Solon to St. Donatus (mostly) Iowa (Day 2 of Spring Vacation)

Finished processing Day 2 of the Spring Trip.  Anytime this family sees ANYTHING with Frida Kahlo, we have to stop.  Found a Mexican place in Solon, Iowa, with her name on it.  Not open, though, at 9:30am in the morning - too bad.  I picked up a few waymarks in Mount Vernon - the highlight of the day was Anamosa, Iowa, former home of Grant Wood.  He was the painter of American Gothic - the man with the pitchfork and his daughter in front of the house.  Not often can I waymark an entire historic District in 90 minutes.  I then proceeded to Maquoketa and to St. Donatus.  We had to cut the visit short to St. Donatus and come back the next day.  Statistics:  180 pictures taken.  130 waymarks posted. 2 visits made.

Freda Kahlo Mexican Restaurant
The reason we had a Mexican lunch in Anamosa.

Old Masonic Hall - Anamosa
Great example of the older buildings in Anamosa

Civil War Monument in Mount Hope Cemetery - Maquoketa
Unusual because it is a Stone and Zinc Monument.

St. Donatus Catholic Church
This church is halfway up the hill and has a
great view of the valley below.

Monroe/Washington Iowa (Day 1 of Spring Vacation)

We decided that Covid or no Covid; we were going to go ahead and get out of Kansas City for a week.  This was a strange trip as we didn't really visit museums - it was a series of day trips from Dubuque.  No worries though - it was still fun and very interesting. 

The first real day was the drive from Des Moines to Coralville.  Normally, this would be a straight shot on I-80 that takes two hours, but we took the scenic route through Pella, Oskaloosa, Sigourney, West Chester, and then north on up to Coralville.  I made two stops because of interesting objects - 1st in Monroe, Iowa, an Octagonal Barn and a large zinc obelisk in the Monroe Cemetery; 2nd Washington, Iowa, a REALLY nice Second Empire building called Blair House.  I processed 90 pictures which turned into 55 waymarks.  Not bad for about an hour of picture taking.

Octagonal Barn in Monroe, Iowa

Zinc Obelisk Headstone
in Monroe, Iowa, Cemetery

Blair House - former Washington, Iowa
City Hall

Queen Anne building on 

Washington, Iowa, Town Square

Washington Bust located on the SE 

grounds of the Washington, Iowa Square