The next town on our travels to Wisconsin was the town of Fairfield, Iowa. I read that it was named for the "fair fields" in the area. Sounds like our town of Pretty Prairie, named for its' pretty prairies.
Evidently the Smithsonian Magazine named it one of America's best small towns. Oprah dubbed it "America's most unusual towns." It used to be a stopping point for the underground railroad. There is a Carnegie library, the first one outside Pennsylvania or Scotland. The Beach Boys performed in this town. It has the largest synagogue in the US and the largest Liberal Catholic churches.
As we drove by, we saw this huge building and the sign read Transcendetal Meditation center. There was also a Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome. I was pretty surprised to see this here in rural Iowa.
And sad.
I believe Christ is the One who gives us true peace.
The Skunk River.
That doesn't even seem like anyone would want to go to a camp with the word "skunk" in it? Although the river would be nice to swim in or canoe on.
We puposely decided to drive to Kalona. We wanted to eat an Amish/German lunch at a restaurant there.
Would you believe there is no such thing in Kalona? We went into a coffee shop and an Old-Mennonite girl was serving coffee. We asked her if there was a place to eat "Dutch" food. There isn't!
There is a Tequila Grill, Los Amigos Taqueria, Tuscan Moon Grill, breweries - just the restaurants you would expect in a town that visitors come to who are interested in finding out more about the Amish. Ha!
She said it was sadly lacking. She agreed that it would be a big business! It really would! Well, we'll have to go back home to have it I guess. We have a few back in Kansas that are really good!
The Star Trek Enterprise!
This building did not seem worth moving!
A little snow is left in the ditches, even though this day it was 60 degrees!
Next stop, West Branch, Iowa east of Iowa City.
President Herbert Hoover's birthplace.
A tiny 2 room house.
Smaller than our main living area.
A small kitchen on the porch.
Herbert's father was a blacksmith. The shop was across the road from the outhouse.
The schoolhouse he attended.
Their meeting area - a women's side and men's side
Mirror sides. At first it looked like there was a mirror on the wall until Al went to the other side.
I thought cry rooms were a modern thing.
What is this statue of
Isis doing here? Did you know that one of the 10 plagues of God against the Egyptian gods was against Isis? And their other gods.
Here is why this bronze is here: "The bronze, seven and a half foot tall statue “Isis, Goddess of Life” is the work of Belgian sculptor Auguste Puttemans. It was a gift from the peope of Belgium in gratitude for Hoover's famine relief efforts on their behalf during the First World War."
President Hoover and his wife are buried on the grounds
Next post - In Wisconsin with the kids
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