and a bag of fries.
And while we were marveling at this work of Midwest hospitality, locals came in to pick up lunch to go, and all were offered fresh home-baked cookies.
We were offered nothing, other than an inflated bill for a questionable product. Needless to say, my tip reflected the experience.
Nice looking town square but other than that, try Muscatine instead.
