Day Trip to Iowa

A couple of weeks ago three friends and I drove to Iowa to have a girls day out.  We had big plans and lots of ground to cover. Our first stop was to see a few of the covered bridges.  I have wanted to do this for several years since one of my favorite books came out, Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller.  I have to say I was a little disappointed with them.  There is a lot of graffiti inside the bridges and the ground surrounding the outside could use some TLC.  I would think there could be some landscaping done around the bridges to improve photos for visitors.

See what I mean here. Wouldn't this look great if it had maybe sunflowers or even daylilies instead of weeds?

This one was in a park, so it was landscaped better than the other two we visited. 

After visiting the 3 bridges and driving by John Wayne's Birthplace we headed to the Amana Colonies.  Since we still had another stop to make we only had lunch there and took 30 minutes to visit a couple of the shops there.  I picked up a jar of applesauce and some fresh fudge. Dark chocolate salted caramel...yes please! 

We did make plans to do another girls trip and stay in a bed and breakfast there.  The buildings were so beautiful.  Doing some research we found there are a couple of bed and breakfasts we can stay at and there is also a winery within walking distance.  Sounds like a great girls trip, doesn't it?  

 This is the only picture I took while we were there.  Isn't it pretty?

We continued on to LeClaire, Iowa to visit the Antique Archaeology shop.  One of the friends that was on the trip LOVES the show American Pickers. The sad thing was we just missed the stars of the show, Frank, Mike and Danielle by about 30 minutes.... if only we didn't stop to shop in Amana :(

The shop wasn't what I expected either.  There wasn't much there as far as antiques.  They did have a big store right by the garage that had t-shirts and other souvenirs.  I did pick up a t-shirt for myself and my husband, who is also a fan of the show.  

We stopped down the road from Antique Archaeology, which is right on the Mississippi River, and had ice cream before heading home.  All in all it was a fun trip, not as much for what we did, but because of the company.  Remember, it's not the destination, it's the journey and these girls are a blast.