Visit with the Van Wyngardens

Cory's family had always told us that if we were ever in Iowa to stop by.  So I called Fos (Cory's mom), about a week before, and asked her if this weekend would be a good time for a visit and she said they would love to see us.

We stayed at the KOA in Newton which was a nice park with full hookups and was just a few miles for Craig and Fos' house.   On Thursday when we arrived, Craig and Fos invited us over for dinner with them and Grandma Pat.  Their house is beautiful...

and sits right in the middle of the Iowa farmland...

where the corn that had been planted was just barely starting to sprout.

 

Chuck was intrigued with Craig's snow blower (something we haven't seen much in Tennessee).

And you know they must get a lot of snow to be putting chains on the snow blower tires!  :) 

 

If we had arrived in Newton a couple of weeks earlier when they had a few inches of snow, Craig might of let him try it out.

After eating a delicious lasagna dinner, we all played 7-Up and they taught us a new card game called Snitch which was a lot of fun.

On Friday, Craig, Fos, and Chuck played golf while I watched and drove the golf cart.  They played at Bos Landen Golf Club which is a beautiful ...

 

...and challenging course.

 

Chuck tried to pick up some pointers from Craig.

 

Fos has an effortless swing that almost always sends the ball straight.

 

The weather was perfect for an afternoon of golf.

 

On the last hole, Craig talked me into at least teeing off one ball.  I had a beautiful shot, perfectly straight....right into the water!  They didn't tell me which direction to hit it!  :) 

After we left the golf course, Craig and Fos drove us down to Red Rock Lake and showed us some of the nice camping areas around the lake.  And because they knew Chuck loved racing, they drove us by the Knoxville Raceway.

 

There was no race going on at the time but the gates were open so we went inside to check it out.

 

Knoxville Raceway is a big-time dirt track where the World of Outlaws Sprint Car championships are held.

 

While we were standing there, a man came out and said he was glad he heard us because he was just getting ready to lock the place up.  Good thing he heard us!

After we left the Knoxville Raceway, we headed back to their house because they had invited two other couples (Ed & Joyce and Jeff & Sandy) over for a wienie roast and to play some card games. 

 

We had so much fun sitting around and talking and making more new friends.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.