The Tourists of Madison County.

Today's agenda: The Bridges of Madison County.

I must say that I loved the Bridges, and Madison County was my favorite county.

That's a line from a short-lived sitcom called "The Knights of Prosperity". Susan and I both laughed our asses off when we heard it but it appears it is funny only to us.

I made a comment about Madison County a couple of days ago and Margaret decided it would be an excellent addition to our itinerary.

We left the house about 11:00 and headed for a little winery called the...get ready for this...Madison County Winery. It took about 35 minutes to get there and it is in Madison County. And it is in the middle of nowhere. We met Phil and Neil there and enjoyed some wine tasting and some beer tasting. 

The beers were pretty good. Iowa wine is nothing to write home about. It's not that they are bad. They are just not that good. I would say that they are a little bit of okay!

From there, we drove another 20 minutes to Winterset, Iowa...the birthplace of Marion Morrison. Marion only lived there a few years before the whole family moved to California and he became John Wayne.

But the town is very proud that Marion's mom birthed him right there on John Wayne Drive, which happens to be the exact spot at which they built a John Wayne Museum. Talk about a coincidence!

After the museum, we set out on the real reason for our adventure; the discovery of covered bridges. We drove to a local city park where the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge, built in 1870, has been relocated.  Yes, they are all named. There are only about eight of them left and most of them have been moved from their original location.

Also in the park was a hedge maze. The height was just above my head so it was difficult to see over to find your way out. It wasn't really big so it wasn't really difficult. 

They also have what Susan and I refer to as a Thomas Kincaid Bridge.

The next interesting thing we found in the park was the Clark Tower. We had to drive a couple of miles through really dense Iowa forests to find this three story, stone castle.

These are the views from the top.

And just a few more pictures.

The bridge we had the most interest in was the Roseman Bridge. That is one that Margaret and Susan's Dad painted a lot. He didn't paint the actual bridge. He made paintings of the bridge.

There is a story that the bridge is haunted. Apparently, a criminal was tracked to the bridge and trapped there by posses on opposite sides of the bridge. Somehow he managed to escape but people have heard maniacal laughter that they attribute to his ghost.

We finished our visit by having a drink in a bar that was in the movie about the bridges starring Clint Howard and Merle Haggard. I'm going to double check those facts.

Then the half hour drive back to Des Moines and a fabulous home cooked Chicken Parmesan dinner.