Family Time in Iowa

My Grandpa saved a bunch of slides.  Look how handsome they are!

My dad when he graduated high school...he was SO little!

Sweet Grandpa.

Hannah has been doing genealogy work.  One of the lines goes clear back to Adam and Eve!  Grandpa was just baffled.  We are descendants of Kings of Prussia, England and all sorts of Europeans!

My dad's favorite cake!  German Chocolate!

It's always fun going to Iowa, it's amazing how different it is.  We have conversations about trains (grandpa loves trains, he even owned a shop).  We talk about trucking, big machinery and Harley Davidson.  Oh, and about corn and soy beans.  It's amazing how the midwest is so different from our dry desert.

This family is all about the rocking chairs.  In this room we have 4 rocking chairs alone. 

Brothers.

We were able to have a four generation picture!  

Even though we missed our mountains, Hannah pointed out that in the Midwest, there is SO much more sky.  It's so true.

I felt the need to take a picture of grandpa's oven and stove top.  It works like a charm and shines like it was new. 

Isn't he cute!?

We had lots of fun visiting the family. 

the historic park inn hotel of mason city

You'd never know it, but Frank Lloyd Wright designed his only hotel in Mason City, Iowa. 

They just spent 20 million renovating it.  Let's just say, the locals weren't that excited about their tax dollars being used that way.  Mason City isn't very big...

but we toured it anyway!

Apparently, my Great Grandpa used to live in one of these rooms (when they were used for apartments.)  They were only 10x10 rooms!

Auntie LaNaya was excited too!

These are the original doors.  Apparently, the slats that you see used to be the "Air Conditioning" system.  The air would just travel through the slats (which have since been covered.)

They were able to use the original stain glass, which was found in some guys attic.

Our tour guide said to check out the bathrooms, so I did.  All the tile was from the original build, there were some spots where it was just completely torn up, but it was part of the restoration process. 

You can see the Frank Lloyd Wright was a very linear architect.

The hotel is right next to the old Main Street, which is amazing!  I love the old buildings.

haha, i was trying to do a happy pose...but my face says otherwise

Across from the hotel is the Central Park.  They have a VA Memorial there.  Here you can see my Grandpa's Name, Gerald Hesley.

So, my dad was showing us how his Grandpa would stand in the park all day, smoking.  Who would have thought Mason City would have so much to look at?  Oh, it's also THE place where The Music Man was written and based on Mason City.  Yeah, it's pretty cool.

matchy-matchy and culver's

back in iowa, they have culver's.  which is filled with serious calories.  but the husband has a deep love for the deep fried cheese curds, butter burger and concrete shakes.  luckily, we don't have one close by....