Winterset, Iowa

We had not intended to do sight seeing on the way to Minnesota as we were visiting family and friends on the way. We booked a site at a park outside of Des Moines thinking to make it an overnight stay before going into Minnesota. We then discovered that the little town of Winterset, 12 miles south of the RV park, was the home to John Wayne's birthplace and museum and that Madison County has the largest amount of covered bridges in Iowa.

It is also where The Bridges of Madison County was filmed. We decided to extend our stay and do some sightseeing.

Beautiful courthouse on the square

And we are glad we did! Winterset is a beautiful little town with a Court House square full of shops and places to eat.

We were told to be sure an get an apple fritter at The Bakery. We went to the Chamber of Commerce to get a map then headed to The Bakery. Yummo.

Notice the coffee carafe and the small coffee cup. A very old bakery but awesome food!

We then headed to the Rosemond bridge , the bridge in the movie.

The next stop was another covered bridge in the city park. Beautiful park and we discovered there was an RV park there. We might stay there on the way home and visit more of Winterset.

The John Wayne museum housed a lot of his memorabilia and we saw the little house where he was born in

 Winterset, IA

The chairs in a theatre in the museum are from the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

We were walking to eat lunch at the Northside Café and ran into a couple from Dallas. The café was busy so we shared a table. They had come to Winterset to see covered bridges, too. The owner found out we were all from Texas. He is from Austin. So he said since we were all Texans dessert was on him. The coconut cake was fabulous!

Pic of Eastwood in the restaurant

It was also the café where Clint Eastwood stopped in for coffee when he arrived to photograph bridges (in the movie).   I sat on the same stool  he sat on in the movie  to pose for a pic.

Winterset, IA is a high recommendation !!

A stop at Bridges of Madison County Winery and then back to camp. The park was about half full when we left in the morning. By 6:00pm the park was full! We saw maybe 20 RVs come in within 1 1/2 hours after we returned.  People up here are anxious to get outside after the winters.

On our trip we have enjoyed the cups Tif made  to take with us.  As we travel we can take them in and refill and on our way again.

Almost  there!