Amana Colonies — Attraction in Fairfax

This was a great themed mall. I loved the leather handbags from India! So exotic! And stop into the Chocolate Haus and get an iced chai tea made with flavored Costco drink powder for only $5 for what would have been a whopping 0.05¢ scoop of sugar. But it was made right there in the store like Starbucks! So fancy! And I have to mention the extensive count of antique shops--seriously! Where did all these precious pieces of history?

The best part was trying to figure out where all of these old-fashioned gems were made. Were they made in the shops? Were they made in the colonies? Were they even made in Iowa? Most things were imported from high-end countries like China and India.

Even the food for sale was hard to trace. The colonies must be generous too because it seems as though they rent out space for vendors to sell their good like the local and actually brilliant, award-winning fruit wines people and Thailand. So accommodating!

This was certainly my number one pick to stop at with a corn field as a close second.

This was a great themed mall but if they would add in a few amusement park rides, this could be a better theme park than Disneyland--and only a little bit more experience and slightly more disappointing.

In all seriousness, the wine was incredible and so sweet and well crafted. I did buy 3 bottles and the edelweiss was daring and delicious. Otherwise, this is really just a tourist trap. It's a fine place to get out and walk around though and get some free samples. Just don't get your hopes up for authenticity.

And I did get to hold a pig. That was...

Been waiting to go for quite a while and had high expectations. First found out there is hardly any parking for a large RV. So we had to walk a lot to try to see everything. Found most the items are not made by local people , but by Taiwan and China. Bought some wine what was overpriced and I have not sample the bottles I brought home. Bought some chocolate that was good but was way over priced. The bakery did not have any German bread, it was breads and pastries you can buy at any good pastry shop. We ate ate the OX ** my husband had the meatloaf witch was good, I had the sauerbraten I can make better sauerbraten, the potatoes dumpling were hard, my desert of chocolate cake, Betty Crocker box cakes are better. Have to give credit to the waitress, she was efficient and friendly. The people at the front desk were not. The worst part of the eating was they made you sit and wait for 30 minutes without adequate seating, while their were empty tables in the dining room. I guess you can say a bad experience, and we will not be back, save your money there is nothing authentic...

We have been planning a trip here for some time now. We spent 3 days in the colonies. 2 days would have been enough time to see all the sites and eat at every restaurant and shop at every store. Nice place but none of the shops opens till around 10am. Restaurants opened around 7am or 8am. All the shops and museums close about 5pm. Some of the people that operated the shops were not very friendly. For a place that is based mostly on tourism they are not friendly. We would have spent more money and time in the shops if we felt welcome. Overall we had fun but not planning a trip back. We were told by others Amana was just for tourist and it was expensive. We should have listened and taken a trip more friendly and welcoming. For a day trip Amana is ok. Of the 5 wineries in town 2 of them were nice friendly staff. The others seem like we were wasting their time. Some of the shop keeper the same. Some were nice others just seemed like they could careless if we were there. One place to go hands down was the bakery in Amana. That place...