Day 2: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.
            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

     "Pre-Teen" and pointing...
     The day started with a good hot breakfast and then as we headed back to our room and were waiting for the elevator, the door opened and there were two women and a "girl" holding a large teddy bear in one arm and a curling iron in the other. Her hair was wild and her eyes had that faraway look in them. She walked out and the last woman to leave the elevator pointed at her and said "Pre-Teen" and rolled her eyes.
     Here's to another adventurous and sunny day! The weather is perfect outside.

     Today was spent in the Amana Colonies.

     What are they? Several towns by Cedar Rapids, Iowa where German settlers set up communal villages around 1855.  There are tons of shops including a woolen mill.  On the way, we stopped to see the world's largest wooden nickel.

World's Largest Wooden Nickel

     We also stopped at a "Literary" rest area on I-80 Eastbound. Since we were Westbound, we had to drive past it, pull off at the next exit and circle back. Then we had to go East to the next exit and circle back to continue. The rest area had the cleanest bathrooms ever.

Literary Rest Stop in Iowa

Giant Pencil at the Literary Rest Stop

     Once in the Amana Colonies, we traveled between East Amana, Middle Amana and West Amana and stopped at multiple shops. My favorite shops included the Woolen Mills and the Broom Shop where they had a giant wooden bentwood rocker made out of Maple wood.

     We ate lunch at the brewery in town and had Brats, Sauerkraut and Hot German Potato Salad.



     Our stay was in Marengo, Iowa in a small motel. We were the only guests for the longest time and then they put someone in the room next to us. Go figure; multiple rooms available and they put someone next to our room.

     For dinner, we ate at a restaurant owned by Greek owners and had Gyros. The owner's family was sitting near us and one woman talked non-stop mixing English and Greek together. It was interesting to hear about a shyster lawyer.
    We did some geocaching in Iowa as well We found two geocaches.

     By this time it was around 11 PM. We decided to go to bed and my sister checked her mattress and discovered a bed bug!!! That was it!!! She told me she wasn't sleeping in that room. We called the owner, got our money back and proceeded to drive all the way to Des Moines, Iowa arriving there well after midnight. We ended up getting a nicer room in a new hotel with a hot breakfast for less money than that bed bug hotel. Ugh!!
     One note of interest...the toilet at our hotel in Des Moines had the LOUDEST flush ever.

     That's it for today