No, not Florida, or Cancun, or South Padre Island. Not even Arkansas. I spent two days of a short spring break last week in Iowa visiting my son at Central College. Central is located in the small town of Pella, Iowa - about thirty miles southeast of Des Moines.
This is my son, Toby:
Toby doesn’t usually look quite this festive. He is dressed in authentic Austrian leiderhausen (spelling?) to represent the country of Austria as part of a Study Abroad program at Central. Toby is a freshman majoring in German and is planning a study abroad trip to the University of Vienna in two years. Toby plays soccer outside and Halo inside. I think he spends more time playing Halo than he ought to, but that’s just me, I guess.
Pella is a nice little town. It was founded by Dutch settlers and still retains a strong sense of its Dutch heritage. The town is well kept. The main industries in the town are Pella windows and Vermeer industrial products. Central College is also important to the town as a source of culture.
It was warm there. South-central Iowa is typically about three weeks ahead of southeast Minnesota in terms of Spring. Pella hosts a big tulip festival in early May. I saw tulip shoots coming out of the ground last week. The locals were a little nervous that the flowers might come out too early.
Well, it’s back to work. It’s good to be back.
