I did end up going to work from 8-9. We left for Decorah at 10:00 a.m. and by noon, we arrived. It would have been a lot shorter but there was a long detour that we had to take and we stopped to see if a farm JB likes was open.
We found a beautiful park in Decorah that we stopped and had a great picnic lunch that JB had packed. Delicious strawberries, clemintines, chicken/pesto/mozarella cheese wraps, and boiled eggs. It was still a little chilly as you can see from the pictures below.
We couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00 but we didn't care. We started walking around the adorable shops downtown as you can see from the picture below. JB even bought me a necklace and earings at one shop and himself some jam in another. We kept saying how much our mothers would love these quaint little shops. We were just having a wonderful time.
The other thing that was wonderful was that as we walked, the sun came out more and more and the temperature went up more and more. We watched this bank sign as the numbers finally hit sixty and then, OH MY GOSH -- 64! It felt soooo good. Everyone was outside in shorts and t-shirts. We still had on pants and a light jacket, but it was just glorious.
Around 1:00 or so we found our way to our hotel. JB had picked the most AMAZING hotel -- Hotel Winnisheik. (I hope I am spelling that right.) It was an old turn-of-the-century hotel that had been rennovated. It was perfect. Our room included a whirlpool tub and our own bathrobes and a television with like,100 channels. (We were overwhelmed by that after our TV at home with, like, five stations including 4 home shopping and 1 Somalian).
I am including some pictures. They are a little dificult to see but wanted to include some anyway.
After we settled in and watched some NCAA basketball and took some naps, I tore JB away from TV (he found a few farming stations, the discovery channel, and a bunch of other animal shows) ... (okay, actually, he tore me away from basketball but you get my point), we headed back out in our car to drive around and tour some of the amazing architecture in the homes around the downtown area. They were so unique and fun to look at. Here are a few of our favorites:
We also found the "Porter House Museum". The Museum itself wasn't open but we got to view this turn-of-the century rock wall that the owner made himself. Very cool.
There were also churches on every corner as indicated by this picture below and the picture of a church which follows it. These churches were so old and the architecture quite unique.
We ate a great dinner at a restaurant in the hotel and followed it with a piece of cake each. We should have shared but of course I wanted the solid chocolate and JB wanted something with cherry flavor. But it was way too much chocolate.
This morning we had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, took another walk, and then decided to head home as there was a snow storm expected. We ate some lunch when we got home, laid down for a nap, and when I got up, sure enough, there was a ton of snow falling. You can't really see snow good in pictures I have come to realize. But here is a picture anyways. We are expecting another 1-3 inches overnight.
Well, needless to say we are glad to have enjoyed our warm Saturday and sun-filled sky because it appears the cold has returned!
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