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Bob and I had a great meet-up and hand-off with Kris, who will be housitting for the remainder of our homeowners’ trip. They chose to split the sit since they weren’t sure if anyone could or would want to do the whole thing. Kris is another experienced house sitter (30+ sits, sometimes with her daughter), who is also a former work colleague of one of the homeowners.

We will definitely miss the super sweet Bijou and Nala but may be coming back in December for a month long sit.

Other photos from our final days in Pella.

A few pics of the tulips in bloom.

And a mystery solved. A design feature that we (Bob first) noticed on many of the buildings downtown (see top level of Jaarsma Bakery and store 2 to the left) is a representation of Danish windows.

After our transfer with Kris, we drove 1.5 hours to Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa to do a repeat housesit for two cats for a week before heading back to Des Moines for more medical procedures for Bob and potentially jury duty for Beth along with one more housesit.

During our walk through with our homeowners they mentioned that we might enjoy a visit to Lake Red Rock, which is close to Pella. We got some additional information about it from a travel brochure that we had picked up downtown. Since no rain was in the forecast for today and it was to be less blustery than it has been, we decided to go check it out.

We started at the park’s Visitor Center, which was about a 15 minute drive from the house. There we learned that Red Rock is actually the largest lake in Iowa. It is 11 miles long and has a water surface of 15,250 acres. The lake and the Red Rock Dam were created by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1969 to reduce the risk of flooding along the Des Moines River. The dam is also used to provide hydroelectric power.

From the Visitors Center, we drove about 18 minutes to Cordova Park to climb the observation tower there and then walk some of the Volksweg Trail.

The Cordova Observation Tower was constructed as a water tower in 1972 as part of the park’s water system. The water tower was 15’ in diameter and 100’ tall. It could hold 130,000 gallons of water. In 1984, the park was able to utilize rural water, so the tower was no longer needed. It was converted into an observation tower in 1998 with the addition of stairs, the observation deck, and a red light on top to help with navigation for boaters. It is the tallest in the Midwest and is recognized as having the tallest and longest continuous fiberglass staircase in the world.

The following are pics from our out and back walk on the Volksweg Trail.

Happy April Fools’ Day! No pranks within this blog however.

On Sunday afternoon, Bob and I drove about 12 minutes due east of us to the local winery in the area, Tassel Ridge. We got there about 3:30 to find that their electricity had gone out. They apologized and said that if we did a tasting, they would have to substitute cheese and crackers for the usual warmed bread with dipping. Since we rarely are offered any food with a paid tasting, that still sounded good to us. There were a couple of tables being served, and we found a table on their patio where there was plenty of natural light and a nice view.

I will not remember this visit for the quality of the wine. Most was okay, but something I would have been disappointed with in a restaurant, but I will remember the staff’s friendliness, professionalism (they had old time credit card carbon-paper receipts ready to go since they couldn’t use their computers), and their generous portions of food and drink, as you’ll see below. They even brought us the bread and oil for free in addition to the cheese and crackers after the electricity came back on.

Today, after a breakfast at a downtown cafe that our homeowners left us a gift card for, and after walking a few blocks in the very cool temps (feels like temp in the high 20s F) to exchange a book at a Free Little Library, we headed to Frisian Farms Cheese House for some locally made, Dutch inspired cheese. Note: the cheese we were served at the winery was a Frisian Farms Gouda.

The farm is located between where we are staying and the winery. It is run by two local men, who eventually both returned to Iowa to pursue the dairy business after realizing they missed the cows their dad sold when his land was annexed by the city. They decided to make Gouda cheese as a nod to their own and the community’s Dutch heritage.

A nice young man talked us through the cheese making process and encouraged us to sample their varieties of Gouda. Not wanting to be rude, we did try a few and bought their flavored herb variety to take with us.

Today we stopped into a museum that we regularly drive by when going between downtown Pella and the house we are watching. It is associated with and on the campus of the Vermeer Corporation. This international manufacturer of agricultural and industrial equipment is headquartered in Pella on a campus known as The Mile. It borders a one mile stretch of road, now named Vermeer Road, starting with Plant 1 and ending at the property where fonder, Gary Vermeer lived and raised his family. The museum is located in the Global Pavilion at the one end of the campus.

The museum was free to visit and even has a gift shop, if you’re so inclined. It provided an informative overview of the corporation’s history, charitable efforts, agricultural and industrial equipment lines, and even a few ideas that never really caught on.

There was a whole exhibit on the effects of a tornado that hit the plant on July 19, 2018. 400 guests from around the world and nearly 3,000 team members were on site celebrating Vermeer’s 70th anniversary. Towards the end of the day, the campus sustained a hit from an EF3 tornado,, with wind speeds reaching 144 mph. While no major physical injuries or loss of life occurred, there was quite a bit of destruction to the campus as shown on the photos below.

As non-farmers, there was a lot of information that was helpful for us in learning about the many processes that the Vermeer equipment was designed to help facilitate/improve.

Additional exhibitions detailed their expansion into the design and manufacturing of industrial equipment, including for landscaping/clearing land and the laying of pipelines or utilities.

My favorite section might have been the 10 innovations that didn’t make it, just ‘cause that seemed like something most companies might not share.

All in all, it was a pretty interesting museum. We would recommend to others. The price is right, the exhibits are helpful without being overwhelming, and if you are really impressed, the gift shop sells some quality items.

One of the main sights on the main square in Pella is the Vermeer Windmill. It was designed in the Netherlands and disassembled and shipped to Pella for reassembly in 2002. It’s replica of an 1850s city mill that would be built high on a hill to catch the wind. At 12 stories high and 124’ from ground to blade tip, it’s the tallest working mill in the US.

Bob and I decided not to spend the $40 that it would have cost for both of us to tour the windmill, but we did check out the very cute gift shop. Instead, we decided to walk around Central College near downtown. Central College is a private college that is associated with the Reformed Church in America. It was established in 1853 and has been accredited since 1942. It has an enrollment of just over 1,000 students.

After our walk around campus, we checked out a cute local market down the street.

So on the evening of the same day we left our Ankeny housesit (Wednesday), and after a brief visit with Bob’s sister and brother-in-law, we made the short drive (just over an hour) to meet our new homeowners in Pella. We met them at the Liberty Street Kitchen in downtown Pella for dinner before following them to their house, which is about 6 miles out. (Side note, if you ever find yourself in Pella, Iowa, we highly recommend Liberty Street Kitchen, which is located inside the Amsterdam Hotel.)

Our homeowners were so lovely, and we had a thorough walk through at the house before we turned in. The homeowners are now in Paris taking a French language immersion course. It sounds a bit intimidating, but they’ve taken other courses before and really enjoy it. In the meantime, we are in the lovely town of Pella, caring for Nala and Bijou, 2 female Golden Retrievers (as was our dog in Ankeny). As they have a large yard to run around in, they are mostly outdoor dogs and sleep in crates in the garage. They are very sweet natured.

Pella is a city of about 10,000 about 40 miles southeast of Des Moines. It was founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, a fact of which they are very proud. The city is also home to the Pella Corporation (maker of windows and doors) and Vermeer Manufacturing (maker of industrial and agricultural equipment). A famous former resident of Pella is Wyatt Earp, who lived in Pella as a child, long before he became a lawman in the Wild West.

This morning we walked around the main city square as well as a bit off the square, and their pride in their heritage was evident.

There is also a still working windmill downtown that we hope to visit tomorrow.

Last Wednesday Bob and I left the Residence Inn in downtown Des Moines to return to Ankeny for our second sit with Flynn and Sweet Pea. This time we are here for a week so will be leaving this coming Wednesday.

All of these housesits in the greater Des Moines area is helping better understand the layout of the various communities in and around Des Moines. Ankeny is a city of about 68,000 that lies a bit northeast of the city of Des Moines. The one thing that Bob and I know it for is the rail trail (decommissioned railroad line) that runs through it — the 25 mile long High Trestle Trail.

Bob and I walked about 20 minutes from where we’re staying and walked north on the trail for a bit into and out of Ankeny’s small Uptown area. We unfortunately didn’t get to the scenic High Trestle Trail Bridge, which is lit daily from sunset until midnight.

It is always good, and a bit humbling at this age, to learn about something of which you were previously unfamiliar. One of the buildings that we had been encouraged to check out while in Des Moines was the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates building. Neither Bob nor I had heard of the building and it brought no clear picture to mind as to what it was about. Today, we took a free guided tour with Bob’s sister and brother-in-law (who did know about the building and its purpose) and about 10 others, to learn more about the building.

The building itself is architecturally attractive and interesting, and it served as the Des Moines Central Public Library from 1903 until 2003, when it underwent a nearly $30 million renovation to become the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Hall of Laureates.

Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, a native Iowan, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his lifetime of work to feed a hungry world. Specifically, he created new wheat varieties that transformed agriculture production in the 1940s and ‘50s and later in Asia and Latin America, sparking what is now known as the GreenRevolution. Because of his work, he is known as the man who has saved more lives than any other person in history. Very impressive!

He felt strongly that the Nobel Committee should give a prize for work in food and agriculture because of its importance for humanity. Apparently, the Nobel Committee is not allowed to give a prize in that area, so Dr. Borlaug helped lead an effort to annually bestow the World Food Prize to recognize contributions in any field related to the world food supply. The first prize was awarded in 1986.

Bob and I have wanted to visit the Iowa capitol that we can see from our hotel. We were particularly interested in the law library, as we had heard how beautiful that was supposed to be. We decided today was the day to explore that part of Iowa’s capital city.

The current capitol sits atop a hill at the end of Locust Avenue. It was completed in 1886. It is topped by a 23 karat gold covered dome, which was most recently regilded in 1999 for approximately $482,000.

The public enters on the ground floor (basement) of the capitol and goes through a quick screening process. The information desk had a helpful brochure for self-guided tours.

The State Law Library of Iowa occupies the entire west wing of the second floor and contains over 100,000 volumes. The quote above the door, which is unfortunately way too relevant with the current administration, reads, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”

After our tour of the capitol, we walked through the East Village, where I stumbled on a Free Little Library to change out a book, and on into downtown to catch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Bob and I have been moving around the greater Des Moines area catching up on doctor appointments and unfortunately also fighting a stomach or viral bug as well. However, we’re both feeling 100% once again.

Currently, we are staying at a Residence Inn Hotel in downtown Des Moines. We arrived yesterday afternoon and will be here until Wednesday morning when we return to Ankeny for our second housesit. After that, we have back-to-back-to-back housesits in the area until almost the end of April, along with a few more doctor’s appointments and procedures and maybe jury duty as well.

Today we decided to get out and walk part of Des Moines’ impressive trail system. It was in the lower 30s F when we headed out, with feel-like temps in the 20s. We headed out along the River, eventually making our way to and around Gray’s Lake for about a 6 mile walk.

We initially crossed the Red Bridge over the river but ended up having to come back as construction had the trail closed on that side.