Road Trip (Palm Springs to Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Retirement trip number two. Home for less than 24 hours from Door County, Wisconsin, and hopped on a plane to fly to Palm Springs, California.

Friend Dave had spent the month of January (snowbird) in warm, sunny Palm Springs. He asked if I would join him on a road trip back to Minnesota.

From cold to desert to cold in a week!

Spent a day in Palm Springs hiking. Dave had been doing a lot of adventuring and shared some of his favorite treks with me. We did three hikes in one day!

We did not plan a definite route or timeframe back to Minnesota but I needed to get back by Saturday as I was scheduled to work at the hardware store on Sunday. The only sure thing was that Dave wanted to visit a friend and cousins in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A major winter storm was forecast to pass right between us in Palm Springs and Minneapolis-St. Paul so we were going to have to be flexible as the storm's path kept being revised. We ended up going north through Colorado rather than east through Oklahoma/Kansas.

As is my custom now, I put together a video montage of the trip. It is available by clicking here.

A short recap and itinerary (though I won't guarantee my memory is serving me correctly):

• departed Palm Springs Monday, 01/31
• departed Santa Fe, New Mexico Thursday, 02/03
• departed Colby, Kansas Friday, 02/04
• arrived in Minneapolis-St. Paul Friday 02/04

We were successful in missing the winter storm. I love driving across parts of the United States. There is so much diversity. And with each season there are different things to see and do.

MAP MN AIDS Walk Trophy

Rosie's Art Ensemble was the first place fund raising team. This year Rose is allowing each team member to have some personal time with the trophy. Amy brought it along on our recent road trip to Iowa. The following are photos of events the trophy participated in. #mnaidswalktrophy,#rosiesartensemble

Enjoying some hot tub action.

Preparing for a swim.

Enjoying the New Bohemian neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, IA.

Drinks with friends.

More drinks with more friends.

Last call.

Driving home.

 

Rose's birthday roadtrip day 2

We stayed in Cedar Rapids. Apparently so is everyone else. I had reserved two rooms with two beds each. We ended up with two rooms but one only had one bed. It was an all suites hotel and each room had a pull out sofa. There were no other rooms available so we worked it out.

Rose's birthday flight.

Saturday after my morning run and Rose and Amy's swim, we drove to the Amana colonies to meet Megan and Michael. The Amana colonies were settled by German immigrants in the late 1800's. These are the Amana of the appliance name.

We met at Main Amana where there is a General Store, Meat Market, Winery, restaurants, antique shops and other buildings from the original colonists.

We ate at the Ox Yoke which specializes in German food. It was delicious. Rose ordered a flight of different fruity wines made in Amana. We ordered a few different desserts to all try.

Michael and our dessert sample.



Meat Market hat switch.

Meat Market hat switch.

Saturday evening we went to Michael's show in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Michael directed 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now CHANGE'. It is a very cute and, at tome, touching musical. Michael did a great job. We all enjoyed the show.

Rose's birthday road trip

the Iowa barn welcome center

For her birthday, Rose wanted to see a friend's show in Iowa. JT found a fascinating stop along the way... the site of Buddy Holly, Rickie Valens and the Big Bopper's plane crash outside of Clear Lake, Iowa. The site is marked with a pair of giant Buddy Holly glasses. We then stopped at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. The venue of their last performances.



Buddy Holly crash site marker



Buddy Holly glasses with Buddy Holly glasses

Friday night we met Megan and Michael in the New Bohemia section of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. New Bohemia was originally the Czech-Slovak neighborhood. It was devastated by flooding in 2008 and is now being rebuilt and renovated.

We ate at Bata's. An eclectic restaurant with a blueberry burger on the menu. It was a blueberry compote and a jalapeño relish. It was outstanding. There were also caramelized sweet potato fries and another appetizer that sounded like way too many ingredients but was fantastic and also unrepeatable.

Iowa 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling.Bee

Amy and I made a road trip to Iowa to see Michael and Megan and Michael's production of above title play. It was great fun.

Before meeting Michael and Megan for lunch on Saturday, Amy and I went to the Czech-Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids. There was a fabulous exhibit of Madeleine Albright's pins that she collected and wore as Secretary of State. The museum is in the Cedar Rapid's Czech Village. The mural behind us greets you as you enter the village.