Before kicking off the trip, Jayne and I visited her parents in Estherville. They recently moved to the northwest Iowa town and so this was only our second visit to their new place. The first time being in January. I was glad to see they actually had a front yard and front door and the mound of snow wasn’t a landscaping choice Jayne’s mom planned on sticking with.
The main goal for Lady visits is maximizing time with each other. This sometimes results in no one getting showers until midday because that would involve stepping away from the group.
Estherville is very close to Okoboji (for non-Iowans Okoboji is like Cancun for Iowa contractors and their teenage blonde daughters). I’d never actually been there when people were there since I’ve only been by when the lake was frozen. It definitely had that laid back resort feel and we were soaking it in. Each day we ventured in to the Boje for something. We had dinner at Smokin’ Jake’s next to Ruebin’s. This is important on the guided tour because this is where legendary Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Lady and his band the Fabulous Traidmarx play occasionally.
Also on the tour is another Traidmarx haunt: the Barefoot Bar. This was kinda like Porky’s except the fat chicks weren’t naked. I was feeling the vibe there. The stage that is sometimes graced by the Traidmarx had a very quiet classic rock cover band fronted by a dude with an accordion. This caused me to bring up my requisite comment about how the accordion, like the name Anthony, transcends all cultures. We sat at the edge of the patio which falls in to the lake. While there we ran in to an old neighbor of Jayne’s who chatted for awhile but had to get going because he had to pick up his wife. He then hopped in his boat and went off to pick her up…in his boat.
Jayne’s dad is a breakfast and coffee fan so the next morning we were back at Arnold’s Perk (fulfilling the Friends‘ if there is a park nearby the coffee shop must pun on it rule). Dave was extolling their cinnamon rolls so we were on a mission. According to Okoboji lore, these cinnamon rolls were known to Sell Out Pretty Early. So we were like 10 people deep in the line doing the math on how many cinnamon rolls were out on the counter and how many people in front of us were getting a cinnamon roll. I wouldn’t worry about it. We got one.
Also on our visit we had Spencer Iowa’s famous Chinese food. And you thought they were famous only for that library cat. We went to Spencer to meet up with Melanie’s friend Jackie and her husband Alan. I love hanging out with them because Jackie has the same snark that I possess and Alan loves to joke and ask questions. At one point, I know he and I were discussing what town was featured in the generic backlit Chinese landscape photo that is in about 50% of all Chinese restaurants. We decided the answer was Hong Kong.
South of Spencer lies Sioux Rapids. Sioux Rapids is the confusing part of the triumvirate along with Rapid City, SD and Sioux City, IA (Sioux Falls, SD is a minor ally). They are confusing because the two word cities’ names are interchangeable. If I am talking about one, you can be sure I am meaning one of the other two cities instead.
Sioux Rapids is also home to some of Jayne’s family. We stopped by and visited great aunt and uncle Dolores and Gordon and cousin Paul. Paul and Dave grew up together playing music and rocking sweet haircuts so their conversation normally leads to that. Dolores was closest to Jayne’s grandparents who Jayne never got to meet so Dolores is always good for some great stories from the past. She’s got a great collection of pictures from all of those days including ones of Jayne’s dad with some sweet specs and a dog named Queenie. Dolores taught school for years including during the war and even fought the city to allow her to be married and remain a teacher, something that wasn’t allowed at the time. She’s written a lot of this down and organized a lot of the pictures. I’ll probably be back with a flatbed scanner soon for archival purposes.
Jayne’s mom recently got two kittens. A boy and a girl named Jake and Molly. This ensured that any downtime was filled with chase the string activities or petting a kitty harder and harder until they reacted negatively. To add to the confusion of two kittens, Dave and Melanie’s nickname for Jayne is also “Jake”. I wondered why they were yelling at Jayne to get down off the counter. Mainly because I know they love her so much that they would let her go anywhere she wanted.