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!