TULIP TIME IN PELLA, IOWA

 

TRIP TO PELLA, IOWA, FOR TULIP TIME

Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Today is a travel day. As Springfield is the last pickup point, I didn’t have to be there until 8:50 a.m. Yay! We had a stop for thirty minutes in the morning, then fast food lunch in Liberty, MO. There were several options, but I chose Slim Chickens because I’d never been to one. Actually, I’d never even heard of one, though I guess they’re popular in North Arkansas. I had a crispy chicken salad which was okay. The salad part was good, but the chicken was mediocre.

 
We had a video of a very funny guy – at one point I started drinking water when he said something so funny, I almost choked; water down my front and out my nose, then an embarrassing coughing fit. Another stop in the afternoon, and then dinner at The Machine Shed. HERE 
 
I knew this restaurant from a couple of trips, so I was pleased to see how it had grown.

 

They even have a hotel now.

The gift area is much larger

I couldn't resist a photo of this poster, because it's exactly how I look in the morning - except my eyelids are at half-mast and no mascara. It actually continues with "It's coffee time" at the bottom which is hidden in the box.

 
Dinner was served family style, and I thought it was really good. We had Cole slaw and cottage cheese, in the Dutch fashion when we sat down, along with hot rolls, which were actually lukewarm. Then came a platter of grilled chicken breast which no one ate – what a waste! Terri cut off a half of one piece, and I didn’t see anyone else at our table of ten eating chicken. We all went for the pork loin in herb sauce, which I really liked and ate my entire piece. Then came mashed potatoes, followed by green beans. Probably the best meal I had on the trip. 

A guy at our table told the story of how he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail when he was 65 and had just retired. It took 153 days; 2,190 miles. When you’re on a trail hike, you get acquainted with other hikers, and at one point he was walking with a couple of guys in their 20’s. They decided they needed to go off trail for a night in a hotel and a hot shower. They decided to hitch-hike to town, and were soon picked up by a family on vacation – mom and dad and three little boys in a Suburban type vehicle with a third row of seats. Once they were in and settled and on the road, one of boys piped up, “Dad, these guys stink!”

He said that when they reached their destination and were dropped off, he looked back to wave and they were still there, all the windows down, and mom was busy with a spray can.

And by the way, if you ever want to read an interesting book about hiking, try this one:

 
We stayed in the Drury Inn in West Des Moines, which is a popular spot for buses of oldsters on vacation or youngsters headed for school activities. One night we had the baton twirlers, headed for a competition.

Drury Inns were started by a family in Cape Girardeau, MO, and they’re still a family-owned chain; now grown to 153 hotels. They have a special plan. In the beginning, they had a full buffet breakfast, then a happy hour in the evening from 5:30 to 7:00. A ticket for three drinks, wine or beer, was included. The food was what you’d expect at happy hour. Now they call it Kick-Back and it’s dinner. Nothing fancy, no choices, but actually not bad food. Every night has salad, hot dogs, and tortilla chips with nacho cheese sauce and salsa. The other offerings vary. We arrived after 7:00, but we did have popcorn.

There’s popcorn in the lobby until 10:00, and you can smell it all over the first floor, so you see people walking around with the little red and white bags.

The rooms are very clean, spacious, and usually quiet (except when the kids are running up and down the halls.) 

Thursday, May 2, 2024
Off to the covered bridges of Madison County. We picked up our step-on guide in Winterset, Iowa, at the little visitors’ center, on a corner of a real working square with real businesses, and a magnificent courthouse in the middle. We were served coffee and apple fritters, and had a chance to buy things to take home and wonder why we bought them. 
 
The guide was very knowledgeable, as she’d lived in the area for years. She told us about the bridges, about the movie, the tornado which tore through: HERE and about almost every other house, building, and person in the county. I’d been there before, so I really had no interest in covered bridges and stayed on the bus. We went to three bridges, only one of which I’d seen, but they’re pretty much the same.

These photos are from my prior trip

The tour guide told us that the frame opening at each end is painted white so that the horses could see it in the dark. The inside walls are painted with a white strip and used as the area bulletin boards where people could tell about a horse to sell or an ice cream social at such-and-such church. 

While the bridge was being built, the nearest home fed the crew and helped with building, so most bridges had the name of the family. In one case, two families lived in the area, and they couldn’t decide on the name, so they named it after both families.

She told us that two of the bridges were victims of arson. The first, when a couple had carved their initials inside the bridge, split up, and the guy went to burn the initials off, but instead started a fire. It was extinguished in time, but had to be repaired, and the guilty party had to do community service. The second was the same story, but this time the bridge completely burned.
 
She also talked about Clint Eastwood’s search for a house to use for filming. He finally found the perfect house, with only an old man living there. He thought the guy would be happy to go stay with a relative or friend in exchange for some money and having his house fixed up. He got a flat “No! I’ve heard about that book, and there’ll be no adultery going on in MY house.”
 
They found an empty house where the squirrels and raccoons were taking over, and contacted the out-of-state owner. They told them they’d fix up the house in return for its use. They got the go ahead, fixed the house ready for the movie, but one little flaw. They were using it as a set, so they didn’t bother with water or electricity. I guess there was a bathtub scene, but no water. Someone was standing off camera with a hose dripping water from an outdoor tank. HERE 
 
After the movie crew left, the house once again became a haven for the wildlife.

We had lunch at a sports bar kind of restaurant. I chose badly and ate overcooked chicken tenders, but wonderful fries. Nothing else on the plate. I ate only one little piece of chicken, then Terri gave me one of her pieces which was not quite so dry. In the meantime, I’m watching my table mates eating a big beautiful salad topped with good looking chicken pieces, fish and chips with Cole slaw, hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and cheeseburgers and fries which looked like Burger King advertising photos.

Terri gave me two of her pieces (you can see the difference in color), which I took back to the hotel refrigerator and discarded the last day. Lots of food when you travel.

 

We were dropped at the Birthplace of John Wayne to visit his home and museum (built since my former trip.) The museum has a film with his daughter, Aissa, giving a short talk about her father, and then short clips of his films, running one after the other. Lots of memorabilia to buy in the gift shop on the way in, and then items to view from The Duke’s life and movies.
 

A chuck wagon

 His car, still in pristine condition

Some of his clothes (looks like he really liked the style of that shirt).

With his litte brother

With his buddies.

A cart from The Quiet Man

They had a Maureen O'Hara Day (his co-star in the movie), and she came to Winterset. This was the jacket she wore at the festivities.

Movie Props

The Alamo

John Wayne made several WWII movies, and in one they used an actual mine sweeper. The movie brought in so many recruits, inspired by the movie, the Navy presented it to him after the war. At least this is what I was told by a tour mate whose son lives in Newport Beach, CA. However, another story says that he bought the boat. HERE Anyway, he acquired the boat, and had it converted to a pleasure craft where he and his family spent many hours. He named it the Wild Goose, and when he became ill near the end of his life, he sold the Wild Goose to a private owner (not the one in the link above), and when The JW Birthplace had a celebration on what would have been his 100th birthday, the new owner presented the Birthplace Society with a replica of the Wild Goose, scaled 1" to 1'.

John Wayne, the sea captain.

 

There’s a short walk over to the house where our hero was born. The house has only four rooms; living room, parlor, bedroom, and kitchen. No halls, just four rooms in a cube. The house was formerly the museum-gift shop, but now it’s furnished with period items (very familiar to me as I’m “of an age.”) John was born here, but the family moved when he was only two. The house was built in the 1800's, and the woodwork, floors, carved front door, and stained-glass windows are original. The rooms are very tiny, but the bedroom had a real closet, and the kitchen had a real pantry.

The photo is of the midwife who delivered John.

 

I don't really know the story of the painted rock on the museum grounds, and there was no time to read the signs.

The statue is facing in a direction where I can never get a clear photo of his face. Maybe a night photo with the light shining on him would work.

I had the same problem last trip - maybe a little better. Notice there's no museum in the background.

We had a short walk back to the square to board the bus, and no time to look around, but our walk did take us by the bakery so we could buy some apple fritters. And I took a few photos of a mural wall in the alley and the beautiful courthouse I wanted to visit so badly.

  

Off to downtown Des Moines to visit the capitol, and what a beautiful capitol it is. The interior has many colors, but they all work together; lots of gold leaf; beautiful chandeliers; great paintings and mosaics.

The battleship Iowa

The artist commissioned to paint this corn photo just couldn't get it the way he wanted it. He practiced and practiced and became a master corn painter. I don't know where his other paintings hang, but if I see a canvas of corn, I'll give it a good study.

These are mosaics made of tiny little squares.

This is a closeup of one of the mosaics so you can see the size of the little blocks. Guess butt cracks were in style then, too.

And the library! Oh, my goodness - the library! I want one. Maybe without the skeleton.

 

Like South Dakota, they have a display of dolls dressed for the inauguration. The first lady who pushed this in Iowa was the model for the dolls, so they all look like her with one exception – Iowa now has a lady governor, so there’s one boy doll. The hair was designed for the period, and the dresses as well. I didn’t hear whether they were designed from actual photos of the ball gowns worn.

 
The state is divided into fifty districts according to population. Two representatives per district; one senator. You must be 21 to be elected to the House and 25 to be elected to the Senate. They meet for 100 days per annual session, or until the budget is balanced. In an election year, they meet for 110 days or until the budget is balanced. They’re paid $25,000 and $173 per day for expenses while in session, as most live away from home during this time. Most have other occupations. Way to go, Iowa!
 
The capitol has a main dome like most capitols, but there are four smaller domes forming a square around the central dome. The capitol sits on a hill with ample grounds, though it’s located downtown. They might be expecting a war, because lots of cannons.

 
Take a virtual tour HERE which I will do later, because I think I saw that they'll tell us how the people get around in that library. Great shot of the building, too.

Back to the hotel in time for Kickback. They're now serving mixed drinks, as well as wine and beer. We had pulled BBQ pork sliders, baked beans, cole slaw, mac and cheese, some kind of chicken soup, as well as the hot dogs, salad, chips, etc.

Long day - I was ready for a shower and bed to read or watch TV. 

Friday, May 3, 2024 

Breakfast at the hotel again. Same menu every day: Sausage patties, scrambled eggs, cottage fries, biscuits and gravy, waffles, cold cereals, oatmeal, four kinds of juice, coffee, milk, several kinds of bread to make toast, blueberry mini-muffins, apples, bananas, yogurt.

Off to Pella for Tulip Time. We had a step-on guide who took the bus all over the city. Some streets were blocked. Poor Donny, our bus driver. Again, more than we needed to know. We wanted off that bus to do our own thing. The festival started on Thursday, and it rained all day off and on. The parade was cancelled, the grandstand show was moved indoors, and the people came back on Friday because Thursday was a dud. It's always crowded, but this time it was super crowded. We hit the ground running. Niece Terri likes to shop for gifts to bring back, so we headed to the city block of pop-up vendors to see what we could find. Nothing. Some crafts, but mostly cheap stuff made in China and priced as if we were on Rodeo Drive. We didn't buy one thing. 

The step-on guide told us that the very popular bakery Jaarsma, where they make the Dutch letters, would be crowded. Crowded was not the right word. Overwhelmed might be a more fitting description. They put a guard on the door to only let a person in when one went out so that no one would be trampled. There was another guard holding back the line in the edge of the street, only letting one at a time past the rope so that people could walk on the sidewalk. The line was a block long. But - if we could do without all the baked goodies and just wanted to buy Dutch letters, we could go around the block and down the alley to a little stand behind the bakery and get them. We did. I don't know why they call them letters (plural), because they always make S's. We're told it stands for Sinterklaas (Santa Claus), but it's really because an S is the easiest letter to pipe. They're made of flaky pastry filled with almond paste, and piped into the S shape. I think I heard they will make other letters to order, but they need lead time, and they're more expensive.

Terri went off to the Dutch village to buy wooden shoes for a little neighbor girl while I shopped the stores along the main street. I walked over to the village and found a bench to wait, and she came almost immediately. She took a few minutes to run through the Wyatt Earp house and then we were off again to find some street food. I ate a tangerine, a string cheese, a salmi stick, and some crackers from my stash while Terri went in search of a hot dog or bratwurst. The tulips were better this trip, though some had seen better days and some were beds of stems. 

I didn't go into any of the buildings in the Dutch village nor the Scholte House, which I'd seen before. I think Terri popped into a couple of places in the village. That was it. We made our way over to the Scholte House to see the flower show, which I always enjoy. Terri wanted to get back to be sure we got good seats for the grandstand show which started at 1:00, but the parade wasn't until 2:45. I told her to go ahead and I went across the street to the information center. I wanted to pick up some brochures (not as popular now with the internet so available) before I headed for the grandstand. 

For some reason, our tour guide had saved seats at the very top of the grandstands, though the seats were nicely staggered, instead of down near the bottom where you could see the costumes and floats better. 

I was there for the opening, all those people standing to sing The Star-Spangled Banner, with hands on hearts, made me get a little tear in my eye. Then those who could sang the Netherlands anthem. Great fun. The queen arrived with her court, and after listening to the details about each of the girls in the court and descriptions of a lot of Dutch costumes, I went to find some real food. Glad I did, because my neck and down my back is sunburned and sore. I found a basic chicken salad on a croissant with chips at The Windmill Cafe. This was definitely not a trip of epicurean delights.

I made my way back to the grandstands to watch some of the parade - missed the street cleaning and the parade of the babies, but the floats were better this time around. The parade was longer, with more bands and Dutch make-believe vendors.

 

A few tulip photos, but crowds made it difficult.

Bed of stems

Lots of spirea around Pella

These tulips were planted in rings in a backyard, allowing visitors to walk through for a closer look or photo, and with a sign inviting them to do so.

The windows opened one at a time and the figures came out and then went back - windows on both sides of the archway - while the carillon played Home on the Range. ????

Beautiful Dutch tile work

See the little doggie head poking out of the backpack - all color-coordinated with mom.

A real working windmill which is also a grist mill.

In a quilt shop window.

Inside a shop - not for sale

The flower show is now housed in a wing of the Scholte House. The theme was celebrations.

May Baskets

4th of July

Isn't this clever?

Christmas

I'm not sure what this celebration might be. Mother's Day?

Halloween?

Father's Day

Halloween

Not sure - I had to run through quickly

Easter?

Mardi gras?

More Father's Day

Minis

Parade photos from this trip

My mystery photo - The National Anthem with the stage resting on the tops of the heads of some of the people.

The school children

The Earp Brothers

The Pella Library delivers books to different areas on bikes.

The guy who makes the wooden shoes.

Notice the cute benches the little girls are sitting on

I'd had enough parade and started making my way to the bus.

We were back at the hotel in time for Kickback: Meatballs in brown gravy, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies of broccoi, carrots, and cauliflower, vegetable soup, and of course, salad, hot dogs, chips with salsa and nacho cheese.

Time to pack.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

An easy drive home. We had another video of the funny guy who makes me choke on my water, more Bingo, a stop for fast food (I had KFC), and a stop at Osceola Cheese.

Last on, first out. We unloaded at the Oasis Hotel at 3:30. I was in my car in a hot minute and home sweet home in no time.

Parade photos from my prior trip. So much better in lower seats.

What are they doing here?

Can't wait to be on the road again.

The robins built a nest on my drain pipe and raised two families in 2022. They didn't use the nest last year, and they haven't used it this year. I left it because it wasn't blocking my water flow. Then a bird started building a nest in my door wreath. I took out the grass and she tried again. I took out the grass again. I didn't catch it one year, and the birds pooped all down my door, and it's like cement to remove, plus they drop grass all over my doormat. They have plenty of trees around here, and they don't need my wreath. However - while I was gone, some sneaky little girl built a nest in my wreath and laid two eggs. Then another one came along and laid two eggs also. I don't know what's going on, because when I open the door, no birds fly out. And why two kinds of eggs? I'll have to remember to put the wreath in the house when I travel.

Anyone know what kind of birds will hatch, if they hatch?

I hope you'll find time to go to Pella, because it's a lovely little town, with sweet people.