Altoona and Pleasant Hill

OK, so Altoona and Pleasant Hill might not really qualify for these excursions, but we were squeezed for time in November. We were going to at least try out a new restaurant, but the place we wanted to go (Now and Later) was closed... so we headed to Bianchi Boys Pizza in Altoona.

It was not new to the Glann Family, but it was new to us Reids. The pizza was good, I thought. Thin, crispy crust. We had the whole back room to ourselves, always a bonus with our crew. Wally got his own cheese-less pizza, and we also had a Hawaiian and a Gumba.

After pizza, we headed into Pleasant Hill for some bowling at Premier Bowling. We had a great time, along with the trials and tribulations of bowling with two 5 year olds, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old. I bowled a few frames with her on my back, and some while nursing. The Glanns kicked our butts in terms of scores.

Decorah-Abby's view

Like Sarah said, how we decided on what we did, I don't remember, but I was excited for sometime leading up to it, and was a little disappointed we weren't able to camp. More so when the only place we could get two rooms, and not even next to each other, or on the same floor was at the Super 8 in West Union. Not a great place to stay, but it worked. There was a small pool in the basement, so there was a little retreat for the kids in the evening.
We started our weekend driving up through Ames. We walked around the olde town area, going to the hobby shop, definitely an aged place, but Andrew found a model of a Nova he had wanted for ages and had never been able to find; an antique store where I scored some way cute vintage fabric, and at 40% off; Andrew took the kids through Reiman music, and I walked through a furniture store with gorgeous hooked rugs that were insanely priced (note to self: learn how to hook gorgeous rugs).

Following that we headed to lunch at The Cafe. I cannot say enough how great the food was here. The idea behind the place is that the food always be the freshest possible, and thus the menu changes regularly, something I adore, but Andrew is not particularly fond of, though he was impressed with the food nevertheless. There is also a little coffeeshop side, as well as pastries and a bar. I have returned a number of times since, including on our way home from Decorah, as well as when I had to return to Ames after the trip to retrieve my wallet I left on the top of the car, and then ended up losing while driving down the road.
After lunch we hit the road, which was quite the dreary drive, with construction, rain and snow the whole way up. We arrived not long after the Reids. We agreed with Sarah on the food front as far as Tap't Out. Not impressive. I think we would have all been happier with the Subway across the street from the hotel-even Liv said as much. Greasy, slow, heavy and no real flavor. Blah.

That first night we checked out the pool for awhile-certainly not anything fancy, but the kids enjoyed it.

 

We started out bright and early Saturday morning with the hotel continental breakfast, and ended up at Java John's in Decorah for some much needed (at least on my part) coffee. The coffee was good, as well as the ambience, thought the place was crowded as a ll get out. And we were all curious how someone could think they needed a whole booth to themselves while there are perfectly good single seating areas. A little frustrating, but we made it, nevertheless. The yarn store had a nice selection, which actually was difficult to decide what I wanted from, and was nice to find books available for the kids to read while we shopped. The lady working, who I think was the owner, was very helpful. I had quite a few questions and she did her best to help us.

The afternoon at Seed Saver's Exchange Farm was wonderful, and actually definitely something I would like to do each year. The kids had fun, as did the adults.

The antique apple tasting was great, as there were varieties I was curious about.

The soup was all incredible, and I was stoked that one of my favorites had the recipe available to take home.

The local fire department came out and let the kids try on the uniforms and climb on the truck.

Several pumpkins were carved ( Asher smiled his way into carving two...) and rolled down a hill.

There were little games all over, as well as scenic trails

and a hay rack ride which helped Asher lose one of my earrings (by flinging it overboard).

The cider press demo was both entertaining for the kids and inspirational for the adults (we're so getting one of those!).

The farm store was full of things I would love to own, but I held back and only purchased some garlic to plant (Czech Red).

After a fun filled day on the farm, we took a little drive around Burr Oak, the home of Plum Creek of Laura Ingalls Wilder fame. The town was not much to see-much like Swan, small and mostly trailers now. The bar looked to be the place to be on that Saturday. So, we headed on. We drove around Decorah and Luther college for awhile. We then made it to Randy's ultimate pizza joint, Mabe's. Apparently the place is a tradition for Lutherians. The pizza wasn't too bad, but I have to say I am a solid Polito's Pizza fan (that will get some lip service this summer when we camp near Bondurant).
We headed to the DQ in West Union for dessert, then back to the hotel where we swam a bit.

Sunday we used the continental breakfast again and hit the road for home. We decided to eat at the Cafe for brunch, which was awesome again, then headed south.
The great excitement of our trip didn't come until the Tuesday following, though, as I figured out I had lost my wallet somewhere in Ames. I got a call to say it had been found on the side of the road. Apparently I left it on top of the Jeep after eating, and it blew off. So, I got to go rescue it and cancel a load of cards that were destroyed or missing. The trip was totally fun, though, and our family is way thrilled to keep the tour up!

Decorah, Iowa - Sarah's View

I don't even remember how we decided to go to Seed Savers Exchange's Autumn Festival. I think it started with wanting to do some fall camping, and also wanting to go to an event at Seed Savers. As it turns out, the weekend was far too cold (and, well, snowy) for camping, so we all ended up at a hotel in West Union.

Friday night, we had dinner at Tap't Out Stein and Dine on the square in West Union. Um. Hm. We all got fed, and nobody left hungry. Except Wally, I guess. The kids spaghetti was a really small serving. But I don't think anybody was particularly impressed with their food, which took an overlong time to come out.

In the morning, after a stop at a Coffee shop on Water Street whose name completely escapes me (good coffee, and apparently quite a popular spot on Saturday mornings), we made the obligatory stop at the local yarn store, the Blue Heron Knittery. They had a small selection of local yarns (alpaca - I bought some), as well as some yarns that I've never seen in person before. I was excited to find yarn suitable for my upcoming Chronicles of Narnia socks.

Then, of course, the whole reason for the trip - Seed Savers. It was a lot of fun. They had all sorts of activities for kids - Pumpkin carving, storytelling, a fire truck, beanbag toss, and a few other things. There was an apple press demonstration, which wasn't necessarily FOR the kids, but they sure liked it.

And of course, activites for the adults. Apple tasting, soup tasting (and contest), hay rack rides, apple press demonstrations, classes, a band, and of course just wandering around the farm. There was also a woman there carving a giant pumpkin, which was pretty impressive.

mmmm.... soup. The soup contest entries were all from local restaurants, and they were YUMMY. My personal favorite came from the Oneota Co-op - it was a creamy squash soup with bacon in it. I think it was the bacon that won me out.

We had dinner at Mabe's Pizza, of course. Randy went to college at Luther, and apparently, they brainwash you into believing that Mabe's Pizza is pizza handed down from the very hand of God. It's good pizza, but Randy has a serious love affair with it. He ate it for breakfast, too.

How it all started (Abby's take...): Prairie City, Albia, Oskaloosa

After talking awhile about wanting to start doing some camping together, we (the Reids and the Glanns) found a seminar on angora rabbits (yes, rabbits) in Albia. This started our trek. We started the day off meeting in Prairie City, at Goldie's.

They were recently awarded with the best pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa, and we had to try them out. The consensus was the sandwich was all around pretty good-though the place was small, and apparently the place to be on a Saturday afternoon, as it was paaaaacked when we went to leave. Had we been there any later, we wouldn't have a place to sit. They had a pretty decent sounding menu. Abby had a hot sausage sandwich, which was good, more like a guinea grinder, than your standard hot sausage, and the bun was just a hot dog bun-not nearly enough for that sort of sandwich. They touted some local meat ingredients, like meats from the Mingo Locker. The tea was fresh brewed-not out of a machine; always a plus. I definitely think it will be a place we visit again.

From there we hit the road, and headed south down Highway 14, then 92 to 5, to Albia. The seminar was at The Hollywood Hills Boutique, located on the square. They had quite the selection of yarn, which was actually a yarn local to Park City, Utah, where the Reids had vacationed the summer before. We were hoping to find some local stuff while there, and we did, just not much. It is a theme we've found with a lot of the shops we visit. Anyway, the seminar proved helpful, both in information, and in the fact she had bunnies for sale, at half their usual price. Abby jumped on the opportunity, and went home with a grey female angora, which was later named Princess Pie.

After a few yarn purchases, we decided to head for Oskaloosa in search of a farm store, as we didn't see one in Albia. We met at what we thought was a good place to start, the Purina Feed Store, but were sorely disappointed in finding it was really only pet food for the most part, and not worth visit at all.

We headed to the Smokey Row coffeeshop in town to take a break and check out a phone book. Of all the Smokey Rows, I must say this is one of my favorites. It has an old stage and marquis sign inside, and is rather spacious. It also attached to one of my favorite book stores. The coffee at Smokey Row, and fountain drinks are always appreciated. The food is not bad, but nothing fancy.

I think from their menu they like to think it is, but there is something lacking in pretty much everything they serve, and I am always kind of turned off by seeing a pile of plain ol' Lay's potato chips come out with my meal. But, at that point, coffee=good.

After our snack and phone book research we headed on over to The Vault bookstore. I love this store. First of all, it is an indy book store, which means it carries more of what I want to read than the big box stores do. They have Nourishing Traditions on the shelf. They had (I bought the copy that day...) Handmade Home by Amanda Soule, among gads of other intriguing titles that I always find difficult to leave behind.

The really draw here, though, is the beauty of the place. It is situated in an old bank,and the marble and vaults are still there throughout creating wonderful little nooks for hte books to live until someone comes along to grab them. I haven't attended any, but they also host authors and book clubs regularly, and have a small kitchen accessories area in the back, as well as a discount club. I try to stop everytime I am through Oksy.

Following that visit, we headed out to try to find the Orschelin's in town. After a little wandering, we came upon it, right where we thought it should be, but all of us had pretty much forgotten how to get to that point. I managed to come away with rabbit food and some birthday items for Asher, and the Reid's found the much needed black hoodie for Wally's bat costume.

It was a small store, but well stocked, and the prices seemed very reasonable. We parted ways after this, much excited for the next foray into Iowa small town goodness!

After deciding to spend a *whole* lot more time together, our families, the Reids and the Glanns, have also decided to document our travels to small towns (well, big ones, too) around Iowa. We have a special love for new food experiences, but will talk about what else we enjoyed/didn't on our journeys. Welcome, and check back, as we will try to get out and spend some time in different places around our home state at least once a month.