Slept in nicely. You’d think with all the naps we had yesterday we would have been up and out early but….we’re being very lazy. Coffee, breakfast, showers, then we headed out around 10:00 AM. Our first stop was to a local Museum – Guthrie County Historical Village.
Menacing looking sky.Rain cell headed our way.The skies cleared. The grounds at the Guthrie County Museum are beautiful and the buildings are well maintained.
What a treat it was. It’s set up as a little town from the 1800’s. There was a school, church (with the most beautiful silk wedding dress), lawyer/real estate office, general type store, train depot and waiting area, trains – just lots of things to go into, touch, feel, look, see what it was like.
Demonstration cabin.Wooden pitchfork and rake.Bed with crib to side and washroom at foot.Gun for defense and food.Kitchen area.Pretty woman checking out a one room cabin, pretty reminiscent of a studio apt.At the church, Edie thought this was the most beautiful wedding dress. Me, not so much.Church pews and I liked the stained glass on the windows.I recognized this, pulled the handle on the right to the open position and listened as the water gurgled up and then out the spout. Went to shut it off and the rust and paint had it locked in an open position. Had to empty my hands and apply all my dad strength to getting it closed, finally.It is a small town with a huge county village museum. The train station.Every brick in front of the station is stamped.Freight.Waiting room with a fancy coal burner.The telegraph office.Fashionable traveler of the day.Different wood burners in different parts of the train station.Lawyer’s office and credit union. Huge safe, must have had some money and money instruments in there at some point.Ahh, good to see the attitude has been around a while.Wood burners everywhere.Old General Store.Saw one of these on Antiques Roadshow.Thought it was a bird house, found no entrance, decided it was a bird feeder.
Then there was the actual museum. Really fun and in a beautiful setting. (Only cost $2.00 per person.)
Nice convertible.Cameras.Taxidermy bird display.Lots of stuffed animals.Buffalo coat.Reminded us that we have a dentist appointment when we get home in October.War memorabilia.Edie was fascinated by this operator station.This is a washer and lard press.
The last building had farm and mining equipment.
A big barn with considerable implements inside.God bless the coal miners throughout time.I shudder to think of the men that spent 12 or more hours on the muscle end of this drilling device.A barn find, an old Buick.Great old International truck with hand crank starter.A Farmall tractor, a wonder in its day.I think this is a hay wagon. It is very very wide.This is a really narrow wagon. Had to move close to read the red label.Those John Deere’s have been around for a long time.
We then headed out a new way to Des Moines. Michael was needing to go to Walmart to get a medication refilled. We put in the closest Walmart to us and off we went, about 50 miles. We got to see some new roads and towns, which were fun.
Hit a Walmart pharmacy.
We found the Walmart, Michael dropped off the medication and was told it would be about half an hour. We decided to head off to a nearby Bath and Body Works store to get some of the seasonal hand soap that we love. We found the store in a nice mall but were bummed because the hand soap wasn’t on sale. We still got it but will look for the sale to get more. While we were walking out we saw a shoe store and found some Keen water shoes for Michael and for me. They are comfortable and we’ll spend this time stretching them out and getting them comfortable for the cenotes in Cancun (January).
Excellent and made in the USA.They have a large selection.Nice mall, loud fountain with nice water sounds.
While we were walking out to the car, Michael casually asked if there was a Cheesecake Factory in Des Moines. I jumped on it. I was excited to mark yet another Cheesecake Factory Restaurant off my bucket list. (Still have about 100 to go but we’ll get there.) The restaurant was pretty close and was in a gorgeous setting with a lake and waterfalls.
We liked the setting.Really lovely large water feature with falls, shoreline, walkways and a duck.The mall is nice. It has outdoor Bose speakers playing oldies inside all the flowerbeds.Edie was blatantly excited.Des Moines Cheesecake factory. Looked to be about medium sized.
We were told by our server, Laura, that this particular Cheesecake Factory is usually in the top ten for food and service. Good to know. Michael and I both really enjoyed our lunch and got a cheesecake slice to split for later.
I swung out there and had a completely different Cheesecake meal, chicken, biscuits and mashed potatoes. It was very delicious.Edie tried to get out of the box but fell back into her only order, shepherd’s pie.
We went back to the Walmart and Michael was able to get his medication. We listened to Tom Clancy and drove home. Tonight we pack up and get ready to move tomorrow. We’re stopping on our way towards Chicago to visit some of Michael’s first wife’s relatives that we’ve kept in touch with – Ruth and Richard. Looking forward to seeing them again.
