Visit to Iowa

It took quite a few tries to get this deer to pose for me. I was amazed at how common and plentiful deer were in the area we visited. We were seeing groups of 4 or 5 in some places.

Dec 30 2007 -We later checked into a guest house in Fort Atkinson. This was the Best Guest House, and I heartily endorse them for travelers in this section of Iowa. Beautiful four bedroom house that could accommodate ten people. All the amenities and comforts of home.

On the 31st Ken and I went sight seeing and traveled down to Dubuque where he went to college at Loras. We went to Pike's Peak and crossed over the Mississippi into Wisconsin and then back again. There was a little too much up and down and round about for me and I started to get a little motion sick by the time we got to Dubuque, but I napped on the way back and was fine after that. We had dinner at Culver's and I had a raspberry frozen custard shake for dessert. That was really yummy. We went back to the guest house and sat around chatting for the remainder of the evening and we all turned in before midnight. I think it's the first time I haven't stayed awake to see the new year in since I can't remember when.

New Year's Day 2008 We had a heck of a time finding a place open to have breakfast at - everywhere was closed for the holiday. Finally we settled for McDonald's and by the time we ordered it was too late to order breakfast. After this Karen was headed home to Iowa City so we said our goodbyes to her.

Clemmie got the Bily Clock Museum to open up for us. Originally she'd hoped to get the Florida visitors to join us there, but they had other plans and it was just the three of us who got the tour. I've never seen such intricate wood carving right up close and personal. Really mind boggling stuff. Of course there's a town ordinance against taking photos, so I don't have any to share here - but here's a link to their site for more information http://www.bilyclocks.org/BilyClocks/index.html

On the evening of the 1st we went out to dinner at a bar/restaurant that was just a block away from the guest house. It had the word Blooming in its name, but I can't remember it. I wouldn't recommend it anyway. We were the only people eating there, and now I know why. The food was really lousy and the service was very lame and lacking in personality or enthusiasm.

Back at the house, Clemmie entertained us by sharing her photo albums of Ron's, Roger's, Randy's, and our weddings as well as her own wedding album. It was really nice to reminisce with her.

On Wednesday morning we checked out of the guest house and met Clemmie at Ruby's restaurant for one more breakfast before it was time to say goodbye. It was a great visit.

We then got on the road to Minneapolis, MN to brother Randy's house. That was about a four hour drive, but we found their condo without any trouble. After we'd arrived they took us to return our rental car to a local store to save the trouble of doing it at the airport the next day.  We went out to dinner in the evening with Randy and Dee a Texas Roundup.  I found the food to be very good there.

We spent the night at the Minnesota Kinkor's home  Randy took us to the airport in the a.m. We got all checked in and everything went smoothly out of Minneapolis to Chicago. At Chicago they were a little behind schedule and so we got into Boston a little later than expected. They misdirected us to our luggage and it took a while for us to figure that out, and then we froze our butts off waiting for the bus to Hyannis. The ride to Hyannis was fine, and then we got to our car at the bus depot in Hyannis and were so relieved that it started right up. We headed on home and were congratulating ourselves on how well things went, and counting down the miles until we were finally back home - then oops - flat tire... and so that's where I began this tale.