Pella, Iowa

Friday, May 29, 2009
All the Lazy Daze people met at the Hospitality Hall for a farewell coffee and donuts; there were nine LD’s in all . We told the people about the town of Hermann, MO and the great bakery. Two of the group, are headed there for the day. There were nine LD’s in all. After that we headed north towards Iowa. Spent the night at the Crowder State Park near Trenton, MO. Only $10/night for dry camping. The campground was filled by the end of the day. Mostly families coming to camp for the weekend. There is a fishing & swimming lake. Found another HyVee grocery store and got a take out lunch. Hyvee is an excellent, high quality regional grocery store.


Saturday/Sunday , May 30/31, 2009

Today’s destination is Pella, Iowa. We got up early so we could get there before noon. Pella is a very pretty city. Dutch in origin. We toured the Pella Historical Village and Vermeer Mill. The windmill is fully operational. During the tour, the mill operator grinds wheat into flour. The Village is a group of 20 buildings including an old store, blacksmith shop, a log cabin, library and a home once occupied by Wyatt Earp. The downtown area is designed to represent a typical Dutch village. There is a town square surrounded on all sides by shops. We found the Jaarsma Bakery which has been in operation since 1898. Another great bakery find. Bought three types of strudel plus a loaf of Dutch apple bread. Wow. On par with the bakery in Hermann, MO.
Late afternoon we went to the Corp of Engineers campground on Lake Red Rock and stayed at the North Overlook camping area. We got a site with a nice view of the lake. I took Gopher for a walk to the lake. There was no one around so I let her off her leash. She had been in the camper all day. She had a great time running in the lake, chasing a stick & rolling in the sand. There is a 15 mile paved multi-use path that runs through the campground. The strong German influence in this part of Iowa is apparent from the name of the trail. It’s the Volksweg which means “The peoples path” We all took a walk before dinner on Saturday and two longer walks on Sunday. Need to walk about a hundred miles to work off all those pastries. Carol wants to go back to town on Tuesday to get some more. We have a scale with us. Each week we get weighed. As long as we’re at our weight goal, we enjoy the goodies.
Two beautiful, sunny days. This is such a nice place we decided to expend our stay through tomorrow. We left home on May 1st. Been on the road for 30 days. Having a wonderful time as we always do. We’re both so happy when we’re travelling. The longer we’re out the longer we want to stay out.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Today we ran errands. Did laundry, filled the propane tank, went grocery shopping then made another visit to the two downtown Dutch bakeries. The weather is starting to turn rainy again. There is a front moving through the Mid-West. Tonight we’re supposed to get some strong thunder storms.