Iowa Girl on the Go

With no little kids in the house these days, and no grandkids yet, Halloween does not interest me very much right now. I used to sew the kids’ costumes and decorate the house and buy lots of candy and carve jack-o-lanterns, but not anymore. And since Halloween and Iowa State’s Homecoming fell on the same weekend, that was one more reason to ignore the holiday.

I did, however, find one fun Halloween-y thing to do. Katie and I took Charley (my new grandpuppy) to the Ames Dog Park for the first annual Parks and Recreation Howl-O-Ween costume party.

Charley was the cutest little pink butterfly you ever saw. There were lots of other dogs there, dressed as bees and corn on the cob and pirates and cowboys and little ballerinas — all sniffing each other madly.

Some big dogs (on the other side of the fence) came dressed up, too, although it’s not so easy to get a 100-pound dog in a tutu.

Happy Halloween!

I was very excited when I heard Spring Awakening was coming to Stephens Auditorium this fall. I can still remember watching the 2007 Tony Awards, not knowing much of anything about the show, and seeing the reaction of the crowd every time it got nominated. And then, when the cast performed, I understood what all the fuss was about – this was a groundbreaking musical. This was something really different.

Spring Awakening ended up winning eight Tony Awards that night: best musical, book, score, direction, choreography, orchestrations, lighting design, and best featured actor in a musical (John Gallagher, Jr.). We were lucky enough to get tickets to see the show on Broadway a few months later, with the original cast still intact. I was thrilled! I would easily count it in my top five all-time favorite shows.

Two of the three original lead actors, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff, have gone on to become famous for their roles in the popular TV show Glee. And Gallagher is currently the lead in the Broadway musical American Idiot. So the show had a lot of star power. In fact, I believe that every member of that young original ensemble cast could have sung the lead roles – it was such a great group of voices, and each character was so strong.

In the bus-and-truck version, which came through Ames Friday night, the voices were far less impressive. The cast was very young and, I learned afterwards, had only been performing together since September.

The show, set in late 19th century Germany, is about the sexual awakening and civil disobedience of a group of adolescent students. On Broadway, there are a few moments of humor, many moments of tragedy, and a lot of rock and roll.

The touring company, perhaps inadvertently, put far more emphasis on the humorous aspects of the musical. Or maybe it was the audience’s reaction — not knowing the tragic consequences that would ultimately befall the show’s young characters. Nevertheless, it was difficult to sit through the performance after seeing the true greatness of the original production.

After being on the road the past two weekends, I contemplated doing NOTHING this weekend except sleep late, drink coffee in my backyard, and attend the wedding of a friend’s daughter. But today was such an incredible fall day, and I keep thinking that one of these days this beautiful fall weather is going to end, so I decided to take advantage of it.

I started out this morning at Ledges State Park, where I ate a muffin and drank some coffee that I bought at Café Milo in west Ames. Then I hiked the upper part of the canyon despite the warnings that there were bow-and-arrow deer hunters about. Yuck! Fortunately, I did not see any hunters.

Ledges State Park is one of my favorite places, and it’s only about 15 minutes from my house, so I go there a lot.

After a quick hike, I decided to go to Northern Prairie Chevre, which is south of Ledges near Woodward, Iowa. I’ve been there before, because we did a VISIONS story on the three women who run the goat cheese business – Wendy Mickle, Connie Lawrance, and Kathy Larson. Since that story ran in 2004, they’ve added a gift shop and have frequent open houses, but I’ve never gone to one because I can always find their products at the Des Moines Farmers’ Market and at Wheatsfield grocery here in Ames.

I decided it was worth the drive this weekend because – sadness! – the women are calling it quits at the end of the year. They’re selling the business. I know there are other local goat cheese producers but I am going to miss this one, because it’s my favorite.

There were tons of people at the open house. I bought some goat cheese and toured the barn. I love the goats – one of them tried to eat my purse – and also the huge guard dog, Honeybump, a Great Pyrenees.

When I was buying my little tubs of spreadable cheese, Kathy asked if I was going to the other open houses in the area: Flowers by Donna Jean, Prairieland Herbs, and Picket Fence Creamery. Well sure, why not? My car was already filthy from the gravel road.

I followed the directions into downtown Woodward to the first stop, Flowers by Donna Jean. I’ve never been to this shop before; in fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever been in downtown Woodward before. I was really impressed; the shop is a mix of flowers, gifts, antiques, and other home decor, all extremely well-priced. Today they even had samples of Olde Main Oktoberfest, my current favorite local beer. I bought a couple of pieces of pottery for a Christmas gift.

I got lost trying to find Prairieland Herbs (I missed the road after the golf course because the sign was covered by a tree). It’s on a gravel road, too, so by this time my car was really, really dirty. People were parked up and down the road, but honestly, I didn’t see much there that I was interested in buying. It did smell good, though.

From there, I toggled between S Ave. and Hwy. 210 a couple of times and ended up at Picket Fence Creamery. This is one place I’ve visited before (the next sample Sunday is Nov. 17, and there are two sample days in December). They have the most amazing ice cream there. You can find it at Hy-Vee and Wheatsfield, but I think it tastes fresher when you buy it at the farm. They also have farm eggs, milk, cream, butter, pie, Iowa wine, pumpkins, local honey, and a bunch of other stuff. It was so crowded I could hardly see everything that was in the store. I ate a sample of a pumpkin muffin and drank a little bit of apple cider and then bought a couple of cartons of ice cream. On the way out, I stopped by an apple vendor and bought a half peck of yellow apples.

I could do nothing fun on the way home because it was a race against time before the ice cream started to melt.

I thought I had been to northeast Iowa before, but only after spending two days up there earlier this week do I truly appreciate the beauty of this part of the state. It’s really not at all like the rest of Iowa. In the fall, it’s sort of the New England of the Midwest.

I headed northeast last Sunday morning, full of advice from my friends Scott and Jim and accompanied by a fall color tour guide written by Mike Kilen of the Des Moines Register. From Ames, I took I-35 north to Hwy. 20 because I wanted to get there fast, but once I reached Hwy. 150 at Independence, things started to slow down. There truly is no easy way to get there, and that’s part of the fun.

So I took Hwy. 150 to Oelwein (a funny name for a town) and then Hwy. 3 to Strawberry Point. Scott told me the drive from Strawberry Point to Elkader was pretty, and it was. It’s amazing – when you turn north on Hwy. 13 it’s like the land just changes. Suddenly my car was groaning up the hills. IN IOWA. Just outside Elkader is the Barn on the Bluff B&B, where I stopped to take pictures. You apparently can reserve the entire 100-year-old barn for a family getaway. I did not go in (I was more or less trespassing as it was) but the outside looks beautiful and the pictures on the website are really cool. One thing I will say for sure: the view is fantastic.

From Elkader I stayed on Hwy. 13 up to, well, I’m not sure where, but I came to a sign that said “this way to Guttenberg” so I took that road (Hwy. 52). If you are following along on the map, you will see that I backtracked about 20 miles, but that’s OK. The drive was pretty, with a great payoff in Guttenberg: a view of the Mississippi River.

I’ve seen the Mississippi dozens and dozens of times, but I have to say that it looks very, very different in northeast Iowa/northwest Wisconsin. Lots of picturesque little “islands” and cool inlets and steep bluffs and unique bridges. It’s nothing like crossing the Mississippi in St. Louis, or the Quad Cities, or even Dubuque. So I took some pictures up on a bluff overlooking the river and then went into Guttenberg and walked around. It was a nice, warm day and lots of people were strolling the park that runs the length of the town along the river.

From Guttenberg, I took the Great River Road to McGregor, stopping in Pikes Peak State Park just long enough to realize I didn’t want to be there. By mid-afternoon, the temperature had reached the upper 80s and I swear every man, woman, child, and dog had driven their car to the park for what might be the last nice Sunday afternoon of the season. I literally could not find a place to park, and after being in a traffic jam for about half an hour, I headed OUT of the park and into McGregor.

My originally plan was to hike in Pikes Peak and then go to Effigy Mounds and THEN go to McGregor, where I had a hotel reservation. But I hadn’t counted on the crowds. And here’s the thing about me and crowds: I don’t like them. I love the idea that people are using and enjoying our state parks, but I just wish they wouldn’t do it when I’m there. I much prefer being alone. So I quickly changed my plans and decided to do those two things on Monday instead. Which left me with lots of time on my hands on Sunday afternoon.

Lucky for me, the town has several antiques stores. And there was a fall arts festival going on. Plus, I found the Old Man River Brewing Company, a wonderful bar and restaurant located in a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I had no problem killing time at the bar, watching the people out on the street and downing a few Scottish ales.

I stayed at possibly the weirdest hotel EVER that night in McGregor. It’s called the Alexander Hotel…well, technically, it’s the Latinos Mexican Restaurant Bar Hotel – at least that’s what the sign says on the front. Now, I chose this hotel with my eyes wide open. Here is what it says on the hotel’s website: “Seldom, in a small Mississippi River town will you find a hotel with nicely furnished rooms, good food and drink, meeting rooms, high speed Internet connection and a festive, relaxed, friendly Mexican atmosphere.”

True, right? I actually chose the hotel based on the address, because it seemed to be within walking distance of pretty much everything in McGregor, which it was. So I am not complaining. In fact, I sort of liked the place, even though when I first saw it I laughed out loud and figured my room would definitely smell like salsa. But it worked fine for me – the ultimate anti-chain hotel.

So I slept at the weird hotel and got up early the next morning because at this point I was behind in my itinerary. I headed straight for Pikes Peak State Park where – hallelujah! – there were about three people (plus me) watching the sun come up and the fog roll off the river. A more spectacular sight there never was. I took a lot of pictures and congratulated myself for being so smart to come back on a Monday morning. Good decision!

I needed to eat something after that, and the restaurant Mike Kilen recommended in McGregor wasn’t actually open despite the three huge signs declaring it was NOW OPEN. So I drove about 30 seconds to Marquette and ate eggs, hashbrowns, and toast at an authentic little riverfront diner. I know I was the only tourist there, because I was the only one carrying a camera.

My next stop was Effigy Mounds National Monument, which I am embarrassed to say I had never visited before, even though I’ve lived in Iowa for 13 years. Well, it’s just an absolute state treasure and I can’t believe it took me so long to realize this. I paid my entrance fee (just $3, or free with a National Parks pass) and hiked up to the Great Bear Mound Group and then on to Fire Point and Eagle Rock, both of which offered spectacular views of the Mississippi River. I literally could have spent a full day at Effigy Mounds, because is has everything: history, scenic beauty, great hiking through gorgeous woods. But I needed to move on. And besides, just about the time I got back to the visitors’ center after my hike, a busload of middle school kids unloaded…and you know how I feel about crowds. And groups of kids are the absolute worst (sorry!)

From Effigy Mounds, I took Hwy. 76 to Yellow River State Forest. I was hoping to do a little hiking there, but I ended up mostly just driving through the forest and enjoying the quiet and trying not to get lost. After that, I drove through Harper’s Ferry (disappointing) and then up to Lansing.

Lansing is a really, really cool little river town. For one thing, it’s got the scariest bridge I’ve ever driven across. And it’s got a park at the top of a tall bluff that to get there you have to literally make these steep, climbing, hairpin turns. Again, my car was groaning. But the top of that peak (Mount Hosmer) offered yet another extraordinary view of the Mississippi. I’m pretty sure it makes the cover of the state tour guide every year (and now it’s on my Facebook page).

I got gas and ate lunch in Lansing at a place called T.J. Hunter’s where the nice waitress let me order a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids’ menu. As I sat in the restaurant, I noticed a place across the street called Horsfall’s Lansing Variety, which Mike Kilen had specifically mentioned in his article was a not-to-be-missed attraction. So after I finished my meal, I walked across the street and went in Horsfall’s. It’s definitely an experience, that store. Have you seen the show “Hoarders: Buried Alive” on TLC? I am ashamed to admit that I watched that show once, and Horsfall’s kind of reminded me of the crazy people who can’t throw anything away. But it’s really a fun store and I bought a couple of books there for $1.49 each. You can’t beat that.

From Lansing, I probably would have taken Hwy. 9 to Waukon and then on to Decorah. But my friend Scott’s dad said to tell me to take Elon Drive (which is also called Alamakee County Road A52), so I did. After seeing so many breathtaking views of the Mississippi River and such pretty wooded areas, I was not expecting that FARMLAND would be the highlight of my northeast Iowa adventure, but indeed it was.

The whole area of far-northeast Iowa has pretty farmland. I kept stopping and taking pictures of it. Sometimes I’d round a curve and there would be a little white church with a steeple and a little country cemetery next to a cornfield or a rolling hillside with a barn and some cows and a grain silo and I’d think, MAN, this is really pretty. But the 13 miles of Elon Drive / A52 have got to be the absolutely most beautiful farmland in America. Hands down. It’s like a freaking Grant Wood painting from end to end. (Thanks, Scott’s dad, for the tip! I never would have gone this way.)

Once I got to Waukon, I hooked up with Hwy. 9 and headed to Decorah, a super nice town where I was hoping to eat ice cream and fill up my coffee cup for the drive home. Alas, to my great disappointment, the Sugar Bowl ice cream store was closed for the season. I had to make do with a strong cup of coffee and a power-walk along Decorah’s fine main shopping district.

I took Hwy. 9 back across to I-35 and tried to stay awake and not hit any farm equipment. The highlight of that section was driving through Osage, Iowa, only to realize that town had the most brilliant fall color of anywhere I’d visited in the last 48 hours. Truly, all of the trees looked like they were on fire. In Osage, Iowa. Who knew?

I’m back home now, with more than 2,000 miles on my car since Oct. 1.

I’ve been hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail on the North Shore of Lake Superior for 10 years now. The first time, I went with my friend Teri, and we hiked “lodge to lodge.” It was a pretty cool deal: We spent the night at a resort; then the next morning we ate breakfast, they gave us a sack lunch, we drove our car to one end of a hiking trail, they dumped us off at the other end, and we hiked back to our car. Then we drove to the next lodge and repeated the whole thing. After three days of hiking up mountains and over boulders, we could barely walk, but it was a blast.

The next year (2001), I went alone. The lodge-to-lodge experience had been great because it allowed me to explore the area, stay in very different kinds of lodging (from lakeside resort to rustic cabin), and gain some confidence in my ability to follow a hiking trail. But I didn’t want to do lodge to lodge again because, frankly, I didn’t want the hassle of packing and moving to a new place every night. The area Teri and I traveled only amounted to about 30 miles, so it seemed silly to stay in more than one place.

I had heard that Cascade Lodge was a good place to stay. It’s a traditional lodge with standard rooms, plus several private log cabins. Teri and I hadn’t stayed there on our trip because it was full, but we ate breakfast at the restaurant there one morning.

I booked Cabin 2 for four nights in fall 2001. That was probably the best trip I ever took, because for the first time in my life I was completely independent – I’d never even driven that far on my own. I had to maneuver through the Twin Cities and Duluth, find remote trailheads, hike alone, eat alone, and hang out in the cabin alone.

I loved it. I built fires in the fireplace, drank wine, hiked my ass off, got really dirty, saw amazing fall color, ate wild rice pizza at Sven and Ole’s in Grand Marais, and came back to the cabin so tired one night that I fell asleep with my hiking boots on.

In the next five years, I hiked on most of the trail sections on the Superior Hiking Trail (about 240 miles, end to end, from Two Harbors to Canada). I hiked there a couple of times each year, in the fall and late spring, to experience the peak of the fall color and spring flowers. I developed a routine: I always stopped at the first rest stop in Minnesota to pee, stopped in St. Paul at Whole Foods for trail snacks, marveled (when I popped up over the big hill in Duluth) at the first glimpse of Lake Superior – as big as an ocean. Heading north on Hwy. 61 after I-35 ends in Duluth, I usually stopped at a park and sat on the rocks and tried not to get attacked by seagulls. Even if it was hot when I left Ames, by the time I got to the Lake, it was always jacket weather.

From Duluth, you can take the expressway to Two Harbors. And then once you get past Two Harbors, it’s all just magical. The air is fresher, the trees are taller, and the sky is bigger. It even smells different. And there’s the Lake, sometimes just out of sight as you’re driving along hilly, curvy, wonderful Hwy. 61, but always there.

Sometime around 2006 I started getting old and out of shape, and I skipped a couple of my northern hiking trips. By the time I reestablished my routine in fall 2008, I was so out of shape that hiking sort of became secondary to just BEING in northern Minnesota.

So I embraced that. Now I still hike, and I still love the trail and the seasons more than just about anything, but I stay away from the really strenuous and treacherous trails that I used to do — because god forbid I should fall and break a hip alone in the wilderness, right? And the days of 15-20 mile hikes are gone. I’m happy if I do a short hike in the morning and another short hike in the afternoon. I sleep in, take long showers, eat that yummy pizza at Sven and Ole’s, drink beer at the Gunflint Tavern in Grand Marais, drink wine and read good novels in my cabin, build fires every night in the fireplace, and eat pie on the way home at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors. It’s become a gastronomical adventure!

This fall, I booked Cabin 2 at Cascade Lodge for Oct. 1-3. The first weekend in October is usually the peak of the fall color. This year I missed it by at least a week – maybe two. All of the pretty maple leaves were on the ground. I guess fall came early this year.

I still had a great time. The weather was perfect for hiking: 52 degrees and sunny.

If you like to hike, or just enjoy the outdoors, I highly recommend a trip to the north shore. The trail is widely varied, with intimate birch, maple, and pine forests; wide meadows; deep canyons; high peaks; spectacular overlooks of Lake Superior and inland lakes; waterfalls; and rivers. It’s perfect for day hikes, serious through-hikers, and backcountry camping.

It takes me about 8-9 hours to drive from Ames to my lodge – and you can stay further south if you want. There is plenty of lodging along Hwy. 61.

I would not hike this trail without buying the book Guide to the Superior Hiking Trail. The book, now in its sixth edition, gives a blow-by-blow description of each trail and (sometimes more importantly) helps you find the trailheads. I’ve sometimes been frustrated by the book because it doesn’t warn you about some of the more treacherous sections (the author calls them “challenging” and mentions “ascents” and “descents” when I would use much stronger – sometimes unprintable — words), but it’s a good mile-by-mile description nonetheless. And it offers a lot of interesting information about the geography, history, flora, and fauna of the trail.

The trail runs through seven state parks – themselves worth a trip north — and now features a section in Duluth that will eventually be connected to the rest of the trail.

Check out these links!
Superior Hiking Trail Association (i.e., everything you ever wanted to know about the Superior Hiking Trail): http://www.shta.org/
Cascade Lodge (my favorite place to stay): http://www.cascadelodgemn.com/
Lodge-to-lodge Hiking: http://www.boundarycountry.com/hiking.html