evidently a lot of people.
You might ask yourself what is there to do in Iowa? We have asked ourselves and others that same question since we moved to Iowa. Finally this past week I got a response from one of my colleagues and she said..."You could always attend the Tulip Festival." I think she was being extremely sarcastic when she recommended the festival but we started doing some investigating and decided that we would attend.
Our decision was based on two things. One, tulips are my favorite flower. Two, we have been couped up in our house for the past 7 months and needed to get out.
So we started doing some research on the Internet and thought that it might be a good idea to try and get a hotel room for the weekend. Unfortunately my colleague didn't tell me that all hotels within 50 miles of the festival are booked at least one year in advance. We searched the Internet for a motel, bed and breakfast and camping ground for availability but our searches returned the same results, "No Availability." However I was determined to find a place to stay so at about 7:00 am on April 25th I started calling a few bed and breakfasts in the area in complete desperation. Nobody answered the phone at the first three I called, which I found quite ironic considering that fact that they should have been awake making breakfast for any visitors staying there.
Anyway don't worry I had success on the fourth call. I almost couldn't believe that someone answered. Initially Dwight, that is the name of the owner, told me that they had no availability. I then asked if he had any recommendations as to where we might be able to find a place to stay for the weekend of the festival and I broke him with my persistence. Under pressure he admitted that they did have a small bunkhouse on the property that we could stay at for the weekend. Wait, wait, the kicker...it doesn't have a bathroom because it is used for people that are hunting or fishing in the area but there is a game room about 20 yards away that has a full bathroom that we could use for all of our bathroom needs.
How do you refuse an offer like that? So we said we would take it. I then asked if he wanted our last name and his response was, "Well right now I am out haying the cows and so I won't be able to get it from you. Can you call back at 8:00? I should be back at the house then and you can give me your name and number for the reservation." I kindly agreed (mostly because he was our only option) and said that I would talk to him soon.
Out "haying" the cows...what is this some sort of farm? I didn't actually say that but I was thinking it as he spoke. But we were desperate and we needed a place to stay if we were going to attend the festival. I should have known though that it was a farm because what is there in Iowa? Corn, cows and well that equals farms.
So without making this too lengthy I will just say that we ended up getting the bunkhouse for the weekend and it turned out to be a good time.
Check back in the near future for pictures of the festival and the farm.
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