Friday - October 8

 A rainy morning in Iowa City and fog delayed the start of the golf match in Bloomington.    Michael, Brooke, Drew, Davis, Brady, Blair and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Pullman (a favorite from past visits).    Philip, Annette and Ryan were there also - but almost finished when we arrived.    The Bloody Mary's were excellent, too!    😊

Brooke, Michael, Davis and Drew pondering what to order?

Blair, Grandma, Brady

Mark left around 8:45 for Walford, Iowa (near Cedar Rapids) to visit his college friend, Mike.    We had lunch with Mike in August, 2020 at the Cedar Ridge Winery near Swisher, IA - what a neat place, but yesterday's weather just didn't work for us to meet there (those tenderloins at the Hamburg Inn were so good, though).    

Back to the hotel and waited for the rain to stop....Blair gave me some tips on yoga - whoaaa...haven't done that since 2019 at Cypress Trail.     Where did she learn all these poses and description of each???   We were also doing posture and balance exercises!

Grandma and Blair hanging out with "Herky"

Mark really enjoyed his visit with Mike and was back in town at 11:45.   Several of us went to the Iowa Bookstore - huge and Brooke bought several pieces of Iowa clothing.    Then everyone but Mark and I went to Short's' for lunch (we were not hungry at this point).    They got a table but a LONG wait for their food.    We stopped at Target and on back to hotel.

At 3:30 some of us walked and some drove to Big Grove Brewery - wow, what a neat place mostly outdoors and ginormous.    People, people, so many people.   Tessa had family and friends, Drew invited friends, colleagues of Michael's  and along with our clan, made for a big group.    We played 2-handed, 4 handed, and 5 handed euchre,   Tessa's family are really into euchre so she fits in with our family very well, plus she's a real sweet gal.

The food at Big Grove was wonderful - we shared several appetizers and then other good stuff including various tacos, crispy cauliflower, shrimp lettuce leaves, etc., etc.    Mark, Blair and I walked back to hotel around 7:30 - rest of them are still going strong and many people still arriving.    This is quite the place and another fun evening to end the day!

GOLF update - CCHS Saints did not do so well today in the state finals so will not be advancing to tomorrow's match.    Connor shot an 82 and Liam, a 90.    Connor and his 3 top teammates were all individual qualifiers, though and will play tomorrow.    Good luck Connor!!!