The beauty continued as we traveled outside of Decorah the day after we arrived to visit some of Nick's extended family.
The pace seems to slow way down and feels like life is much more simple out in the rural areas of Iowa. Some may think that's not the case at all (I know there is HARD work happening on the farms, don't get me wrong), but I feel at peace when I'm there (...probably because I'm not the one tending the farm- ha!).
We got to eat raspberries right off the bush. Talk about organic fruit!
They were delicious.
A friendly cat we found at the farm. It ended up giving Nick a small (short lived) rash on his neck. Farm life takes some adjusting for our poor allergies.
Happy flowers on the farm! (or weeds... either way, they're still happy!)
The guys had fun on the 4-wheeler. We couldn't help but notice this weekend Charlie and Nick's facial similarities. Like father like son!
Cubby had fun exploring the land too.
We also got to tour downtown Decorah for a bit. I LOVE small town downtowns.
I've always dreamt of owning a little shop/boutique in a small town downtown. Who knows what I'd sell, but it would be cute stuff, I can tell you that. I'd work next to a cute coffee shop too. Mmmm, I love main streets (or Water street in this case!).
Everyone stepping foot in Decorah has to eat at Mabe's. Most people passing through do! Mabe's was even awesome enough to make a cheese/dairy free pizza for me (at my mother-in-law's thoughtful request!) and it tasted great! I didn't even miss the cheese it was that good.
I think this building is cute and fits in with the Decorah culture well!
The Upper Iowa River running through Decorah
Hey, cutie:)
Of course there's beauty in the Iowa corn too!
I love the gnomes peaking out the windows. There's so much Norwegian pride there. According to Wikipedia, "Decorah has become a center for Norwegian-American culture originating from a high number of Norwegian settlements beginning in the 1850s". I need to visit the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum on one of our next trips!
We were getting ready for the wedding we were attending in down and thought we heard Cubby's tail knock into the glass door. No big deal. I stepped out of the bedroom a few minutes later and saw a DEER on the back porch.
It moseyed around the back yard until Nick scared it away by trying to open the door.
We also got to enjoy dinner at Water Street Cafe - the local co-op before heading to the wedding reception (we were going to meet up with Charlie and Diane post-dinner). I had been wanting to find this place since I heard about a co-op in Decorah. It didn't disappoint! It looks like they had a great lunch menu too.
We enjoyed Honest Tea with our dinners. Mine was lemon tea. Mmm.
Under the cap of my Honest Tea. Or maybe it was Nick's. I don't know, but I took it! Food for thought.
There is way more to see in Decorah (it's also home of Luther College you know) than I can put in a few posts, I'm sure I'll add more to it as time goes by!
There is way more to see in Decorah (it's also home of Luther College you know) than I can put in a few posts, I'm sure I'll add more to it as time goes by!
Turkey Spotting Update
So, a few weeks ago (here), I told you about our encounter with wild turkeys. I was thoroughly freaked out, but slightly relieved to find they don't eat humans. We've been going on run/jog/walks (the running part is Nick and the jog/walk is me haha) and I have been seriously on the lookout the the turkeys since we saw them on the path we pass by each time.
Today, we saw them again.
The entire family! The mom, the dad, and the 6 kids. We weren't even 1/4 mile from where we saw them last time and as Nick rounded a corner (he got there first), he spotted them. In the middle of the path. We watched them and they watched us and we carefully moved closer to make them move off the path. They were surprisingly less scary than I remember them being. They were (we're pretty sure) the same family and babies we saw last time and the babies were SO cute. They waddled off the path, being very cautious about us, and we carefully moved on by.
We made some loops on trails and came back by the same trail we saw them on. I said to Nick after seeing they weren't where we last saw them, "I wonder where they went?". He, as he rounded the corner before me, replied "here they are!". I got up there faster to take a look. One big one (either the mom or dad) was with a baby on side of this little bridge cars pass over, while the mom and rest of the babies were under the bridge, on the path we needed to cross.
It was hilarious actually as it felt like they trapped us - the dad let's say - was on top ready to attack us when we went under the bridge and the mom and babies were baiting us along from below or something. We were very patient, as I didn't want to scare them (maybe they'd attack! You never know.) and went toward them very slowly trying to coax them away so we could get by. The dad and baby moved from the top (I wasn't passing until they moved, I don't need an over-head turkey attack lol) and the mom and babies moved along as we got closer then they went into the grass making cute scared noises as they did so.
In the end, I realized I kind of like this turkey family! They really weren't scary and the babies are just so darn cute. The geese in the area are so mean and hiss at us and I realized I like the turkey family more than the geese on our walks.
We had a really great weekend this past weekend I want to write about soon too. Here's a sneak peak for now...
If you're still with me after the turkey story, here's today's Pinspiration:
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