Fall 2025 in Iowa

Grand Rapids, MI to Omaha, NE | Week with Jess’ Family | End of October 2025

After leaving Michigan, we drove to Iowa to spend a little time with my family. We arrived the day before my birthday, which I was very happy to spend with them again. My Nanna made the drive over for the day, and I got to see all my siblings that live in town and my niece and nephew. It was a busy, social day, but a great day!

We managed to time our visit perfectly with the peak of fall colors in Eastern Iowa, so throughout our week here we got out and enjoyed the season as much as we could. One evening, we drove out to Pinicon Ridge Park to go for a long walk with my parents, circling through the woods and climbing the tower. I don’t think we have visited here since the year before we were married, so it was fun to return after so long. It also brought back fond memories of coming here once a month for Nature Studies with the home school program. I remember our first time visiting, where we walked on a trail until we reached the bridge, and when we saw the small cascading of the creek, we were so excited to have found a ‘waterfall’. When we crossed over that same bridge today, I realized that either the landscape changed a lot since then or maybe my expectations for waterfalls have become too high.

We also visited Morgan Creek Park and Bever Park, and spent lots of time with my sister and her kids. We met at her house, my parent’s, parks, and even the Children’s Museum at the Coral Ridge Mall. I got to attend my niece’s ballet class — the one where they all wore their Halloween costumes, which was absolutely adorable!

On Saturday, my mom joined us for a little weekend adventure to Brandon to see Iowa’s Largest Frying Pan (yes, just Iowa’s…It’s a very competitive category). Mom was sure that she had brought me here when I was very young to meet a friend, and when she talked about it I thought I had a vague recollection of it (or at least seeing pictures of such a trip) but then reading the signs here, we learned that the frying pan was only installed in 2004. So I guess today was both Curtis and my first time seeing it! After getting our pictures taken with the frying pan, we drove over to the nearest trailhead for the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, and we ended up walking 5 miles round trip. We didn’t see a single other person — just a beautiful day on a colorful trail.

After a little over a week in Iowa, it was time to begin our next adventure — our annual Western Migration. For the past 2 years, Curtis has had to work for the first week or two of November at an Illinois plant, but this year he wasn’t put on that assignment, so we were given the opportunity to leave quite a bit earlier than we have in previous years. It was a little hard to leave knowing we didn’t have plans of being around for any of the holidays, but we feel good about all the time we did spend with both of our families throughout the year. And so, we readied the van, packed our belongings, and said goodbye to my family, possibly until next year.

Our first day of driving was shorter — only 4 hours, stopping halfway to visit my grandparents on the way. We had a great time catching up with them and listening to my grandmother’s stories. They are originally from Maryland, so they were happy to hear that we’ve spent quite a bit of time there this year, and we shared stories and memories from our time on the Eastern shore.

Next, we continued on to Omaha, where we stayed with friends that we’ve kept in touch with since moving away. We enjoyed dinner, games, and conversation with them, and were especially thankful for their hospitality on short notice!