Bridges of Madison County

It's Wednesday evening and we finally made it to Chicago (just in the outskirts, actually). As Brad mentioned, we found the neatest campground in Waukee, Iowa, and that's where we stayed in a cabin last night. They had a playground, pool, volleyball, basketball, horseshoes, and a rec room with pool table, ping pong, and other games. The kids were thrilled to be able to run around on their own. It was the perfect place for us to stay.

On our way there last night, we saw signs for the covered bridges of Madison County (from the book and Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep's movie - one of my most favorites!) and also an organic farm/restaurant located just a couple of miles from the campground. So even though it put us in Chicago later than we hoped (we could have driven another hour or more), we knew this is where we needed to be last night and today.

We spent the morning at the campground, then went off to search for Roseman Bridge (some of the most special scenes from Bridges of Madison County were filmed here and if you know the movie, it really was difficult to find!). On our way back to Route 80, we drove through the little town of Winterset (also a setting for the film) and even stopped for coffee in the cafe there (yes, another setting for the movie). I learned that the entire movie was filmed on location there in Iowa, using the actual town and landmark names where filming took place. Ok, I admit that I was thrilled to be there. Here are a couple of photos of us at Roseman Bridge.







After our Bridges of Madison County experience, we went to that organic farm for lunch. The menu changes daily, depending on what is fresh and ripe at the farm. We were free to roam the gardens and hang out with the chickens while our meal was being prepared. The couple that own the farm are a former heart specialist and former nurse, and he said he was tired of watching his patients die because of poor diets. So they decided to start the farm. He also lectures on the benefits of fresh, local, organic food. When it was time to eat, we settled under an outdoor arbor of huge, hanging squashes. The price was a bit high for the amount of food we got, but it was absolutely delicious. Her homemade tortillas were fabulous and when we asked to buy some, she said that no-one ever asked before. She indulged us and prepared ten on the spot. Again, they were pricey but warm and fresh and the best tortillas we've ever had.



Today we drove about 5 1/2 hours (a short driving day, all considered). The kids are doing relatively well on the car rides and I believe we're all getting a bit too used to living in our vehicle. I have my "bag of tricks" and the DVD player, plus snacks, books on tape, and carschooling to mix things up. Tomorrow we'll finally get into the city of Chicago. Brad booked a four-star hotel for us in the city for tomorrow night (cheap through priceline!), then we plan to start for home on Friday afternoon.