Iowa or bust!

All of Ted Hammond's representatives except of course the photographer (me). L to R: Nancy, Lynne's grandson, Gwyn & Blake, Lynne's son Guy, Lynne, Lynne & Betty's brother Kenny, Guy's wife, & Betty Same group except photographers switched so I'm on the far left of this one.
Here's the congenial group that drove to Malta (in two cars) and rode to Minneapolis together on the train, and rented a van to drive 130 miles south to Clear Lake, Iowa. This is at the lodge on/at Clear Lake.
And the sisters.

The family union trip was, overall, great. The train trips from Malta to Minneapolis and back were fun... with a few caveats. The cousins (Lynne & Betty) and sisters (me, Gwyn, & Nanny) were fine. Blake was GREAT. The relatives were okay. The weather in Iowa was GORGEOUS. The location of the reunion was GORGEOUS – at a nice lodge on the edge of Clear Lake for which the town of Clear Lake, Iowa, is appropriately named. We visited two small rural graveyards in which many relatives were buried, including my dad’s dad’s mother and her parents. We also got to visit the old farmstead where my dad’s dad was raised until the family moved to the Glendive/Wibaux/Circle area when he was about 7 and shortly after the death of his mother. All the original buildings were gone, but I liked standing where they had stood and looking at the country that they had looked at… walking in their footsteps so to speak.