We woke up early on Wednesday and hit the road to Minneapolis. It was supposedly an 8 hour drive, so we had a full day of driving ahead of us. Little did we know of the wonderful treat that was waiting for us at about the halfway point.
After about 3 hours of driving, the CEO spurts out "Hey, the Bridges of Madison County are at the next exit!" Of course we decided to stop and see what it was all about.
This picture is the oldest of the bridges, and is right off the exit. We all got out and walked around, reading about the bridges, and just enjoying the quiet in this tiny spot. A sign indicating where the visitors center was pointed us to our next stop. The tiny church which now acts as the visitors center held a bunch of little trinkets and info on the bridges. The CEO talked to the man who was running the center and he told us about Winterset, which was about "5 miles" dwon the road. He told us about several bridges that were there, a hedge maze and a tower in a park that he though we would like to visit.
The gang hopped back in the car and pointed towards Winterset. About 15 miles later we started to pull into Winterset. The first thing we saw was John Wayne's birthplace. A tiny little house on the corner of a little street off the main drive with a statue outside. We took a couple pictures for Opa and continued into town. After a little driving around we found the park. The kids really enjoyed the hedge maze as they did it over and over. Next we got back in the car and drove down the dirt and gravel road to find the tower. It was an old stone tower, and was pretty cool. The kids went to the top, you could see for miles, and they pretended they were knights and royal figures. We hung out for an hour and headed back to "downtown" for lunch.
Winterset might as well be called Anytown USA, because it is exactly what you think of when you imagine a small, middle America town. Or at least it is for me. Basically the town consists of the courthouse in the center of a square, with stores and offices, all two stories at the most, surrounding the courthouse. The restaurant that was in the movie The Bridges of Madison county is on the square, although we didn't eat there. There was no traffic, no trouble parking, and the few people that were walking around had nice smiles on their faces. I went into the drug store, I couldn't believe it when I saw a little counter where they were serving dessert. Did I get lost and end up in Mayberry?? The lady at the counter was teasing a customer she knew about the black eye he had, how great is that!!
Everyone piled back into the car and off we went having had enjoyed a great slice of Americana. As we have moved west on the trip, things have gotten more tranquil, more relaxing, and I've felt more and more together with the family. When you take away all the other stuff in life that distracts from being together, you really can enjoy the people you love. And I'm really enjoying the trip.
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