Day 4: June 8, 2023 Bus to the North Comment via blog

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There were enough conference attendees staying at the Holiday Inn to justify a pickup there. That pickup occurred first which gave us at the Park Inn a little extra time. Here we are boarding for the 8:00 AM tour at 8:16.

Our first stop was at Central Park in Northwood, Iowa, for refreshments.

It was a short walk from the park to the Hotel Winifred. Waking Miss Winifred has made some great progress in renovating the historic hotel but there's still a long way to go. here is that sign in the last photo.

JHA members Sandra Huemann-Kelly and Mike Mueske provided some on board commentary but they didn't get much help from the buses PA system. It was the same for the local step-on guides so we in the back of the bus did not hear much but we knew basically where we were from the printed program.

Our first stop in Owatonna, Minnesota, was at the Village of Yesteryear where numerous historic buildings from the area have found a new home. Gus's Station, with a very early vending machine, was quite popular with our crowd.

Then it was off to Owatonna's Central Park for a box lunch, a group photo, and a message from Mayor Thomas A. Kuntz.

Owatonna was the tour's most northern reach and we now turned south for a stop at the Freeborn County Historical Museum in Albert Lea. After checking out the first floor, I headed outside to a collection of historic building similar to the one at Owatonna. Many buildings had a sponsor sign and those that didn't had a sign proclaiming their availability. Only when I came back inside did I realize that there was a second floor with cool stuff like a display for native son Eddie Cochran who wrote and first recorded Summertime Blues.

Following our return to Mason City, a small group of us walked over to Bill's BBQ for some good eating. The current owner, whose name is not Bill but Jaylene, has just sold the restaurant and will be moving on in a few weeks. Things are expected to stay pretty much the same.

We heard music on our walk back and discovered the Mason City Municipal Band in concert just around the corner from the hotel. Pretty cool, eh?

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