Back Yard Trip is Interesting

By: EDWIN B. PETERSEN

HELLO FOLKS!  We took a day off recently and went for a drive around the country.  Went through Austin, Grand Meadow, Preston and Decorah.

We stopped at one of the caves over that way and got into Decorah at noon.  Decorah has two museums, both operated by the college; one on the campus, the other in a large building down town.  The main one is called the Norwegian – American Historical museum.  The title, of course, suggests what you might expect to find there.

We had a delightful time at Decorah.  A person can easily spend a day there just seeing the sights.  Having taken out picnic lunch along, including some raw hamburger, we inquired about picnic grounds.  We were directed to Phelps park.  It is situated on a hill (and I do mean a hill) overlooking the valley below.

We saw neither fly nor mosquito there.  There are kitchens with gas stoves available, plenty of tables and swings, slices and trapeze.

—

THE NEXT STOP was at the Little Brown Church near Nashua.  We got there just as a wedding was about to be held.  I noticed a justice of the peace had his shingle out by the road.  It was too big to hang so he had it staked.  It was interesting to see the church that inspired the song “Little Brown Church in the Vale”.  It was well taken care of and in good state of preservation.  The ole kerosene lamps with the reflectors behind them are still there on the walls.  The ones in the ceiling have been converted to electricity.

We had purchased a water melon along the way but for obvious reasons we didn’t eat it until we were started home.  Even so, we had to make one unscheduled stop.  Got home in time to get the milking done before dark.  One cow had gotten tired of waiting for us and gone down into the pasture.  She sure had a lot of milk the next morning.

—

THE CHILDREN had a grand time there.  We liked it so well we would like to have stayed, but we had planned for only a day and wanted to see other places before returning home.

The next stop was at Spillville, Iowa.  There we saw the Billy brothers clocks.  Words cannot describe the amazing array of clocks in the museum there.

The Billy brothers are farmers by trade.  They spent the summers farming, and the winters making clocks.  They are now in their 70’s.  They have deeded their museum to the town of Spillville, and it is always to remain there.

It is amazing the amount of intricate work that has been done by these two men.

—

WE REALLY enjoyed the trip.  It was a cool day and a fair breeze.  A suggestion to you folks who travel with small children:  We have some old sofa pillows.  They are stuffed with cotton and therefore quite firm.  We take them along.  They are good to sit on so the little ones can see out better.  If they get tired, they can put them in the bottom of the car and curl up for a nap.  That way they don’t fuss for the seat.

—

THERE ARE a lot of interesting sights to be seen, such as the ones we took in that day.  For those of you won’t get away on a vacation, why not plan to see a number of these things across your one back fence.  You’ll be glad you did.