Day 7 – We got up at 6:30 a.m., 60 degrees, light wind. Pretty wet out from all the rain last night. Rob stuck the Iowa sticker on the travel map, new territory for us. We left at 8:30 with Mark & Donna; it had become quite windy out, otherwise a gorgeous day.
We stopped at a wonderful bakery in town to pick up some freshly baked breads. Mouth watering. Then headed east to the Coralville Lake area, really beautiful country with lots of trees, lakes, rolling hills. At Macbride Nature Recreation Area we stopped to visit the Iowa Raptor Project’s Raptor Center. We took a hike to the Center and saw the birds that had been rehabilitated and were being cared for at the facility. We walked beyond that to the point and did some birdwatching. Then we headed back stopping to learn about the land preservation & tree projects they were working on. Coralville Lake which has trails, boating & 3 campgrounds & Lake Macbride has trails, boating, 2 campgrounds, and winter sports, are great places to keep in mind for future trips. We drove through the Sugar Bottom campground which was fairly busy (it is a Sunday), and saw that they had good sites, some for all sizes of RVs.
Young buck, Iowa Raptor Project, Solon, IA
We had lunch at Panera in a town nearby and stopped at a health store to buy some food. Then we went back to the campground at 1:30 p.m., 67 degrees, breezy, partly cloudy. Several hours later we got together again and went out to dinner. This was a treat (thank you Mark & Donna). We went to a restaurant in a very small town called Ladora; it was a place which they’d heard about on Iowa Public Radio. The restaurant was inside an old, restored bank building with the marble countertops and iron grates between the customer & the bank personnel, and the huge old safe like you see in the movies. Quite authentic. The bar and some tables in the bar area were located inside the banking area; the dining room tables were in what previously was the lobby of the bank. The menu was one page of many different tapas (small plates for people to share), innovative ideas, excellent food. There were several pages of drinks, many different beers & wines from all over the world. We had a great time.
Back to the campground in time to catch a picture of the sunset, and we went our separate ways to tend to the animals. To bed around 10 p.m. We are leaving tomorrow & unfortunately will have to say good-bye to Mark & Donna. It’s the end of Week 1, Trip #3. Very interesting & fun so far!
Goodbye Amana RV Park