This week started in Forest City, Iowa where we spent two days at the Winnebago Factory getting some minor work done on the motorhome. Next we moved on to Clear Lake, Iowa , and toured the area. At Algona we visited the Pharmacists’ Mutual Insurance Co. and toured the company as well as the Drug Store Museum that is located there. From there we went to the Grotto of the Redemption which is at West Bend, Iowa. It is a grotto built with rocks, stone, and marble from all over the world, built throughout the lifetime of Father Dobberstein, a priest from Bavaria, in honor of the Virgin Mary, whom he prayed to as a young man to save him from pneumonia. Every scene from the Bible is depicted throughout this series of grottos, gardens, and statues. From there we went to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. It is considered by many to be the cradle of “Rock and Roll” following the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. (the Big Bopper) Richardson, who crashed in a plane following their concert there. Every year a memorial concert is held there on the anniversary of their death. Clear Lake itself is a picture perfect little town on the lake, complete with main street shops and restaurants, and an amphitheater in the park on the square. At the time we were there they were having a Bikes, Blues, and BBQ festival. While Glenda visited the local J.C. Penney store, I checked out the Music Man Square in Mason City. This consists of the boyhood home of Meredith Wilson, a musician and composer who wrote and produced the “Music Man” which first played on Broadway in 1957. Also there is a Museum, and a 1912 Streetscape of “Main Street” used in the 1962 Warner Brothers’ movie “the Music Man.”
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 16:37:55 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015