Historic Treasures

Historic Treasure One.  Good friends. 

I met “Snowman” Dennis in chat quite a few years ago.  We quickly became friends, both online and in “real” life.  So that makes his and his wife’s friendship historic. Right?  And they are definitely a treasure.

Dennis and Kris live in Wisconsin (Ya!) and we live in Missouri.  We’ve visited each other’s homes quite a few times.  This time we decided to try something different and meet each other halfway.  So we met at the Amana Colonies in Iowa.

Historic Treasure Two.  Amana Colonies

The Amana Colonies are a National Historic Landmark and one of the America’s longest-lived communal societies with its history beginning in 1855.  The residents were fleeing Germany from persecution and poverty when they came to the states.  Their communal life where everyone had a role to play and no wages were earned was one of simplicity and humility and worship.  This way of life ended in 1932 during the Great Depression.

General Store

Today The Colonies are a national treasure with the buildings restored to their 1800’s simplicity.  We were constantly grinning at the friendliness of the many shop keepers.  Yea, that’s right.  The colonies are now a tourist trap made up of shops and restaurants. 

 

I didn’t buy anything Jim – really I didn’t!

Lilly Tomlin, eat your heart out.

We were able to step back in time mentally as we’d walk past the simple buildings or the many old barns.

These historic old barns are so cool.  I can just imagine what they were like when these were working farms

Trellises are anchored to almost all of the buildings for grapes to grow on.  Sometimes there is a cut out area for the windows and sometimes not.  I’d need the cut out myself.

Historic Treasure Three.  The weather. (ok not much historic about weather, but it was definitely a treasure)

Small vineyards were sprinkled in and amongst the buildings.

Clear skies – gorgeous weather!

We couldn’t have placed a special order for better weather!  The evenings actually dipped into the 40’s.  During the day it was nice and warm in the sun and a little cool in the shade. 

Everywhere we looked we saw sunflowers, coneflowers, and grape vines.

It was fun laughing, eating, shopping, drinking, laughing, shopping, drinking, eating, eating, shopping…  with Dennis and Kris.  We always laugh until our belly hurts when we are with them. 

Did I mention that we ate a lot of food?  The restaurants served German food family style.  Lots and lots of potatoes (usually fried) sauerkraut, pancakes, fried catfish (whole, not filleted), pork, German chocolate cake, cheese cake… Oh my poor diet!

There were quite a few wineries.  But I’ll have to say the wines are just “ok”.  They were mostly very sweet with a twang of some kind that we couldn’t quite place. So why in the world do we have so many bottles of wine!  I have this thing that when I go into a place to taste wine, I feel guilty if I don’t buy. 

        

Lilly Lake.  I like how the clouds intermingle with the lilies.

We enjoyed the trip – but it is definitely good to be back home!