On October 22-24th I had an enjoyable trip with the Hilltoppers group from First Baptist Church in Affton. Their pastor Dana Burris and his wife Sandy put together two trips a year. This trip was to West Branch, Amana, and Gladbrook, Iowa.
We had good food, good fun and fellowship, and the sun even came out for the last day.
Some of the places and sites we visited were:
Bethany Lutheran Church in West Branch for a delicious meal of Swedish meatballs and to enjoy their beautiful stain glass windows.
We then went around the block to have a guided tour of the Herbert Hoover museum. While he is most often remembered and blamed for the Great Depression we learned that he had many great accomplishments before, during and after his presidency. One of the passengers commented that he should have been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for all of his humanitarian efforts.
That evening we enjoyed the one man presentation "Grant Wood: Prairie Rebel" at the Old Creamery Theatre Company. Grant Wood is most noted for his painting "American Gothic."
The next day we traveled to Gladbrook, Iowa to see the matchstick creations of local artist Patrick Acton and have lunch at the community center.
That afternoon we returned to the Amana colonies to visit the shops, have supper at the Ox Yoke Inn and attend the performance of "From the Homefront" at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company.
The next day we enjoyed the sun while we shopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall in the morning and then visited a few more Amana sites before we returned to the St. Louis area.
It was an excellent trip with gracious hosts. You can look me up on Facebook to see all the photos and additional comments. You may also want to look up: www.matchstickmarvels.com.
