Northeast Iowa: Extended Time With Family

We had planned to make a stop on the way to Northeast Iowa from Branson, but we got an early start and couldn’t see stopping just a few hours away late in the afternoon when we could get to our destination late in the evening. So we had our longest ever day on the road at 10 hours!

We pulled in to our campsite in the city park just after 7 pm. My mom and her sister were waiting for us waiving like crazy ladies. We quickly got set up while they played with the kids and visited for an hour or so.

The next morning, we visited my grandma’s new-ish place outside of town. After her husband (my grandpa, my mom’s step-dad) passed away, my grandma tried living in an apartment in town. She hated it. So after about a year, she moved to a small house out in the country. She loves it out there and we can definitely see why. It’s clean, peaceful, quiet and just a few minutes from town. My grandma was thrilled that we visited her. The kids loved being in a house and having seemingly endless room to crawl and run around. My  brother even showed up late in the afternoon! We went into town for dinner at the long-running restaurant. It was a great day.

There was a big get-together at grandma’s the following day. Two of my Aunt Cheryl’s four kids were there. It was my cousin Stacey’s husband’s birthday. They brought their two kids. Adelaide loved playing with them! It was another successful day with family we rarely see. We hadn’t seen many of the folks for about two years.

The final day, we had breakfast with Chad and Chris and Sarah. Chris and Sarah had plans over the weekend and couldn’t make the shin-dig, but came home a day early to see us. It was great to get some cousin time and catch up after far too long.

It’s been at least 10 years since I spent that much time in Iowa with family. It felt really good to reconnect a bit and have some extended time with family. Grandma especially appreciated us visiting. It was truly a special bit of time.