• From: Indianola, IA
  • Registered: 2006-07-26
  • Posts: 4,429

Topic: John Wayne Fans/Bridges of Madison Co. fans/Mazes/Towers

Interesting adventure this afternoon with my 17 yr old to Winterset, IA (about 30 min. from home):  Birthplace of John Wayne....did tour of his home, lots of cool memorabilia and nostalgia.  They just had his 100th birthday celebration with lots of his family there.  A couple of days ago they just got in HUGE statue of him, which was very life like.  I loved reading a letter he got from Lucy.  Just lots and lots of neat things in this tiny little house.

Winterset is also home to The Bridges of Madison County.  Went to one of the bridges(built 1870 with wooden pegs) within the city park.  If you loved that movie, you would want to come to Winterset.  They have a covered bridges day.   Of course, lots of things about the movie around town.

And this made me think of Michael Lynch,  in the city park they have a hedge maze designed by a local person after studying with curators of hedge mazes in England.  The maze consists of 1,850 privet hedges (139 feet by 76 feet).  In the center of the maze is an old English sundial purchased in London, England.  We had a good laugh going thru it.  Got separated (I actually think my son ditched me intentionally to try and scare me) but ended up not being able to find me or the center......but eventually found each other and the sundial and the way out.  It was really cool because there were butterflies all over the place, too.

And the other thing in the city park (1 mile through the timber) was Clark's Tower which gives a wonderful view of the Middle River Valley below.  It's a 25 ft tower built in 1926.  It is an extremely windy and blustery day here, so it was quite fun being atop the tower and looking out....imaging cannon balls or arrows coming at us......

Nice to find things in "your own backyard" to do on an afternoon off.

Anyone interested here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterset,_Iowa.

He wants our next adventure to be to the House of Villisca....
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca%2C_Iowa....spooky

                                                        Patty

"I'm not nice to any guitar!"      lol
                 Joe Bonamassa 05-03-12

JBLP CHILD #184
  • Registered: 2006-12-28
  • Posts: 3,742

Re: John Wayne Fans/Bridges of Madison Co. fans/Mazes/Towers

Mornin Patty!

I love " The Duke ", he is my all time favorite actor. I remembered when he passed away, I teared up big time! I got a question is the "Surf" show sold out?

TTYL......Shred

  • From: Indianola, IA
  • Registered: 2006-07-26
  • Posts: 4,429

Re: John Wayne Fans/Bridges of Madison Co. fans/Mazes/Towers

Shredit wrote:

Mornin Patty!

I love " The Duke ", he is my all time favorite actor. I remembered when he passed away, I teared up big time! I got a question is the "Surf" show sold out?

TTYL......Shred

Hey Shred,  Good Morning back at you!  You would have loved this place.  That statue would have made you cry.  It was all very sentimental.  You know he got the name "The Duke" from the family dog.  I would doubt that The Surf is sold out yet, the place will probably hold 2,000.  They have a website that gives a number you can call.  They do this thing where it says general admission and then they reserve tables by the stage.  The other ticket outlets don't tell you this, so you get to the show way ahead of time to be the first in line (yep, me & Photogal 3-4 hours ahead of show, freeze your butt off and find out that since you don't have table reserved in front, you'll have to go to back and stand...well, we did some fast talking, pleading,etc...agreed to share table with other photogs and we were set, so just a heads up if you are thinking of coming to this.  I would talk directly to people at The Surf on tickets.  But ya' know once the concert starts everybody pulls their table as close to the stage and then the next thing ya' know,  our larger than life Blues-Rock King Joe Bonamassa is right in front of you working the mojo and magic...gosh, I luv the guy!!! Hope to see you guys there!  pattyluvsjoe

"I'm not nice to any guitar!"      lol
                 Joe Bonamassa 05-03-12

JBLP CHILD #184