We love this rest area and could likely write a book from our stops here over the years. Great…read moreplace to stop with the dogs on the way south or coming home heading northbound. The Northwood Rest Area, aka Top of Iowa Rest Area, is located just off I-35 at mile marker 214. It's just south of the Minnesota border and the exits off i-35 allow traffic from both north and south to stop here. It's a large rest area with lots of parking for cars and tractor-trailers. The rest celebrates Iowa's farming heritage and the main building looks like a big red barn. Clear Lake and Mason City are south of here. If you're a fan of The Music Man by Meredith Wilson, or Frank Lloyd Wright inspired architecture, Mason City would be a fun stop. Also in the area is Clear Lake where Buddy Holly played his last concert at the Surf Ballroom (still there) and flew out of the airport for his final flight. The crash site is walkable depending on weather. The area is ADA compliant and has rest room facilities. It also has phone, TDD, a weather monitor, vending, Wi-Fi, an RV dump station. This is the rest stop I pulled into when a tornado was hot on my tail. The storm shelter is in the men's bathroom. There is a welcome center that is staffed during business hours. They used to serve coffee and had amazing cookies, but Covid messed that up. The upper level also has a gift shop - we usually buy post cards if it's during business hours. This is a great place to stop. stretch your legs and take a quick break before heading back onto the interstate.

This was a convenient redt stop off the interstate. Lots of space to walk your pet or have kids…read moreburn up energy in a safe manner. Bathrooms are clean, and there are plenty of parking spots. Vending machines should be available, but I suggest going to Kum & Go, located several 100 yards away, and getting fresh food or snacks there.

Continuing east on I-90, this rest area is in central south Minnesota. There are two here, on…read moreopposite sides of the highway and since I know Yelp will simply merge them, I'll just add mine here. Simple enough with a sweeping entrance turn and parking spaces for about 40 cars and maybe 10 trucks, this is far enough back from the highway. I was here for about two hours, working on my laptop with decent coverage for my Google Fi hotspot. The rest area has the usual restrooms (clean), parking area, dog walking area and picnic tables. Minnesota is pretty flat here so it was easy to get back onto the highway to continue my journey. [Review 17160 overall - 75 in Minnesota - 677 of 2022.]

I didn't like the water. The bathroom was clean. There is an interesting sign outside about the…read morecompletion of I-90 and the jolly green giant in Blue Earth. They have a single bathroom for any gender or families. There is a nice walking path. It's very shady, and the parking area is shaded. The only drinks they have are sodas in plastic containers, and it's a small selection. There is also a machine with bagged snacks in it.

I almost got away but I'm a nice person lol!!! I came to this truck stop to just grab a few snacks…read moreso I went to the self pay since I was in a rush to hit the road. I never carry my wallet so I had my phone for Apple Pay but little did I know after ringing up everything the tap doesn't work on the self pay machines. I had to go to the associate who was unaware the tap pay wasn't working but a regular customer said that they haven't worked in a while. I would suggest putting a sign up because most people use tap to pay nowadays. I get to the register and my cashier didn't ring everything in the bag up I could've gotten away with $17 worth of items. I'm an honest person so I told him there was more in the bag. I would visit this store again but please fix the tap to pay on the self service registers.

Visiting this Love's was absolute best retail experience I ever had in my 67 years on Planet Earth…read more The employees were so AMAZING to me, my wife, and our friend. We are traveling from Minnesota to Texas for the holidays, and we will stop there on the way back..

This rest stop is located southbound on I-35, south of Owatonna. I used to stop here when I…read moretravelled from Minneapolis and took the long way to get to Rochester when I was a resident. The rest stop looks the same. There's a place for your pets to stretch. Kids can play at a small playground. It's nice. The building has vending machines. Sometimes, I'd get cookies. The women's washroom has been upgraded. The stalls are roomy. It's impeccably clean. It's a decent rest stop. You can also learn about Minnesota canneries and the importance of corn in this community. (6)

I am a truck driver and decided to stop here for a break. Black man sitting on bench was told I had…read moreto leave I was making people feel uncomfortable. One star because the restroom worked.

I never thought that I'd end up having a favourite rest stop in my life. I do now. It's this one in…read moreDows, IA. I was driving down to Des Moines from Bloomington. The trip would take roughly four hours by car. I was oddly feeling sleepy. I also needed a pit stop. The next rest stop was in Dows. Sold! This rest area is nicely curated. It had a lot of parking spots. There were picnic tables outside, with places to barbeque (or grill). You could walk around the place to stretch. If you have a furry pet, there was lots of grass for both you and your pet to stretch out. What made this rest stop tug at my heart strings occurred when I walked into the building. The theme inside was Pac-Man. OMG! It was as if someone made a rest stop with me in mind. There was a Pac-Man banner, complete with ghosts, above the vending machines. Even the garbage receptacle was Pac-Man-themed. Awesome! To whomever designed this rest stop, thank you! Long live the 80's and Pac-Man! The women's restroom was exceptionally clean. The stalls do cater to shorter women, though. When I stood in one, I could technically see other women walking into the washroom and wash their hands. It's rather odd being a voyeur without being able to avoid it. Dows Junction is across the street, so you can grab some food and gas your car up before leaving Dows. I don't know when I'll be back doing a run down to Des Moines again, but Dows was a pleasant surprise. This rest stop made my day. (441)

This rest stop is beautiful! There were plenty of covered picnic tables, some with bbqs. The…read morewomen's bathroom was extremely clean, no weird smells, plenty of stalls (14), and a diaper changing station. There is plenty of parking. The bonus for me is they had a nice pet exercise area. My pup was able to spread his wings and run around. I would definitely recommend staying here for a pit stop, or even sleep.

I think the main thing about this place is to have the right expectations. It looks like it was a…read morenice place about 30 years ago, but there is a lot of cosmetic stuff going on so that it makes me think more of a Red Roof. It was clean, relatively convenient to the highway, and the small pool looked appealing. However, the tv was small, the ceiling was... let's call it vintage, and there were stains on the wall from the old A/C. If you're just using it as a place to sleep for the night and you get a good deal (under $100), it's a perfectly good place to stop. Just don't expect above a 2 star hotel.

Clean rooms, nice warm pool and good service. Hotel is a little dated but that was fun too! The…read morechairs and other furniture is a bit worn otherwise I would have posted 5 . The two room king bed with a pull out couch was very comfortable. Can tell this was where the wealthy people stayed. We were just 50 years late.

Another in a great line of Minnesota rest areas. If you've traveled through other states you know…read moreMn is among the cleanest and best. To divert a little. Somewhere in the middle section of Missouri the rest areas take a filthier turn with people who don't look like road travelers hanging in the parking lot and staring. In the Jackson Mi area on an overnight drive there were men running into a wooded area. I decided to shave and entered the lobby as a man was standing there with three women as they all smiled and said hello. Ok, that'll be ok. Soon as I got to the sink and taking out my shaving things the man comes up to the sink next to me...."here we go", I thought. He says.."..say you see those mighty fine ladies with me.. I could let you have a party with any that you want". This stop has a playground, a place for the dogs, spotless restroom, even in late afternoon, a wall of vending machines and just a scenic respite area. PB4UGO.

When you've got to go, you've go to go, and especially if the next rest stop after this one is many…read moremiles way. I stopped in to the Heath Creek Rest Area yesterday on the way to the Twin Cities. This place has what you need: - Easy access from and back to I-35. - Clean Rest Rooms - Drinking Water and Vending Machines - Nice Park-Like Atmosphere with Picnic Tables and Pet Walking Space. I did have one interesting experience inside of my 10-15 minutes here. Another car pulled up and one of the passengers was just behind me on the walk to the facilities. All of a sudden, he started asking me what I thought of Biden and how he was a big Trump supporter. As this was no place or time for such a discussion, I waved him off (twice) by saying that I don't talk politics in public. This just goes to show you that you never know who you'll run into at a rest stop, and it's best to always be situationally aware.

I was driving from Bloomington, MN to Des Moines, IA. A full tank of gas would have got me to Des…read moreMoines fine. However, I had made a stop in Elma, IA to visit my friend at the cemetery. It meant that I needed a gas station before I hit my final destination. I did a search on my map app and found this BP gas station at Dows Junction. It was on my route. Perfect! After doing a pit stop across the street at Dows Rest Area, I headed over to Dows Junction. It has BP, a convenience store, Godfather's Pizza, and Arby's. I visited half the businesses here. BP was my first stop. I then hit Arby's because I needed fuel. I love the BP app. It's so easy to keep your points and credit cards stowed. You pull out your app and indicate that you want to pay for gas. The app locates the gas station where you are at, you enter your pump number, the app unlocks it, and you fuel away. The app is Canadian credit card-friendly. Many American-based apps can't handle postal codes when it comes to entering your credit card information with a billing address. This app does. There must be five or six pumps here. There were a handful of folks pumping gas when I got here. When I left, it was still doing steady business. The pump that I used worked well. This gas station was exceptionally clean and nicely maintained. The best part about using the app is that when you purchase a cumulative total of $100 worth of gas fill-ups, you unlock a five-cent-per-litre discount off all gas purchases for the rest of that month. Considering how crazy gas prices have been, it was a nice discount to take advantage of. I liked fuelling my car here that I came back the next day to fill my car up as I drove back to Bloomington. It's a decent gas station. I'd return here if I plan on doing another road trip to Des Moines. (442)

Many unhealthy snacks options here. Fuel dispenser worked well. Access is poorly marked. Men's…read morerestroom not the best, with leaking toilets. The women's was clean. The inside of the facility had a moldy stench.

It does have a great location: off of 169, by a bike trail, near Mankato Brewery. It wasn't…read moreexpensive ($130.10 including tax per night). It is in Mankato (we wanted to stay the weekend of the bicycling Mankato River Ramble-everything else was full). It does offer a breakfast nook including a waffle maker. However, there was an odor in our room which was not pleasant. They do allow pets-so maybe a cat that had sprayed in the corner by the door? Pure conjecture on my behalf...but our friends stayed in another room that did not have that smell. I wanted to leave a day early (the odor was not relaxing) but since we had booked through a 3rd party vendor (Orbitz) we couldn't get our money back for the last night.

THE FRONT DESK MAN IS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL AND VERY HARD TO UNDERSTAND. THE BAD REVIEWS YOU SEE ARE…read moreCOMPLETELY TRYE AS WE EXPERIENCED THE SAME ISSUES WITH HIM. My daughter and booked online and stayed here last weekend (2night) for her 16/18U Softball State Tournemnt, which is 4 hrs away . Another mother and daughter on our team had a reservation there made by her husband for 2 nights as well. I met her in the parking lot when they showed up. She went to check in and realized she didn't have the right card. He wanted her husband to sign a form sent by email (fine). He also wanted a Pic of the front and back of his credit card and ID. (Why the credit card). Her husband refused and did not want to send a pic of his credit card. She finally told him to just change the reservation and put it in her name instead and pay for it. He did. The next morning before we had to go she realized he only put her down for 1 night. I told put her stuff in my room and we will figure it out. We got back from the tournament around 930pm and have to check out by 730am to be back to the fields. So I told them to stay in our room. The mom went and requested 2 towels for my room as we never got new towels while being there. He requested to talk to me. I walked down there. He stated to berate me telling me Im sneaking people in (we all walked threw the front door past him when we got back) I told him no I was not. I expressed he messed up and only put her down for 1 night when our tournament is Fri to Sun. They originally had 2 nights. Which left them with nowhere to go. We have a 2 queen bed which occupies 4 people and together thats 4 people. This went on for 20 min. How I messed up and cant have people with us. We only reserved the room for 2 people. He pulled out his phone was showing me screenshots of me walking up on stairwell while the 2 teens and mom walked the other way. (I told the them one way was quicker and they didn't believe me.) He told me I was lieing, and sneaking them in, thats why we walked up 2 diff ways. I tried to explain and he kept saying I was lieing. He showed me other screenshots of other guests, falling in the pool area. From a month ago. Moral of all this. He berated me for 20 min. I apologized atleast 20 times, I repeatedly asked what he wants me to do. I also asked 2 times do you want us to leave. The 2nd time he said if you want to. I told him no. We hot, tired, need to shower and go to bed to check out at 730 to go to the girls state tournament. He had me in tears, He then finally gave me 2 towels. There were also 4 people sitting in the lobby at this time as well. 10 min later I had to go outside and passed him in the hallway, 10 min later I came back in, I seen him at someone's door 4 down from us, yelling at another guest. This man is unhinged, watches and takes pictures of people from his cameras. We have traveled for years for softball, never encountered anything like this and will NEVER EVER GO HERE AGAIN. I would rather stay in my truck. BEWARE. LISTEN TO THE BAD REVIEWS