Touching down at Mason City Municipal Airport in Mason City keeps you central, with Clear Lake, Prairie School architecture, and the farm towns of north Iowa an easy drive away. Mason City is the real-life River City of The Music Man, the hometown of composer Meredith Willson, and it has made the most of that fame. It is also an unexpected architecture destination, with the largest collection of Prairie School homes in the country and the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel.

Standout experiences around Mason City: - Stay or take a tour at the Historic Park Inn Hotel, Frank Lloyd Wright's only surviving hotel - Walk the Rock Crest-Rock Glen neighborhood of Prairie School homes along Willow Creek - Visit Music Man Square and the Meredith Willson boyhood home - See the Bil Baird puppets and American art at the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum - Dance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, where Buddy Holly played his last show in 1959 - Try a Greek-style steak at Northwestern Steakhouse, a local institution since 1920 - Hike or ski the trails at Lime Creek Nature Center - Watch the North Iowa Band Festival parade over Memorial Day weekend

Mason City pairs naturally with Clear Lake, the lake-resort town 10 minutes west, where summer means boat rides, lakeside bars, and the Buddy Holly crash site memorial in a nearby cornfield. Charles City and its whitewater park on the Cedar River are 40 minutes east, Albert Lea, Minnesota, is about 45 minutes north, and Rochester is roughly 90 minutes. Order a breaded pork tenderloin and a slice of pie at a cafe, and come in winter for the Surf's Winter Dance Party. Mason City is small-town Iowa with a big stage presence.