I was so grateful to Michael for driving me to
the airport today. I got up early and got all ready to go and we left a few
minutes after 9 AM and picked up Betsy and then he took us to the airport. We had a nice
flight that was uneventful. We got our rental car. We're driving a Chevy and we can both
drive it. We made it to Mason City in about
two hours like normal. I think it was 7:45 PM when we pulled into Taco Tico. I
ordered one taco, one soft taco, and a bowl of meat. Betsy and I had a good
chuckle about that. I asked him if I could just have a cup of meat. First, I
asked him what menu item has the most taco meat in it and they said the burger
and something else. I said I would really just like a cup of meat. And he said, "I’ve been telling them that's what we need to offer." And then he said, "Actually, we do have that available on the register and I can give that to you." So, he did. He showed me the size cup and I said that's perfect
and I got it. It was delicious! However, next time I think I'll just get it in
a taco.
Anyway, we enjoyed our food and then we went to
Birdsall's. There were about five different ice cream creams on the list that I
wanted to taste. I thought to myself, it would be nice if they had a flight. I
looked at the menu and sure enough, they did! You could get six different
scoops of ice cream so that's what I did. On the way to
Birdsall's, we drove past the house that Mom and I lived in and they had a sign
that they're having a vintage sale tomorrow so we might try and check that out.
We had fun eating our ice cream and talking to people and took a couple
pictures. I couldn't resist telling two different people about the fact that I
used to live in the house around the corner over 40 years ago and how we used
to come here.
We had planned to leave by about 12:30 PM so we
could get to BJ's house at 1 PM but we were running pretty late but it turned
out to be OK. We headed over there by going north out of town so we drove past
Curries and Kraft. I was telling Betsy that I know that the apartment that I
first mom and I first lived in when we moved to Mason City was around that area
but I just couldn't remember where. Betsy drove, which was great because then I
was able to do a couple tasks on my phone and do my Duolingo lesson. We arrived
at BJ and Lori's at about 1:30 PM. They were still getting ready to go over to
the venue to start setting up and decorating. BJ showed Betsy around the house.
Adri was there with one of her bridesmaids getting ready and Erik came over and
loaded up a truck with some things. BJ showed us around outside a little bit,
too. Betsy wanted to see some of the barns so he took us over to where the
chickens were.
Then we headed to the hotel and got checked in. Betsy had a FaceTime with her family and then I had to have a FaceTime with Michael and Nathaniel to talk about Daniel's classes. We were on the phone for quite a long time. It must've been at least an hour. Betsy and I talked for a little while and then went to bed.
June 6, Friday
After that, we
headed over to the cemetery. Betsy and I reminisced about all the great things
about Mom. We visited all the graves for the whole Horsfall family. There were
some flowers there for Mom that Harve had put there. We spent some time there and took some pictures and just remembered how much we
love her.
Then we headed out of town and drove to the
wedding venue. We were able to see Grandma Tillie's old house on the way. Quite
a bit was already done when we got to the wedding venue. It was nice to see
Linda and we talked to Lisa for quite a bit. The bridesmaids were doing a lot
of work. I offered to Adri to help but she was trying to make a decision and we
really didn't get much opportunity to do anything so we tried to stay out of
the way. We talked to Linda and BJ and Lisa and even the groom's mom whose name
is Denise. We also saw Eric and Claire and Brian and Lisa's girls
Lindsay and Brenna. At 4 PM, it was time for their rehearsal so we took the opportunity to
leave and head back to Mason City. We made it to Music Man Square a little
before 4:30 PM.
They immediately told us it closed at 5 PM and
we said we knew but that's all the time we have so we'll see as much as we can
and that's exactly what we did. We went into the little gift shop to pay the
fee and buy some magnets. Then we walked down the little street replica and
took a bunch of pictures. It was so cute! They were setting up for a wedding in
one of the areas.
We wandered down the whole street and then we went into the museum. It was amazing!
I especially loved the replica of the
house. It was so cool!
There were all kinds of things you could read
about Meredith Wilson and so much memorabilia. It was a really nice museum. I
was so impressed and Betsy loved it, too. We both chuckled that our kids would
be bored there and so we're glad we went with each other. We got a lot of
pictures. We went back outside of the museum to the little street replica area
and we were trying to find the trombones and Betsy walked into one of the rooms
and saw that they were all hanging from the ceiling, all 76 of them. It was so
cool! I'm so glad we took the time to go in there.
We went outside and took a couple more pictures
and then we headed over to the bookstore.
It was an adorable bookstore! We immediately started looking at all kinds of
books and they had all kinds of things, new books and lots of great sections
and used books and everything. We explored all around there and even looked
into the little marketplace next door. We decided to leave through the back
which led to the mall which was shockingly empty. There were a couple of little
food court restaurants but nothing else was open. They had a bunch of tables
set up with things for sale in the middle but that was it. It was so sad because
I remember going to that mall a long time ago and it was such a cute mall. We headed outside and it was some
sort of first Friday party night and they were they had a band setting up. Some
of the restaurants we had seen in Betsy's guide to Mason City were right there.
And we could tell that they were very popular and looked like they had some
great food, but there were so many people and it was so crowded so we didn't
linger there but walked around a little bit and then walked around the mall
back to the car. Next, we went back to Birdsall's and to the vintage sale by
the old house. We walked around the garage to look at all the products he had
and we saw a bookcase and ended up getting some books there. I found four
different books to buy. I paid the man and then I asked if anyone lived there and
if not, if it was possible for me to go look inside that house. He said
absolutely not. I asked if he was the owner and he said he was and he said he
couldn't let me in because he doesn't have insurance for other people to be
looking around in there so I said I understood and asked if he could help me
remember the layout of the house because I used to live there when I was a
little girl. While I was
talking, Betsy went into Birdsall’s and got herself one of those cute T-shirts.
I finished talking to him and thanked him and we went on our way. We tried to go to the Blue Heron for dinner. It was
packed so we took a couple pictures in front of their super cool mural and drove down
the road to think of something else we could do.
All of Rose's kids started leaving between 12
and 12:30 PM and I stayed for a little longer and talked to Rose and Merrill
and then said my goodbyes to them and drove over to Grandpa Freese's house. I went
in and he was showing Betsy pictures and memorabilia and she had already gone
down to see his tractor collection. He showed us some more pictures and we said
our goodbyes to him. It's so amazing how he's 95 years old and he's doing as
well as he is and he looks great and he his mind is sharp and he gets around
really well. It's always hard to say goodbye to him but hopefully, we'll get to see him again soon.
We drove to the hotel and freshened up our makeup
and got dressed. We got there in
plenty of time. It was still raining when we arrived and they were outside
getting pictures. Stan and Carol and Sierra arrived and so we talked to them for quite a while.
Sierra is going to move to Arizona and apparently so is Katie. We talked about
that for a little while. She's going to move here in August. They started the
wedding a little late but the rain let up enough so they could have it outside. It was a beautiful service. They had the
processional and BJ was getting emotional already. The pastor read scriptures
and they said their vows. We sang a hymn and said the Lord's prayer. Afterwards, we all filed out and said hello to the
bride and groom. We hadn't seen Sam yet so luckily, we saw him. We went in to
find our seats and Stan and Carol had saved some for us so that was nice. Harve
and Becky sat with us, too.
The dinner was delicious! They had pulled pork
sandwiches and cheesy potatoes and green beans and fruit. And of course, the
cake was amazing! Linda had made it. She said she first took a class
in cake decorating because she wanted to make a cake for BJ's first birthday and
she took a class from a lady in Saint Ansgar and got the icing recipe from her
and that's the one she's always been using. Betsy and I remember it is the same
icing that we've had all these years from her when she made her cakes. I asked
her if she'd give me the recipe and she said she would. I don't know why I
haven't asked for it before. Anyway, it was a really nice wedding and we got to
talk to everybody. It was just so nice to be there with everyone. They were very
grateful we came. The kids all had fun dancing.
It was so sweet when
they had the married couples come dance and then they kept asking anybody who's
been married five years or less to leave the dance floor then 10 then 20 all
the way to 50. Sam and Linda celebrated 50 years in 2023 and Lori's parents
apparently had been married for 54 years so they won the game. It wasn't really
a game but it was sweet.
We talked about a few options for dinner and I mentioned Dandy's barbecue which we had talked about before and Betsy said let's just go there so that's what we did and that was a fantastic idea! I loved my meal! The ribs were delicious and I got a corn casserole that was amazing and sweet potato casserole that was even better. We got Scotcheroos for dessert but we also asked if they knew of any places around that were good places to get dessert. As we were leaving, the guy at the other table said we should go to Pasta Bella for dessert and they have a great chocolate cake so that's what we did. Betsy called and they packaged it up for her and we drove over there to pick it up. When we got back to the hotel, we both called our husbands and we were completely exhausted after a wonderful, long day.
June 7, Saturday
The
sendoff wasn't until 11 PM. They had us hold sparklers while Adri and Erik
walked down the row. Then they had some fireworks. It
was so nice! It was short but the fireworks were very cool, like the same ones
you would see at a Fourth of July celebration. Anyway, it was a long day but it
was fantastic. We helped Sam and Linda carry a few things to their car and said
our goodbyes to everyone and headed back to the hotel.
June 8, Sunday
Mason City Ward building
Church started at 10 AM and we were early enough to say hi to a few people before it started. We met a couple walking in and their last name is Billings. They know the Freeses and the man had been the principal at Nora Springs school and then his son was principal at Nora Springs school and they knew Lila Freese. Betsy pointed out that the Bishopric second counselor is Todd Osterle and I immediately wanted to know how he was related to the Osterle that I know and it turns out he's a nephew of Scott and Mary Osterle. He wasn't there but his wife was and that's how I found out. Anyway, it was a very nice meeting but unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the whole thing. The choir performed and it was a much larger choir than our ward's. After they were done singing and everyone started going back to their seats, we took that opportunity to sneak out and get on the road. We made it to the airport right about 1 PM which was perfect. We talked the whole way there. We talked the whole way on Thursday, also. Michael picked us right up and we dropped off Betsy at her house and went home. The boys seemed glad to see me.
It was an amazing trip and I'm so glad I was able to go and that Betsy could come with me!
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