A Road Well Traveled...Part Four

A Treat.......

It was definitely time for a break.

We had been driving about eight hours by now....I know....we should have been there by now, but we were having fun.....well, I was having fun.  I hope my hostages were too....

We pulled into La Mars, Iowa.

Home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream!!

I think Stella was the most excited.....

We really did eat dinner before we had.......dessert!

And Stella was soooo excited.......

She has a major thing about staircases....

...and this was a staircase!

And yes....

We finally made it to.....

It only took us......

....thirteen hours....

....13.

I am so glad we stopped at the state line....

...we had to read instructions to enter the state.

We were worried there might be a test later...

A Road Well Traveled....Part Three

We started off to the north and turned west onto Highway 18 on our way to our next adventure.

We found a few surprises on the way though.....

We drove through Spencer, Iowa and our resident librarian, Louise, drew our attention to Spencer as the home of Dewey the Library Cat.  Of course, we couldn't go see Dewey, because he passed in 2006, but you can read about him here.

We were also distracted by a shocking fashion trend....but fashion will be the topic of another blog day, on another blog channel......



We set off for Sheldon, Iowa to find Elephant Bones!  Unfortunately, the museum is only open on Thursdays....Thursdays!  But Stella still got her picture on the steps, knowing the bones were right behind the door.



I believe we had a sighting of Santa Claus in Sheldon also.  He was wearing a green cloak, standing outside a catholic church.  Louise was VERY excited.  I think she had her list ready to go!!



As we were leaving Sheldon, we drove by an interesting building and realized it was a church!

 It has to be a small mission church in our flavor in Lutheranism.
We decided to stop and check it out...

When we approached the door, we noticed a small typed note that said the congregation was in vacancy.  Louise instantly posted on Facebook to see if anyone could be interested in a small church in northwest Iowa.....

....you will be thrilled to know, Louise and Stella, that Our Savior has a new pastor called fresh from Seminary in Saint Louis!  The new name on the sign will read Pastor Timothy Oetting!  (I think your Facebook posting worked Louise !)


From Sheldon, we continued westard following a very distracted driver.  We thought perhaps it was a teenage girl talking on a cell phone and playing with her hair.  All the windows were down and she kept pulling hair up and around while it was blowing about the car.  My speedometer was getting very frustrated.....my VW Jurgen wanted to at least go the speed limit, for goodness sake!

We were finally able to pass and found the driver to be of the dread-lock variety....and he must have just been talking to himself!  It was quite strange, but up and away, we were around him and on our way again......until.....

...we found one of those Roadside Markers.  You know those green signs along the road to alert you that there is a very small plaque someplace that you might be able to read?  It is like old fashioned geocaching! We stopped and I tried to see what was printed on the sign, but it was in very tall grass and it was very small print....I think it said something about James T. Kirk?   And maybe Robin Hood...
                                                                                                                                                      

Unfortunately, in my search for history, dread-locks dude overtook us again...ugh!

After  all this excitement, I think we need a treat!

I can't wait to tell you about our next stop...

.....tomorrow!

Road Well Traveled...Part Two

We got rid of the Man Child and grabbed a bite to eat in a little town called Hubbard.  My parents live there, and were kind enough to feed us yummy tenderloins that are about twelve inches in diameter (served with a tiny three inch bun).

We jumped back on the road and set off to the west across US Highway 20.

At this point, you are probably thinking we are making pretty good time on our overall journey.  We were doing fine....until we got to Fort Dodge and turned north to find our next site.

West Bend, Iowa is home to the Grotto of the Redemption.  Stella had never heard of a grotto before.  I think she was a little excited to see what was in our path.  Louise and I tried to describe how rocks and gems are put together to form the walls, bridges and designs, but we were surprised to see how many stones, shells and crystals were used to for the Grotto of the Redemption.

This is typical of the crystals throughout the grotto

When you see all of these stones and different textures surrounding you....

of course you want to......

 TOUCH IT!

and then we see the sign.....

oops.

It really was like kids in a candy shop.  

All those times taking field trips, 

           yelling at the kids to not touch....... 

                      stay where you are supposed to...... 

                                                  and, for heaven's sake,

IF THOU WILT ENTER,

BEHAVE YOURSELVES!

In our defense, it was about 104 degrees and it was SWELTERING.

The flies were sticking to everything....

Stella even had to help Joe out.

He looked so uncomfortable with 

that huge black fly stuck to his head.

The reality of this roadside adventure?

The Grotto of the Redemption was quite amazing.

The amount of work to assemble this....

The Angel Gabriel

Second Station of the Cross

Detail of mosaic at the Second Station of the Cross

 The mosaic work was beautiful.  The Art Teacher in me came out!

A dome inside one of the chapels

Stained glass imported from Belgium

The cake topper

Definitively worth the trip!

A Road Well Traveled ...Part One

I loaded up the car on Friday morning with my friends Louise and Stella....you guessed it....I got to be Thelma!  

We set off for Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a WEDDING of a former co-worker.  We left at 8 AM for our adventure.  We didn't have to be in Sioux Falls until Saturday afternoon, so we decided to take a "sort of" vacation.  

Now.....you might be asking what a "sort of" vacation is?  Louise and I have been on many vacations over the years with our families.  I am sure you know how it goes.  You leave and then arrive at the location.  Along the way, you may see a sign that says "World's Largest Ball of Twine is 5 miles to the right".......but nope.....we are on a schedule and if we start taking detours our entire schedule will be thrown off.

So we started the zig zag across Iowa......I should mention here that a typical drive from our town to Sioux Falls should take the normal traveler approximately 7....that is seven.....hours.  

I will make the final reveal of how many hours our journey took us at the end of this mini series.  

Our first stop on our trip took us to a small town north of Cedar Rapids, along Interstate 380, called Brandon.  Brandon is the home of "Iowa's Largest Frying Pan".

Stella, Thelma and Louise

This was the only part of the adventure that we had a guest photographer with us....the Man Child.

yes...the pan was hot.

He was being his typical smarty self and continued to take photos of us as we tried to get out of the pan......

......that is quite a step down....

I think you can see in this picture that Louise is suspicious of what the Man Child is up to.

Louise gets down very gracefully with a little help from her friends.

And then we are shown how it is supposed to be done....

Great job Stella!

I am sure you can guess the pun coming now......

We got out of the frying pan and.....

the Man Child was thrown into the fire!

Summer Employment Opportunity

Goose Herder

Required tools – your thigh and a fly swatter 

                        comfortable walking shoes.

Need to be able to leap playground equipment to rally strays

Yep…you “herd” me!  Each morning of vacation we watched the goose herder walk through the yard of our chalet, herding the darling dears out of the yard and park area to the road.  He walked quietly, occasionally slapping his thigh with his swatter to keep the attention of the unpaid guests.  The geese would break ranks around the playground equipment, trying to go their own way for a moment, until the herder would leap over or dash through equipment to rally them back together.  As soon as the trespassers hit the pavement, the feet would begin to beat the asphalt, the wings would expand, and the geese would lift off in search of the next free night at the next vacation spot.

The questions began in my head though……

Is this a seasonal job?

Can you list this on your resume?

Or perhaps………the whole reason geese fly north in the summer and fly south in the winter is because the goose herder guides them to warmer and cooler weather, not for the benefit of the goose, but for his own personal comfort.  Job security.  Nice temperatures.  Year round….you know….a snow bird.

In other words…..the resume should read….

Nomadic Goose Herder

Tickets Available!

Well.....there will be a fence.....

around the POOL!

Oh. Dear. God.

The heart palpitations have begun.  I have absolute panic running through every vein in my body.  I can only imagine what games the kids are going to invent.

There is confirmation this afternoon that there
       will
            be
               a
                 diving
                       board.







Sorry.   My heart just stopped for a brief second.....

I am picturing some form of synchronized swimming while one of the kids shoots arrows at them from the diving board.  Can the kids duck under the water fast enough before the tether-ball is swung over there heads?  Will they keep the trampoline set up so the darlings can jump from the trampoline into the pool.  Can you picture triple flips in the air and a glorious belly flop as
they, hopefully, land in the water.

How high will the fence be?  Somehow I doubt if it will shield us from the full horror that is about to unfold.  We have balcony seating.

So if you enjoy the X-Games....come on over!
I am confident that it will be nail biting show.

Tickets will be available Mid-July.



And there will be a hose available if you pee your pants........

Does Anyone Have a Line on a Line?

My clothes line broke.

I have had an umbrella clothesline.  It was great.  It was compact.

I can't find one to replace it.

I went to the big box hardware store first....actually thought it would be one stop shopping, go home and hang out my clothes. This is what they had.


I don't quite understand how to hang laundry on this.  Who has anything, other than socks, for the little 10 inch line next to the pole.....
.....I would have to hang sheets around corners, or fold them on the line, to get them to fit onto this clothesline.

I then went to our local, hometown hardware store.  It is new. Just opened.  Unfortunately, the new owner has hired kids....no experience at all.  I walked in and was mumbled at.  I think he asked if he could help me find something.  "I am looking for an umbrella clothesline."  He responds, "I have umbrellas and I have clothesline," with a very puzzled look on his face.  I tried to paint a mental picture for this boy.  His response?  "Why don't you just buy a dryer?"

Yep....that was his response.
Don't think I will be shopping there again.

On to the internet......

I did find an impressive clothesline online in this style that has me intrigued, almost giddy.....

Best Drying Rack can be found at this link.  I give you the link because there is a copyright on all the pictures.  I am impressed because it is an American company!!  AND....This clothesline is huge!  If you click on the link, you will see how much can be hung in a very small space.  My only issue is.....I would also have to order one of these....

Do you see the height of the top line?  And who do they choose to model in the picture?  Someone my height!!!  How the heck did she get those sheets on the top line?


I am still searching........