Econo Lodge Inn And Suites Spencer

... the Laura books, but was mentioned on the TV Series. Also drove through Walnut Grove (where Ingall's family lived in) and past 'Plum Creek' (name of one of the books). Staying at the Comfort Inn in Mankato. Walked across the parking lot and across the road (was freezing outside, at least I thought so) to
Taco Bell where we ate (more than enough) for $16. Back at the motel, the kids enjoyed having a swim in the heated pool.

... were honestly surprised and blown away by the quality of the venue. After the show we all went to a diner called "The Blue Line Cafe", Rafi calls is the bootleg version of "The Fine Line" or at least the country version. We kindly greeted by the smell of **** on our way in and then we admired some pretty funny signs that they were selling. Not long after that the waitress put some tables together for (in the ...

... time of noon and most of the hotels we have been at have a 11 o'clock check out. We were on the road by 11 anyway and ready to go. Today for lunch we got Fizoli's which as many of you know is not longer in the twin cities area so that was a little treat. We drove for a short three hours to Algona, IA and checked into a hotel that finally has an HDTV, Yay!! So we could finally plug in the PS3 and watch a movie.

We had a show at the ...

... to the hotel we showered and got ready for dinner. It was pretty late already, and just like my book warned, the people in Minnesota do go to bed early. Many of the restaurants had already closed. We managed, however, to find a Minnesota brewery open for business. With a little bit of hesitation we went in. It turned out to be a great meal. The beer, however, was not so good. Oh well! Overall, we had a good stay.

On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, United States, killed three American rock and roll musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Ric*******, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson.
The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song "American Pie."

For more info click here.

... we see hundreds of windmill generators dotted throughout the corn fields.

Just before we cross from Wisconsin into Minnesota we cross the Mississippi river Cath spies a drive-inn diner complete with waitresses on roller skates. We couldn’t have lunch as our van was too tall to fit under the awning oh well we will try to find another

Next we cross the bridge over the Mississippi and we go under it to explore here we ...

... were to meet next day to look at the Big Sioux River falls. Planning ahead, he had a crew dam up the river above the falls. At the perfect time, Pettigrew gave a signal to a crew out of sight up river tobreak the dam. The banker looked out astonished at the flow of water and agreed to the financing. The Queen Bee Flour Mill was designed to turn out 1200 barrels of flour a day and stood 105 feet tall. The overly ambitious project (not really enough water) failed in two ...

Sunday 13th July We drove to Marble Beach State Park on the border of Iowa and Minnesota. As we were there quite early we decided to do a longish bike ride on marked track which took us about an 2 hours or so. Everyone really enjoyed it and we were ready for a cool off in the lake when we got back. This was another very pretty lake with lots of people out enjoying themselves on water skis, boats etc. we biked back to our site and made dinner.

... since there was snow on the ground and it was a bit on the nippy side. We stayed at the Golden Haug, a "fabulous" bed and breakfast just blocks from the location where I would be speaking for the conference. The trip was great, my talk went well and our drive home was as enjoyable as the one to Iowa City.

... got engaged just hours earlier (CONGRATS AGAIN!). With this little bit of information I was able to track them down. The rest of the day was spent applying the final touches and getting prettied up. Lizzy looked absolutely stunning, however all three of the Downs girls are all beauties. They sure clean up well... but it's the getting them to clean up that's the hard part. I watch the ceremony from the upper porch, it was quick, easy and light hearted. Then it was ...