After a cool start to the morning we drove a bout 20 miles to a dried flower farm (Howell's Nursery and Trees) that was also a "Pumpkin Patch" compete with rides on ponies, petting zoos withy goats, corn mazes, pumpkins, tractor and wagon rides and everything for the children and families to be entertained with, all in the great out of doors. The ladies had barns full of fall decor and even some Christmas things in one of the stalls. Flowers emphasized mums of course, and when we arrived Lisa ( hired help) stated that there would be 500 young school children there , and some were there already as the busses beat us through the gate. We did pick up some nicely priced mums and a pair of orange colored coneflowers on sale. There were more than 40 employees working the "Patch" that day.Here is a look at the "Pumpkin Patch". Oh,by the way they pronounc ethe holiday …"Howelleen".
The children gettin' a ride to the "CornMaze"
One of the 30-40 goats in the petting zoo.
Ruth has her costume for Halloween , Now, if we can just find one for Jim!!!
There were all kinds of gourds and pumpkins
And the children and parents took home many.
I'll bet the schoolbus drivers had fun!
And, of curse lots of pumpkins! Iowa raises just 800+ acres of pumpkins
each year. Michigan ranks in the top five with CA, OH, Il, and NY
I can see I may have to have two entries today or save some until tomorrow, as there is too much to tell. But, let's move along to what was next. That was the main part the day and was the "Covered
Bridges of Madison County"
There are only six of them and one is concrete which we didn't visit. But getting to them was arduous and circuitous, as Iowa 169 , the main road into the town of Winterset, was closed two miles north of town so getting to three of the bridges meant going the "long way" around. But we did survive and got to all of them by 3:30 in the afternoon. Here is a shot of each of them, Their history is probably more exciting than the pictures, but they are historical works of engineering and safety. (For the horses of course!) Tomorrow and Sunday is the Bridge Festval and a big day in Winterset. It was good we went today as there were no crowds.
The Imes Bridge (pronounced 'eyems'), has been moved three times. It is the oldest of Iowa's bridges. It was renovated in 1997 for $31,000.
The Hogback Covered Bridge just northwest of Winterset. It is 97 feet long and renovated in 1992 at the cost of $118.000. It was difficult to get to today because of the road blockages.
No fun loking at just the outside so here is the inside of the Holliwell Bridge. It was featured in the movie, "The Bridges of Madison County", and is the longest of the bridges at 122 feet. It was renovated in 1995 at a cost of $225.000. Wait til you see the next one!
IT doesn't look like much more than the others, this Cedar Covered Bridge, but it was burned to the ground in Sept 2, 2002, and was completely rebuilt and opened in 2004 during the Bridge Festival. You can drive through this one. The cost!!!! was over $700.000.
So there you have it for tonight. I will save the two other venues for the day, until tomorrow which will be our last full day here. The two items are : THE BIRTHPACE OF JOHN WAYNE, and A TRACTOR 'RUN' THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN . See ya tomorrow.!
No comments:
Post a Comment