August 31: Decorah Iowa

What are we doing in a place like Decorah, you might ask. Here is the home of the Vesterheim Museum, The National Norwegian-American Museum and Heritage Center. Shap’s mother donated a 14th century tapestry of the Great Holy Kings coming from Saba” and a carved wooden chest and we were here to find out where it was.

Waking up in a winery is interesting or at least this one. Basically we were in someone’s backyard next to an old barn, a house and a building where there were tours, and tastings. Since the winery did not open until 11 we took our time having breakfast and coffee, checking up on our mail and relaxing. This is exactly what I wanted, a field, a lovely setting, quiet (except for the garbage truck at 4:30 AM), birds singing, rabbits hopping around, flower gardens, and no one around. Harvest Host I love you.

Wanting to get out and take pictures I left the van and strolled over to the winery building where upon I noticed it was open. Stepping in I found a large room with wines settling in wine kegs, every available wine gee gog imaginable and a friendly woman behind a counter full of fresh pies. I found out there are 20 acres of vineyards and almost equal amount of rhubarb. What anyone wants to do with that much rhubarb I could not tell you except many of the wine descriptions included rhubarb as an ingredient. So guess that is what you do with 20 acres of rhubarb. I checked in and found our incredible grassy site costs us the grand total of $7 a night plus $3 for a water fill up. What? $24 dollars for three nights in a vineyard, are you kidding? Highway robbery ! I could not believe I had endured two nights of sleeping in basically a parking lot surrounded by Class A RV for $80+ a night when I could have all of this and I was charged so little I could felt guilty. We will be stocking up on wine to give away on our trip.

Meanwhile, out to the Vineyards for pictures… Except we had to do it:

Of course we had to do it.

The grapes were ripe and hanging off the vines. I am still getting used to my new camera so frustration runs high. And then I thought, why am I rushing, I have two days here so I could take my time and play with the camera. The results were good;my macro lens was so good I found a knock off lady bug known as the Asian beetle and some very juicy grapes.

Gathering our things together we drove into Decorah, a wide Main Street with a Norwegian vibe. Ducking in from the rain to buy an umbrella at the local drugstore, what else would we find, but several Norwegian children’s books from Shap’s past. Perfect to buy for the grandgirls. Farther down the street a knitting store with plenty of Norwegian patterned knitting books and volumes of yarn, definitely better than a candy store for me.

Then to the Vesterheim Museum, where waving Norsk flags hung from street poles showing us the way. Stepping into the museum you knew instantly that this was a great museum that showcased the history of the Norwegians immigration to America. But even more interesting to me, was the history of the folk art with modern day replicas of the artifacts brought from Norway.

We happened to time our visit right at the start of a tour of the buildings outside the museum depicting houses brought from Norway or built in the same design. Storehouses, an old mill, a school and a Lutheran church were all brought to the site. Our guide, a very attractive lady in her seventies obviously of Norwegian descent, toured us around giving us an amazing history of the various people who settled the area and their homes. Many of the artifacts were donated by Norwegians over the years and are displayed in the various houses. After almost two hours we figured we should head for the inside as the museum closes at 4 and it was now 3:00. Needless to say we did not finish it and are headed back tomorrow.

But where is the tapestry and the check that Sylvea Bull Curtis donated? Not on display but in the archives. Too bad as they are beautiful examples but it is good to know they are catalogued and being safely stored.

However, look who we found in the stairwell? Ah yes, who else but Ole Bull.

Meanwhile back in the vineyard watching the sun set, the grasses glowing and our van settled in for the night I leave you with some of the lingering day slowly turning to dusk.