THIS is what happened on the way home to NC!

TODAY I answer this burning question for my NC peeps, “HOW on earth did you end up in Iowa?”

The story starts with our October 2019 trip out West.

Hubby & I along with our oldest daughter and her then girlfriend but NOW fiance’, planned a two-week trip out West to visit some National Parks we had on our Bucket List. We’d all been to Colorado together on a previous trip but didn’t have the time to go up the west coast together.

Hubs & I drove, as we are semi-retired and have the luxury of TIME to do those kinds of things. The girls flew into Denver where we picked them up to start our sightseeing adventures.

A day earlier, hubs & I had been looking at property in Colorado as a potential spot to build our “forever” home. We knew it was time for us to leave NC and we had a shortlist of places we thought we’d like to land which included Colorado. Also on the list were Tennessee, Idaho, and South Dakota (notice NO Iowa)

By the time we picked the girls up at the airport, THAT Colorado dream had already begun to fade. We were knocked down by Septic System Sticker Shock (and YES, that is really a thing!!) while exploring land options in the Buena Vista area and knew that CO was no longer an option on our list.

One down, three to go off that potential city list.

We enjoyed 2 weeks of touring the countryside visiting Arches, Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Jackson Hole, the Tetons, etc. ALL during the #pandemic and the #fires! Stories for another day …

Fast forward two weeks, we circled back down to Denver to drop off the girls so they can fly home and decided to take a more northerly route ourselves back to NC stopping in Des Moines, Iowa overnight.

Here’s where the story gets good…

The next morning we sightsee at the Iowa capitol in Des Moines, hubs has a thing for capitol buildings. Anyway, we spend the morning in Des Moines and hubs starts looking for a place for us to “catch lunch” on the route home toward NC.

Up pops this Google icon pic of a sunset in Pella, Iowa that catches his eye. Hubs says, “Wonder if it’s connected to Pella Windows?” Being remodeling peeps we know ALL about Pella windows & doors! He said, “It’s a little off our route but only 40 minutes away wanna give it a shot?” I replied, “Sure, why not?”

Little did I know what was about to happen!!

Forty minutes or so later, we literally pull into the Pella downtown square where I get out of the car, take 10 steps, look around, and loudly (well, you know me right?!) proclaim to hubby, “OMG I could LIVE here! Could you?”

I’m pretty sure he said something like, “Hang on, give me a few more minutes,” as we turned the corner to see THE windmill just down the street for the very FIRST time! I was giddy, honestly, like a little school girl giddy! Mesmerized, to say the least, I was instantly enamored with its strength and beauty all at once.

Who thought I’d see one stateside much less in Iowa? We had just begun to notice the Dutch theme while in the town square … the building facades, tulip references but NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect to turn the corner and see a REAL working windmill!

Curious to say the least, we quickly found the Visitor Center where we learned about local food venues and info about the tours at the Pella Historical Village & the Windmill. We had planned for lunch but NO time for any tours as we are in a hurry to get on the road.

So … on to The Dutch Fix for lunch! #allvisitorsmusttrythisfirst

There we met Meg, who helped us order our first ever “Dutch meal” that started with Poffertjes (Look it up!! Think little tiny pancakes smothered in hot butter and powdered sugar #yourewelcome We chit chat some with Meg and let her know we love the town and “could live here”. She pleasantly recommends the real estate peeps at Century 21 just down the street. #smalltownsarethebestforreferrals

On a whim, we pop over to Century 21 to just grab some info and maybe connect with a local agent if one is available. Enter Melanie, our Pella Professionals Century 21 Agent. I know she thought our story was crazy!

“Hi, we were just driving through Pella on the way home to NC and decided we might want to move here!” She and the receptionist, Cindy, both locals, graciously shared about the hot spots to hit while we were in town and to be SURE to take the time to go by the Lake. Do you know when you just “connect” with some peeps? #rememberthismoment

We explained to yet another person we were “just stopping for lunch” and just couldn’t take the time.

Mind you, we are 9 hours away from our next planned hotel stop for the night!

Once that real estate chat ended we decided to take a “quick look” at the Historical Village & check out the windmill up close for just a minute or two. So, we go to the gift shop at the Village entry just to get some info for “next time we are in the area” right?

Honestly, we told yet ANOTHER person that we just couldn’t take the time because we had just stopped for lunch and had to get on the road for a 9-hour drive!

We end up taking the 90-minute windmill tour that afternoon and I am sooo thankful we did!! It is definitely a once in a lifetime thing everyone should experience! Utterly surreal the mechanics of it all!

We finally leave Pella that afternoon after 4 pm knowing we have that 9-hour drive in front of us.

Nine hours in the car talking about that little town of Pella in southeast Iowa that we stumbled upon by pure accident.

Nine hours of “what ifs” and “why not’s”… nine hours of “now, how did that just happen?” talk. Nine hours of plotting and planning our NEXT steps!

There’s more… Part 2 coming soon!

So you decide #youhadmeatwindmill OR #youhadmeatpoffertjes?