Pella, Iowa

On our way home we stopped off for an evening at Pella, Iowa. I was really excited becasue this was sort of what I really wanted to do though Marion had not decided until the last minute that it is what we WOULD do! Anyway, we walked into this really awesome hotel called the Royal Amsterdam Hotel and asked if they had a room. They had one that had been smoked in so if we were interested then we could have it at around 1/2 price...well we said SURE! So I was really excited! When we got to the room, the rate on the door said it was like a $199 dollar room for double occupancy...and it only went up from there! OUCH! (and it didn't even really smell like smoke to us!) Anyway, one of the cool things about this hotel is that it is apart of this whole block that is all brick and had a canal that runs through it...I didn't get any pictures of the canal, but you can see it here if you want to go to the link of the hotel: http://www.royalamsterdam.com/index.html

Here is a picture of the painting that is in the hallway of the hotel...














Anyway, the lady at the desk recommended we eat at Georges with the kids...it was sort of an italian place but you can get all kinds of food. Marion got the Lasagna, the kids had grilled cheese and french fries, and I had steak and potato! It was really a great place...they even served free ice cream with every meal...though we didn't figure that out till later!

After eating we started to walk around the town square and the main shopping area...it was a bit hot but not too bad. Being a Dutch community, they have a lot of windmills around. Here is one in the park...they also have lots of flowers around...in the spring they have a tulip festival with tulips everywhere!


















They have a VERY nice park with this water fountain in it. We actually saw I think three different fountains that evening! I didn't post them all here though.


















Later that evening we went to the courtyard and watched the clock with its figurines. The courtyard had six or seven of these great tile portrait things like below. And then at certain times of the day when the clock strikes, the little figures come out. It was dark by this time and my pictures didn't turn out the best but here is one of Wyatt Earp who grew up there.

Overall, we had a great time. We even went to the Pella Window/Rolescreen Museum which was very interesting. There was alot more to see and do but time was getting away from us and the with the kids you have to keep those things in mind.