Not much excitement as we were traveling, as the road was pretty straight so the entertainment was the change in fields and road signs. There was fields of grass, cattle, corn and once in awhile we would see fields of sunflowers. Quite a variety of road signs: Prehistoric sites, Elvis sighting - one of his motorcycles in a museum, American Pickers in Murdo, SD, old 1880 towns, Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, etc. Quite different than the highway signs at home.
We stayed one night in Plankinton, SD and then arrived into West Bend, Iowa on Friday and stayed 3 nights at the Grotto campground. The campground was quite accommodating as there was only one other camper who stayed in the park with us, so they let us take up two sites to be able to fit. We have a beautiful view from the motorhome, lots of green grass, a railroad track (not used very often) on one side and the back of this beautiful church on the other.
So what's in West Bend, Iowa? It's a little farming town with about 800-1,000 people. It's best known for what some people call the eighth wonder of the world - Grotto of the Redemption. It's the largest grotto in the world. Father Paul Dobberstein, Catholic priest, started construction of the grotto in 1912 and they are still adding statutes and updating the grotto. There are actually 9 separate grottos, each depicting a scene in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
We took most of the pictures during our tour but then went back and took some night shots.
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| Father Dobberstein - built the Grotto and the Catholic Church |
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Inside shots of the Sts. Peter & Paul Church:
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| Christmas Chapel in the Church |
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