Experience Summer: Week 2 (May 22-25)

Drive-In and Circle 'Round

Although most would say Memorial Day weekend is the real start of summer, this is week two of my Experience Summer. Local commitments and potential car issues kept me in Central Iowa again, but we will be traveling broader soon!

Friday, May 22. It cost me having the song Stranded at the Drive-In (a la "Danny Zucco") stuck in my head all week, but I finally made it to the only drive-in movie theater still functioning in Iowa. Three friends joined me for the 50-minute drive east to Newton to go to the Valle Drive-In (http://valledrive-in.com/) to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. I think the last (only?) time I went to a drive-in was a gazillion years ago with my family in Michigan. I know there used to be a drive-in in Ames, but that's been closed for quite some time, too.

For reference sake, the gates open at the Valle at 6:30p, but, of course, the movie doesn't start 'til "dusk" (which we found out means about 8:45p). Grilling isn't allowed, but you can bring your own food, so we had plenty of snacks with us. We got to the "theater" (parking lot?) about 7:00 and there were already plenty of cars lined up. The weather was great and we got a perfect spot, although that's when I realized I forgot the football and frisbee I had planned to bring, which is really what this kind of experience calls for. My bad. There were plenty of other people playing catch and other games - and even sword fighting - but we were still able to pass the time 'til the movie started without even resorting to the deck of cards I did manage to bring. I will admit that the Valle brings out all types ... ALL types. And lest you think I'm referring to the sword-fighting ... that's not even the half of it. That said, once the movie started everyone was focused on the same entertainment element: a pretty good sequel with some good laughs, a pretty big cast of characters, and the occasional flashing brake lights.

The bonus of the Valle Drive-In is that, I think, each night offers a double feature. If we wanted, we could have stayed for "Wolverine." Unfortunately for Ben, the rest of us didn't want, so we headed back to Ames, but all agreed that's something we should definitely do again.

Monday, May 25 My original plan called for me to go to Story City early Saturday morning to check out their antique carousel and be back in Ames for a wedding that afternoon. Fortunately I learned late Friday night, though, that the carousel doesn't open until noon, so I bumped the plans back to Monday and decided to see if I could find more to do in Story City.

Well ... there's really not much more to do in Story City, but I did what I set out to do. On the way to find the Carousel, I stopped to see the 1936 Swinging Bridge. It was kind of pretty, and it hangs over a river that actually has some rapids in it, but as hard as I tried, it did not swing. But the park it's located in, along with the river (which is open for canoes and kayaks) was kind of pretty, and I stored it away for a potential future gathering. In fact, I came back to the park later on just to read a bit because it was so nice out and I thought I'd take advantage of a new background.

It took me a while to find the Carousel, truth be told. Yes, there's a sign on I-35 announcing that it's in Story City, but the signage in town isn't super obvious. Fortunately, Story City isn't very big. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw all of Story City while I was looking for the Carousel. For the record, there's not a whole lot open in Story City on Memorial Day. Also, having never actively looked for the Carousel before, I now know why I haven't ever seen it before. It doesn't necessarily jump out at you.

It's all enclosed. That was probably what threw me off. Maybe it's some kind of Scandinavian trait to be unassuming. Anyway ... it's a carousel. It goes around in a circle. It has animals in a variety of 'running' positions. Most were horses, but there were a few other random animals. I was confused by the running pigs with fangs. Sure - they're probably supposed to be wild boars or something, but what psycho designer would have thought that would be the choice of animal to delight and welcome children of all ages? Anyway, the Carousel was originally built in 1913, but was forced in to "retirement" in the late '70s. A group rallied around it (no pun intended) to raise funds to restore it a few years later. They even have postcards ... and t-shirts.

So, the real question ... did I ride it? Nope. (the crowd groans) Understand, there was no huge line around the building filled with hopeful riders. There wasn't even a handful of people around. There were 2 volunteers running the carousel and ... me. Eventually a couple kids came in with their mother, and only one of the kids wanted to ride it (I imagine the other one was freaked out by the fanged pigs). At that point, I thought the only thing weirder than a grown woman riding a carousel by herself, was riding it with one other little girl. What's more, I thought - wow ... once I get on this thing, what exactly would I do? I mean, I don't like ice skating or watching racing because all it consists of is going round and round in circles. But I did finally see it, I learned some of the history surrounding it, I took pictures of freaky fanged pigs, and I did give a donation to keep the tradition alive and running. Check!