Iowa: Travels in the “Winter”

I quote “Winter” because it’s technically still Fall in the midwest, but winter decided to come early this year. Lucky me!

I’m actually enjoying it to the fullest and having so much fun snuggling throughout all these cold days in my bed. I absolutely love the cold but I don’t know if I’m ready for those heavy January and February snow months.

For now, I travel. Iowa was my first glimpse into driving in the snow and it wasn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be. But who am I to say that… I’m the new kid in town.

Summerset Winery

My sister and I have a tradition of going to a tasting every trip we go on. We never fail to make it happen, so this time, we went to a very old winery. It’s actually currently on the market, if you’re interested. Wouldn’t it be cool to own your own winery? It even serves as a reception for weddings and huge events like that.

The space was huge and the back yard was even bigger! There were so many little fields of wheat and a large kind-of-dead-because-of-winter vineyard. But we definitely made the most of our picture taking skills!

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Robert D Ray Asian Gardens with the Women of Achievement Bridge

Our last day, it snowed HARD! But that didn’t stop us from exploring Iowa and all its cute areas. We drove by the Women of Achievement Bridge, which looked SO similar to the bridge in Newcastle that we visited last year. And next to it was the Asian looking structure, that looks like the one from Epcot in Disney World (if you’ve ever been).

We tried getting down to take more photos, but we were just so cold by that time and snuggled in the heat of the car. So here’s a landscape taken by yours truly: my sister.

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High Trestle Trail Bridge

One of my absolute favorite parts of this trip was this adventure! We can never leave a trip without a good story to tell and boy, did we plan this one terribly.

Google maps sent us to the middle of nowhere and Maps sent us to where we needed to go- shockingly because it’s usually the other way around. We arrived at the super empty parking area, where we could basically park in the middle of it all since there was not a peep in sight. And it was just straight up freezing.

We walked the half an hour ish minutes it took to get to where we would start walking for the bridge since we had been taking pictures the entire time instead of just staying focused, but it was well worth it. So google told us it would be a certain mileage to walk the bridge and come back, ask me even if we even tried…

After we walked the fifteen minutes from the trail to the bridge, we stayed at the ‘butt’ of the bridge and took photos there. Hypothermia is real people!!! We suffered with no gloves or hat (but hats are just not my thing), but still made it out alive.

LOOK AT THIS BREATHTAKING VIEW!

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I absolutely loved the bridge experience and everything it had to offer.

Until my flight got cancelled and rebooked…

7 T I M E S !

It was just insane. I was freaking out, called the airline, asked for help, and nothing. No compensation because it was “weather conditions”. Guess who had to pull out of the non-existing emergency fund? This girl! Tip: Always pack an extra set of clothing and monies to save for this type of incident. Which luckily I got the first part ready.

Thanks O’Hare… for not only cancelling and rebooking my flight for what felt like a million times, but for also making me stay in a hotel ALONE for the first time EVER.

You know… it wasn’t all that bad, but I wasn’t as prepared with my technologies either. Because for the first time in many trips, I did not bring other electronics, other than my phone, and it was just rough. Tip: Always bring a tablet or laptop for cases like these. But luckily, I called and caught up with family members. It wasn’t so bad after all!

The hotel was so accommodating, especially with the amount of shuttle switches I needed for the airport since my flight would change every few minutes. It was truly an experience for the books!

Future tip: safe an extra flight date for midwest trips in the winter, because you never know what can happen. It’s not like I was warned about this type of travel experience, so here’s MY warning to YOU!

Although I wasn’t expecting any of those weather conditions, I still made the best of everything I had at the moment. While I was very anxious for those moments, I prayed and everything turned out fine.

Have you ever had a moment like this? I don’t think I’m the only one. But I’d like to know how your experience went? Let me know in the comments below!