How About a Micro-Vacation in Grinnell?

It was spring break week and my husband had the whole week off. All week we had tried to get out of town, but it was Friday at noon before I was able to break free from my business.

By then, we were both too tired and time constrained to go far, but we still wanted to go somewhere! What about Grinnell, my husband suggested. I said OK, as long as we could take the bicycles with us. We loaded them into our little Ford Ranger and took off east on I-80. Just being in the truck with the bikes in the back made me feel like we were On Vacation!

We made it only as far as Colfax before Tom started wondering about lunch. So we indulged our diets and had fish sandwiches, fries and a malt at McDonalds. Back on the highway, we’re at Grinnell (map) within minutes. This part is definitely great.

We drive around town until we found a B&B I had seen on the internet – alas, no one home. I was starting to envision having to drive on to Iowa City. Then, we stopped by the Chamber of Commerce, which is the former bank building, to ask directions. This is not just any old bank building, but the Jewel Box Bank Building designed by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright’s instructor. This bank is stunning with huge square panels of stained glass which make up the east wall, an ornate clock above the door and other features that truly make this building a “jewel box” on the prairie.

While there, we were informed of another B&B nearer to campus, so after snapping some digitals, we headed off towards it. A nice lady answered at this gorgeous Victorian mansion, and . . . we were in luck. We took the room with the turret and didn’t even unpack. Just ran down the ornate wooden staircase to get the bikes out of the truck, and we were off on a winding tour of Grinnell College’s Oxford inspired campus which is, by the way, large enough to rival Drake University in size.

Tired, we napped until 8:00, then got up and went for drinks and appetizers at a darling restored train depot now serving as a cozy and elegant restaurant.

Awoke to rain showers, but that made the woodburning fireplace all the more delightful in the living room as we waited for our hosts to put the finishing touches on our breakfast of egg and cheese casserole, lovely fruit with yogurt topping and Irish soda bread.

We had a leisurely morning enjoying our hosts, who were originally from Ireland, and the other guests before we headed uptown to shop around a little. We were back home by noon on Sunday, but felt like we’d had an easy and interesting micro-vacation.

Guest Author: Linda Mathews is the owner of Iowa Process Service based in Des Moines, Iowa, providing service of legal papers throughout the state.

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