08-17-2020 – Winterset and the Bridges of Madison County!

We’ll be heading out around ten, so there’s time for all the morning things, including granola and homemade yogurt for breakfast and packing a picnic lunch.  We head into Winterset, the county seat of Madison County.  It’s easy to park right along the town square and find the visitors’ center.  The lady who is in charge of public relations is a wealth of information!

 

We learn a great deal about the filming of the movie as well as the location of most of the major plot points.  She tells us that Clint Eastwood was 65 and Meryl Streep was 45, although the characters in the book were much younger and that Clint fought to have Meryl as his co-star.  And she fought to use an accent.  The bridge that they used the most, the Roseman Bridge, had just been refurbished and Clint wanted it to look much older, so they had to remove some boards and use chemicals to peel some of the paint.  After filming, they restored the bridge to it’s former state. 

    The cooler and cash register are those used in the movie, and the movie itself is playing on the screen.

                                             Putting pins in the map to show where we're from.

 

Eventually the discussion shifted to the politics of the area.  The PR lady is a democrat and she tells us that when she moved to Winterset the democrats had a secret handshake!!  Most of the area is quite conservative.

 

We’ve got our map in hand and set off to see the Bridges!  First is Roseman, built in 1883.  It is one of the last two bridges built in Madison County at a cost of $2,930. It carried traffic for almost a hundred years.  The next one is Hogback.

                                There are Trump signs everywhere, so this was a happy surprise!

                                  Each bridge has a similar bronze sign giving all it's particulars.

 

From here we try to see Francesca’s house.  It is at the end of a road that is gated with a no trespassing sign.  But we can see some of it from the road.

 

Near by is Howells’ Tree Farm.  They have lovely flowers that they dry out and sell in arrangements.  But, most importantly for us, they have baby goats that you can cuddle!  For seven dollars you get a little bag of goat chow and unlimited time in the pens with 53 baby goats!  They climb into your lap and jump up on you if you’re standing.  A couple of them are so young that they are still being bottle fed and you can hold them in your arms as long as you like.  It’s just a hoot!!

                                 Sure wish I could really do selfies!!  But the baby makes up for it!

 

They also have the world’s largest sunflowers and lots of play areas for kids.  What a great place to come with kids – or adults!!  Ginger has a video chat with Elizabeth who loves goats!

 

We could probably stay all day but we’re getting hungry and so we head back to the car and drive to the city park for our picnic.  Before we go, though, we ask where we can wash our hands!  There is lots of hand sanitizer around for the goats’ safety ;  but we’d really like some honest to goodness soap and hot water!

 

The park is charming with green grass and trees and picnic tables in the shade.  We spread out our feast as a breeze cools us off.  There is a log cabin that was built by a pioneer, Andrew Bennett,  in 1852.  It was refurbished as an Eagle Scout project!  One of the six covered bridges is also here.

 

We’re pretty close to the town square, so we drive back and visit the Iowa Quilt Museum.  Their exhibit for this quarter is Out of Control.  All the quilts violate some basic quilting rule and many make us laugh right out loud!

 

Right down the street is a Ben Franklin store!  I haven’t seen one of those for decades!  Bonnie and I go shopping while Ginger checks out the quilt store.

 

We’re still hunting bridges and on our way home we visit both Holliwell and Imes.  The Holliwell Bridge is the longest covered bridge and the longest remaining timber bridge in the state. The Imes Bridge has been moved twice, first, after seventeen years, to another location that needed a bridge.  It stood there for another ninety years, until it was moved to this park.

                                        This one is Imes, the one that's been moved twice.

                                           We believe these are filled with flame retardant.  

                       And our last one of the day, Holliwell.  We saw four of the six "up close and

                                 personal" and the fifth was in the park where we had lunch.

 

It’s getting late and we head home to make tacos and listen to the first night of the Democratic Convention.  We watch the first few minutes but it’s really tough to do with Bonnie’s phone acting as a hotspot.  We really don’t have much in the way of cell service or WiFi.  But the radio works great!  We’re planning on staying awake to the bitter end. I hope we make it!

                                  The couch you can see on the left turns into a king-sized bed!

 

Woohoooo!  My hotspot is working!  It’s slow and I can’t get photos to load;  but at least I can publish proof of life!!