Homer's Travels: Feller And Bridges ... A Short Roadtrip

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Feller And Bridges ... A Short Roadtrip

Last weekend was the start to the Wife's winter break (I think that's what it's called) so we invited friends over for dinner on Saturday and went on a short roadtrip on Sunday.

Before the comments come rolling in, the Saturday menu started with carbonara sauce over homemade pasta, homemade cheesy bread sticks, pork loin, tossed salad (supplied by our guests), and finished with a Jello No Bake Oreo Pie.  We enjoyed our company and food.  (No, I did not take any pictures of the food.)

Sunday we headed east to central Iowa to visit the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, IA and the near by Bridge of Madison County.  The museum was impressive from the outside but was a let down on the inside.  The inside consisted of three small areas filled with Bob Feller memorabilia and reproductions of sports news articles about the baseball pitcher.  The GodSon, a baseball fan, had visited there a year or so back and hadn't been very impressed - I believe his words were "It's okay" and that pretty much sums it up.  It was okay but could have been better.  The only pictures I took were of the outside of the building.


After leaving Van Meter, we headed south to visit the Bridges of Madison County, made famous by the book, and subsequent movie, "The Bridges of Madison County"  There are six covered bridges in and around the town of Winterset, IA.  I'm not sure winter is the best time to visit the bridges.  There was a lot of walking through snow to get to the bridges and where there wasn't snow there was mud.  Why do you have to walk to the bridges you ask?  Only one of the bridges (The Cedar Bridge) is passable by car.  All the others are off to the side of the actual road and are accessible only on foot.  This was a little disappointing to me.  It turned them into mere tourist attractions instead of the quaint, historic bridges they could have been.  I was also hoping for some variety but they were pretty much all the same.  Pictures of the bridges are here.

I guess neither of our Sunday destinations met my expectations but they did get us out of the house and back on the road.  The drive between the bridges was through hilly farmland between wooded ridges and creek bottoms.  I imagine it is beautiful there in the spring and, especially, the fall when the trees are turning.  That is a plus in my book.

On the way home the Wife realized that she wasn't feeling very well. It appears that she's fighting a bug similar to the one I had and the one she had a few weeks ago.  I guess this is the year of colds for us.  As the Wife rested her eyes on the way home we listened to the Canadians win the gold in Hockey.  They deserved the win and I'm glad the US team were worthy opponents.

Next stop: Kansas.

5 comments:

  1. That Bob Feller Museum really is a nice facility. Too bad the exhibits inside are sub par. The mural is pretty neat though. I also took this photo of the building directly across the street:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/manyhighways/3850467208/sizes/o/

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  2. GS: Totally agree. The insides don't live up to the outside.

    MoH: Done and are we happy to hear the great news.

    Miss McC: She's still working through some issues but I think she's getting better.

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  3. What? No pictures of the food? That's it, I'm outta here. *stomp, stomp, stomp, door-slam*

    Kidding aside, looks like a nice little road trip. Personally, I would have liked the fact that the bridges weren't drivable, simply because it would allow me to get more creative with my photography...

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