We had an outstanding day. There was wind but the sun was out and blue skies. We woke up to 58 degrees and the high was 85 degrees.
I crawled out of bed about 7:30 and got dressed. Then I made mini waffles for breakfast and we shared a shake. We hung around the Minnie until 9:30. We took the motorcycle off it's carrier and then we rode to the town of Pella, which was 5.2 miles from the campground.
Pella is a small Iowa town with the population of 10,464, it was founded by Dutch immigrates in 1847. The 800 Dutch immigrants were led by Dominee (Minister) Hendrick "Henry P. Scholte settled the area know as Pella. It was named Pella in reference to Pella of Decapolis, where the Christians of Jerusalem had found refuge during the Roman-Jewish War of 70, the name was selected because the Dominee and his followers sought religion freedom as well. (Wikipedia) It is a quaint town with shops, cafe, bakeries and more.
We arrived at Pella around 9:40 and walked around. Larry had read about places to see and visit before we left. Pella is well known for their tulips. The city didn't disappoint us. There are two great parks to see the tulips, Central Park and Sunken Gardens. The first site we walked by was the famous Vermeer Windmill, during the tourist season you can get a guided tour for $20 a piece. Tours are not happening right now but you can see the windmill from the street. The blades still go around and it's very nice. Next was the Klokkenspel, where there is a glass window and they do performances every two hours on the history of Pella. The first performance wasn't until 11:00 so we continued walking around.
Next was Central Park to see the beautiful gardens of tulips. There was a windmill building, where you can get information at. It was very cute. There were two entrances to the park. One had a tall tower, that said Tulip Time and the other one was called Tulip Avenue. We entered at the tower. There were tulips all over the place. The was a huge Sundial and a sign, that explained how the sundial worked. It doesn't work like our clocks it works by using the Sun's position to cast a shadow from a raised object called a gnome onto a marked surface known as a dial plate. Today it was pointing at 12:30 and it was 10:30. It was neat to see. We walked around and down tulip avenue, which had signs in front of the tulips explaining each type of tulip that was there. There was a beautiful fountain.
Next was Sunken Gardens, which was about four blocks away. As we walked to the Sunken Gardens we passed by tulips in everyone's front yard and along the sidewalk. Sunken Garden is a small park with a beautiful pond and a windmill. There was a walkway, that went around the pond with gardens of tulips. As we walk around the pond there were signs about the history of Pella. It was a very nice walk around the pond.
As we exited Sunken Garden Park we saw a cute log cabin, which was called Tuttle Log Cabin. It is a historic 1843 log cabin owned by Thomas and Nancy Tuttle, it was originally in the center of Pella.
We walked back to the Klokkenspel so we could watch the show about the history of Pella. We got back with ten minutes to spare. It was a cute presentation shown in the windows with eight characters. It started on the street side and then ended in the little common, where there was seating. Larry read this so we watched the beginning but most of the people only watched the second half. There was only a small plate, that said the show started at the street. The Klokkenspel is a historic carillon clock, that featuring eight 4-foot mechanical figures that perform the local and history of the Dutch heritage.
Street Side Scenes
Dominie Hendrik Scholte (leader of the 1847 Dutch immigrates)
Blacksmith
Lawman Wyatt Earp
Courtyard Scenes of the Tulip Time Festival
A wooden shoe maker
Flower girls with tulips
Street scrubbers after the festival
After watching the performance we walked down the road to Vander Ploeg Bakery Company. We weren't planning to stop here but Jaarsma Bakery had a line out of it's door and down the street. We're glad we stopped at Vander Ploeg Bakery Company because the service was super and the employees were friendly. We bought a creme filled pastry with sugar on top, a creme filled pasty with chocolate chips on top, two apple strudels and a Dutch Apple Bread. We had a super experience.
Pastries we bought
Dutch Apple Bread
After buying our pastry we walked back to the motorcycle. Then we drove back to Hollow Station Recreation Area.
It was lunchtime by the time we got back so we shared a sandwich and chips. For dessert we shared an apple strudel and the chocolate chip pastry. We also had some of the bread. Everything was delicious.
After lunch we went to the Lake Red Rock Visitor Center. We loaded onto the motorcycle and rode there. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to see they were building a new visitor center, which was going to be 2200 square feet. The lady in the visitor center was very friendly and helpful. She was excited about the new visitor center. She also informed us, that the current facility was closing at the end of the day for good. The new one wasn't going to open until next year. They were going to work on the parking lot. It's a small visitor center but had a lot to offer. It had displays about different turtles, which were Western Painted turtles, Jim (a huge 20 year old snapping turtle) and another turtle. They had a display of fish in Lake Red Rock, which were Black Bullhead, Bluegill, Plecostomus and Green Sunfish. They had other displays of wildlife and very nice Bald Eagle. It was amazing how much they had in a small building. It was fun talking to the lady and walking around inside and outside.
Visitor Center
Lake Red Rock
Jim not that great of a picture because he's in a glass display
Display of the fish in the area
Bald Eagle
In the evening I walked around the campground and the day area on our side of the lake for an hour and twenty minutes for 3.5 miles. I walked to the bridge and checked it out. There was a sign there explaining the bridge. The bridge was called Horn's Ferry Bridge named after Elias Horn, who operated a ferry at this location in 1869 before the bridge was built. The ferry transported cattle, horses, wagons, and household goods across the Des Moines River between Pella and Knoxville. In 1982 after 101 years the bridge was closed to vehicles but remained open to pedestrians and bicycles. In 1991 one of the stone pillar collapsed and took 300 feet of the bridge down the river. The remaining portion of the bridge is now an observation point for wildlife viewing, particular bald eagles. There was also an interesting sign about Gladys Black. She used this area for over 25 years to educate herself and others about birds and habitat needs. By the time she died in 1998 at the age of 89, she had recorded 305 species of birds at Lake Red Rock. There is a fence at the bridge with different birds on it and how big their wing span is. The birds were Barred Owl (39-43 inches), Turkey Vulture (67-70 Inches), Pileated Woodpecker (26-30 inches) and Great Blue Heron (66-79 inches). After reading the signs I continued my walk around the campground. I was almost finished and decided to walk down to the day area because I wanted to get more steps. I saw a lot of people fishing at the dam. I also saw a lot of bicyclist using the trail. I had a super walk.
Horn's Ferry Bridge
Des Moines River
Barred Owl
Turkey Vulture
Great Blue Heron
Pileated Woodpecker
Neighborhood cat playing in the grass
I spent the rest of the evening playing games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 1 hour, 12 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.
While I walked and played games Larry read his news groups, Reddit groups and did research on where to go after leaving here.
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I would love to hear friendly comments on anything at all. Ruth