Spring Tour to Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Thank you to the 24 members who participated in our Spring Tour.  We hope all enjoyed.  We certainly don’t want to get swelled heads, but the weather was near perfect.  Saturday and Sunday were warm and sunny. Our activities for those days took place outside and, being we had no “plan B” if it rained, there were two very relieved trip leaders!

The Iowa-80 Kitchen at the World’s Largest Truck Stop reserved a private room for our group to gather for lunch. Once done we cruised I-80 for about a half hour drive to the Herbert Hoover Museum. Inside the museum our group watched a 20 minute overview of Herbert Hoover’s life, presidency and life after the White House.  Our docent, Matt, took questions and added quite a bit of historical knowledge.  We definitely could have listened to him for hours.  After a too brief look at the galleries, we took off for our Cedar Rapids Hampton Inn. 

We had an early departure time the next day and needed to leave at 8:30 Saturday morning for Maifest at the Amana Colonies. The Ronneburg Restaurant allowed us to park in their event space.  We had a prime front row to show off the T-Birds. After the shortest parade I think any of us have ever seen, the group went their separate ways to explore the town, wineries, and shops.  And some more wineries.  There was beer and oom-pah bands and beer and brats and more beer.  The Millstream Brau Haus had a sunny deck, the best brats in town and, you guessed it, beer!.  Afterwards, Everyone reconvened in the hospitality room for our Derby Party.  Thanks  to Kathy and Mary for being our mixologists and providing the mint juleps.  

Sunday had a later start for our drive to the small town of Mount Vernon and their Chalk the Walk festival.  Again, we had reserved parking thanks to Big’s BBQ and Brew.  And again, it was warm and sunny.
Both the professional artists and the amateurs chalked very impressive works on the streets.  Some of the works were so good it was hard to believe they were done in chalk.  

They had musicians providing entertainment, a few food trucks, antique stores, and wineries
 A thunderstorm blew through just before dinner but ended just as we  started to leave for Granite City Brewery. 

Monday morning came and we departed a little earlier than planned.  But that was just fine.  The only activity on the schedule was driving home and recouping from, what we hope, was a fun filled and enjoyable weekend.

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By

Karen Kelly