A trip back in Josh time.

It's become a tradition for us to do a family road trip the week before school starts. This year, due to Covid, we knew we couldn't do anything too major. Josh has been especially nostalgic recently for the years he lived in Iowa; I think because Bowie is the age now that Josh was when he lived there. We decided to revisit Josh's old stomping ground and tie in our final trip to Shell Lake for the season on the way. First stop was, of course, Franconia. We love that it's constantly changing and weird. 

Then we were off to the cabin. You can see how quickly Bowie's final lake swim of the year turned into full blown nude all out party swim.

Unfortunately our second day at the cabin was a wash out so we decided to drive to Eau Claire and eat like we were at a state fair. 

When I'm in Wisconsin I want to eat at places that look like this. They usually have good beer and cheese curds. This place didn't disappoint. 

Cool record store. Not cheap. I'm very into the fact that Eau Claire pipes indie music through their main street area. Most things were closed so I didn't get to see as much of the town as I would have liked. 

Ramones ice cream was not closed! Thank the Lord. 

Our airbnb in Spring Grove, MN was spectacular. It was super prairie remote and a good jumping off point to get to other cool cities around Iowa and Wisconsin. Bowie was very excited about how "modern" our airbnb was because he had a remote control for the lights in his room.

We were invited to tour the parish home that Josh and his family lived in as well as the church where his father was a pastor. The current pastor, Ken, and his wife Debbie were awesome hosts and gave us lots of coffee and bars. Bowie was impressed. 

Pastor Ken and Debbie salvaged this from the old barn.

Bowie and his "church basement bar".

Can you spot Pastor Gary?

This is Josh's old mailbox. 

Pictures don't do justice to how beautiful the landscape and architecture of the home and church were. I can see why Josh misses this place! While at the church we met up with Cindy, who is the mother of Josh's old pal David. Her family owns a dairy farm and she took us over for a tour. 

The best part of the trip was reuniting with David Gibbs, Josh's childhood bestie, and his gorgeous family. The kids played so well together and Josh and David picked up like no time had passed. I very much hope it's not another 25 years before we see these lovely people!

Overall this trip was super nostalgic, beautiful, relaxing and filled with new and wonderful people. It was just what our sad Covid hearts needed before heading into a wild school year.