Tag: iowa

California, the Covered Bridges of Madison County, and a little John Wayne

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Aaron and I spent four hectic weeks in California; this is just about the only picture I took. We started at Logger Campground north of Lake Tahoe. Aaron was needed for work in Jacksonville, Florida, so he flew out of Reno, and Murphy and I held down the camper while he was gone. I was only an hour north of Lake Tahoe, where Aaron’s cousin Ethan and his wife, Lara, live. Ethan was out of the country for his job, so Lara and I decided to spend a day together. It was just us girls and the dogs. I had a great visit with Lara, and Murphy and her dog, Tango, had a great time playing together.

Aaron returned from Florida just in time to move to our next campground, Anthony Chabot Regional Park, outside of Silicon Valley. He had planned on working at the office there in Fremont for a couple of weeks, but things came up with his job, and he ended up flying to Atlanta. Once again, Murphy and I hung out, took care of the camper, and even made a few new friends. This was about the time the aurora borealis was visible just about everywhere, so I tried to get a picture of it, only to realize that we were too close to San Francisco to get a dark enough sky.

Aaron made it back in time to move the camper to Coyote Lake County Park and take me to the airport. I needed to get to Iowa to take my dad to an unexpected doctor’s appointment. Aaron still needed to go to work at the office in Fremont, so Murphy got to go to a dog sitter and play with other pups. He really enjoyed himself.

I had planned a week in Iowa to spend time with my mom, my brother, and his family. Mom and I decided it would be a great time to go see the Bridges of Madison County. The bridges are historical and famous due to the book Bridges of Madison County, written by Robert James Waller, and the movie based on that book starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

At the height of covered bridges in Iowa, there were an estimated 100 just in Madison County. Most were destroyed due to fire, collisions, flooding, and demolition. We were able to visit five bridges and the really cool town of Winterset, which held a few surprises for us.

Our first stop was the Imes Bridge in St. Charles, Iowa. We were confused by the yellow canisters hanging inside of the bridge until we figured out that they were sprinkler systems in case of fire.

The next bridge we visited, Holliwell, was Clint Eastwood’s favorite and was used in the movie. It is located in Winterset, Iowa. It is also where I was able to catch my favorite picture of the day. A couple was walking the bridge, and I got them silhouetted in the bridge. It hit all the romantic feelings from the book and the movie.

This is also the first bridge we noticed security cameras and bird nests.

The third bridge we drove to was in the middle of the town of Winterset, in a fantastic park! This is the Cutler-Donahue Bridge.

Winterset City Park had more to offer than just the bridge. As we drove through the park, we saw beautiful wood sculptures. I could only get a photo of one of them, as I was driving most of our time in the park.

While driving around the park, I saw a sign that just said “tower” with an arrow pointing the direction. So, Mom and I decided we needed to see this tower. We followed the sign to a one-way road that wound up a steep hill. We finally made it to the tower, and it was awesome!

The views from the top of the tower were great. Sadly, the trees were not in their full fall color. One more week and the pictures would have been filled with yellow, orange, and red leaves.

As we were driving through Winterset, we saw a sign outside of a house that caught our attention. Winterset was the birthplace of one of America’s most famous actors-John Wayne. We decided we should visit the museum and home.

The museum contained movie memorabilia, a brief film introducing you to the museum, and a few personal belongings. One of my favorite pieces was his custom station wagon. He was very tall and did not want to duck his head when he got in and out of his car. So, the car was customized with a raised roof to fit his stature.

The following are shots I took with my cell phone camera of different items in the museum, including an Andy Warhol of John Wayne.

Outside of the museum was another cool thing I had never seen before. It is a Freedom Rock. There is one rock in each of the 99 counties of Iowa. The artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen started painting Freedom Rocks to honor military veterans. The one in Winterset honors veterans, prisoners of war, John Wayne (even though he was not allowed to serve due to having 4 children), and Quilts of Valor. Quilts of Valor was started in Winterset. Volunteers create a quilt and present it to a veteran in honor of his service to our country. My father was fortunate enough to be honored with one of these beautiful quilts. The picture of Dad receiving is the quilt is courtesy of my brother, Chris.

After our detours in Winterset, we continued on to see the last two bridges. The next bridge was a nice surprise. We could actually drive across it! It is the only one available to drive. Of course, we did drive it! This is the Cedar Covered Bridge. It also had a nice gazebo and picnic area. This bridge was rebuilt twice due to arson.

The last bridge and finale of our tour of Madison County was Hogback Bridge. This bridge was situated on some farmland and it made a beautiful setting. It also had a journal for people to sign, share feelings, and experiences.

We had a wonderful day exploring the Bridges of Madison County.

Mom and I had more plans for the week, but they were cut short. Aaron’s job needed him to start heading east to Kansas City, with a stop in Utah and then Colorado on the way. I changed my flight, returned to California on Thursday, and Aaron and I packed everything up and started our drive east on Friday. Next week, back to Utah. We stayed at our first Hipcamp, Hiawatha Hideaway.

Family, Field of Dreams, and a Basilica in Iowa

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

It was time for my quarterly visit to Iowa to spend time with my mom, my brother and his family, and my dad. Aaron and Murphy stayed with the Airstream in Utah in Provo at Utah Lake.

Even though this is not the best picture of Dad, I am happy I actually remembered to take one this time. We stopped for pizza, at his request, before his doctor appointment. He suffers from dementia and other health issues and resides in a nursing home in Illinois, so any trip away from his residence is exciting for him. He is very content and well taken care of there, but just like anyone else, he enjoys getting out and about every now and again. It was good to see him doing well and happy. We sang to 50’s music in the car, which brings him lots of joy. After saying goodbye to Dad, I went back to Mom’s house in Iowa to enjoy another week exploring Iowa and spending time with family.

One of my all-time favorite movies, Field of Dreams, was filmed in Dyersville, Iowa. The farmhouse, the ballfield, and the corn fields are all still there and open for visiting. It was about a three hour drive from my mom’s house, so we decided to make a day of it. It was pretty cool to see where most of the movie was filmed.

This is the farm house from the movie. They offer tours, but we decided that we did not need to see the inside. It was kind of strange that there was a sign that said “If you build it” but, there was no sign that said “They will come.”

The bleachers James Earl Jones and Kevin Costner sat on during the movie.

One ting that was really great-anyone could play on the ball field. There was an older gentleman and his son playing catch, a younger father pitching to his kids while they took turns batting and running the bases. The have a supply of gloves, bats and balls for everyone to use if they want to play. There was one little guy who would hit the ball off of a tee, go get the ball with his bat in hand and then proceed to run the bases with bat and ball in tow.

Centerfield corn where the ghost players appeared in the movie. I also grabbed a few pictures of the ballfield.

When we were leaving, we saw this plaque, so of course we had to her face as well. As you can see in the next picture, her nose is the most popular spot to rub for good luck.

Denise Miarecki Stillman and her husband purchased the movie site property in 2012, adding a youth baseball complex and preserving the movie site as well. She also worked towards a Major League ball game to be played there, but passed away from cancer before it happened. But, it did happen, and there are youth tournaments on the property every year.

Our second stop in Dyersville was to the only basilica in Iowa, Basilica of St. Francis Xavier . There are only 93 basilicas in the entire US. Neither my mom or myself are Catholic, but the chance to see a basilica is rare, so we decided it would be a great stop.

The basilica was very ornate, had beautiful stained glass, a very pretty pipe organ, and tons of detail and symbolism everywhere you looked.

We spent 30-45 minutes just wandering and looking at all the sculptures and art work.

I enjoyed my time visiting with my brother’s family. We had dinner together a few times, and as usual, I did not get any pictures. We were busy running our mouths and enjoying each other’s company. My mom and my niece and myself were able to go play some indoor mini-golf. We had a great time, kept score, were terrible players, and threw away the score sheet before we tallied it. My niece, Tori, and myself know that Mom kicked our butts. It was great fun!

While I was enjoying Iowa, Aaron and Murphy were settled in at Utah Lake State Park in Provo, Utah.

On Saturday, Aaron and Murphy picked me up from the Salt Lake City Airport, and I settled into the camper for the night. Sunday was moving day, and we were headed out of Utah up into Idaho. Our next stop was planned for Castle Rock State Park, just over the Idaho State Line. Next week, our journey continues there,

Iowa, Anne Frank, and Herbert Hoover

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 2 Comments

It was time for me to leave Aaron and the pups to fly to Iowa and visit my mom, my brother and his family, and take my dad to his doctor appointment. Aaron, Murphy, and Lola dropped me off at the Shreveport, LA airport, and I began my day of flights. Shreveport to Houston, then to Chicago, then, finally, the Moline, IL airport where Chris (my brother) and Brenda (his wife) picked me up and drove me an hour and a half to Iowa for a week of family.

Mom and I spent most of the week checking out museums. Who knew that Anne Franke had a connection to a small town in Iowa, Danville? Before the Nazis invaded Amsterdam she and her sister started became pen pals with two sisters in Danville. They only exchanged letters once, then the Nazis invaded and the Franks had to go into hiding. The museum displayed copies of the letters and a timeline of what was happening in Europe, the US, and in Danville. It was a thoughtfully put together museum with some intriguing information.

Mom and I learned a bit more about our family’s history as well. She had a very old suitcase full of documents that belonged to her grandfather. It had all kinds of tax documents, receipts, ledgers and letters pertaining to the farm that was in our family for over 200 years. We also found out that he was most likely an Odd Fellow. The Order of the Odd Fellows is a fraternal order similar to the Masons. It was an interesting look into what life was like for a farmer and his family in the 1930’s.

About an hour or so from Burlington, IA (where I was staying) is the Presidential Library of Herbert Hoover. He will always be remembered as the President of the Great Depression and for the Hoover Dam. I had no idea that he was born in Iowa.

He was born in this tiny two room house, orphaned, moved to Oregon to be raised by relatives, became a world renown mining engineer and international humanitarian before becoming the 31st US President. He and his wife were also Quakers. He traveled the world, including Australia and China in his mining career before he ever got involved in politics.

“This cottage where I was born is physical proof of the unbounded opportunity of American life. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbound hope.” -Herbert Hoover

A quote from the sign outside of Hoover’s childhood home

Due to the stock market crash and the Great Depression, his presidency was not looked at as successful. Before his presidency he led humanitarian relief efforts for Europe during and after World War 1. He then served as Secretary of Commerce, and was very influential in the expansion and regulation of radio, developing air travel regulations (later to become the FAA), regulating the auto industry, and standardizing many aspects of daily life such as tools, hardware, building materials, automotive parts.

After he presidency, he served under President Truman, and advised President Eisenhower. He continued his humanitarian efforts as well.

Another afternoon, Mom and I checked out the local museum in Burlington. The city sits on the Mississippi River and has a rich history with steamboats and the railroad. It also had a nice display about the Native American tribes that used to live in the area.

While I was immersed in history, Aaron and the pups were hanging out in Ville Platte, LA. Aaron got to play with his drone, the dogs chased balls, and they had some nice walks in the woods.

For my last night in Iowa, Mom, Chris, Brenda, my nephew Will, and I grilled some steaks and had a great dinner together. The next morning, it was time to fly back to Aaron and the pups and continue our adventure. I will be back in Iowa in about three months. I wonder what adventure awaits when I go back. But, until then, Aaron and the pups and I will be having more adventures in Mississippi, and wherever the road and mood takes us.