Our Books With Friends group traveled up to Pella, Iowa on this day. it was a lovely trip only slightly marred by rainy weather. But we still had a great time exploring Pella just ahead of their annual Tulip Festival. It was the first time to Pella for all of the ladies and I enjoyed pointing out some of my favorite spots. We started our day by looking at the klokkenspiel. It was starting its performance right as we arrived! I had read that several of the figures were out being repaired... that certainly looked to be the case. Would be really curious if it was still like this 2 days later when the Tulip Festival began? Hmmm...
Because it was raining we hurried along to dinner. We tried out a place called Liberty Street Kitchen. It was new to me and was soooo good! It is over by the pricey hotel and canal. I had the corn chowder and got the appetizer of portobello fries with white truffle aioli. Oh my goodness, was that tasty! Colleen got the LSK sandwich (basically a really fancy club) and we shared our dishes. That was a huge sandwich!
After lunch it was still raining, although not as hard. The weather app kept saying it would stop in 15 minutes... all afternoon long. :D Sooooooo....
The canal area was still pretty, but boy it looked cold! The weather info attached to these photos says 48 degrees and drizzly. Yup, that sounds about right. Brrrrr.....
One of these days I will purchase a ticket to the museum and all the attractions. But I want to do that when I truly have enough time to enjoy it - so probably need an overnight visit. There is also a winery outside of town that sounds really nice...
I asked a lady to take our group photo. :) So glad to be with this wonderful group of women! We sure missed Sheryl, Karla and Brenda. Hopefully they can join in next time.
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| Rain-soaked, but smiling! Deb, Laura, Debbie, Colleen, Anne |
I chuckled when I realized they had even taken the wooden shoes inside. No photo op on this rainy day!
We stopped in several shops and then did a quick trip through the tulips, but the weather was pretty lousy at this point. However, any time you get to stop at Jaarsma Bakery you can call it a win! No matter the weather!
I was surprised at how the flowers looked. They were all closed up, due to the rain and cold I am sure. But also because they look to be so behind in the season. This spring just turned out to be so long and hard. We are just two days from Tulip Time. Julie told me they will fill in the gaps with already bloomed tulips... they will certainly have to! There are whole beds that have not yet bloomed.
But those that have are sure pretty! I would say Memorial Day would be about the perfect time to visit this year.
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| You see half that bed they are looking at is totally green - no blooms at all. |
