Friday morning and Mom feels I've been such a good boy so I deserve a nice run in a park, so before we left Pella she asked the maplady for the closest park. It was a gorgeous park but not fenced so I could run loose(which I prefer)but Mom wasn't comfortable to let me loose in unfamiliar places.We did take a long walk all alone except birds chirping

Next, the maplady sent us through field after field with corn and beans I thought it never end........all of a sudden she had us turn on to a dirt road? This couldn't be correct? but Mom said she trusts her to 100% after learning the hard way for not follow instructions on other occasions

Our car fits in much better with a layer of dust....a windmill park

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A tiny sign that we almost missed told us we are in Minnesota now? and that surprised Mom because it wasn't in the plan, but after a look on the map, we will just skim the southernmost part before we get to South Dakota tomorrow.

We stopped and spent a few hours at The Grotto of the Redemption a religious shrine located in West Bend, Iowa, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. A conglomeration of nine grottos depicting scenes in the life of Jesus, the Grotto contains a large collection of minerals and petrifications and is believed to be the largest grotto in the world

No pictures could do this justice, no matter how hard Mom tries.No charge and no dog restrictions..........

It is also "considered to be the world's most complete man-made collection of minerals, fossils, shells, and petrifications in one place. The total value of all the rocks and minerals which make up the Grotto is over $4,308,000 Over 100,000 people visit the Grotto each year

Father Paul Dobberstein was a German immigrant ordained in 1897. He became critically ill with pneumonia and promised to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary if she interceded for him. After his recovery, he began stockpiling rocks and precious stones. Construction of the grotto began in 1912 and continued year-round for 42 years.

Father Dobberstein used the knowledge and skills gained during the construction of his first grotto honoring Our Lady of Lourdes while training at St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. His method was to set fancy rocks and gems into concrete. In 1946, Father Louis Greving began helping Dobberstein with the construction. The grotto covered an area the size of a city block when Dobberstein died in 1954. Matt Szerensce helped work on the grotto until his retirement in 1959. The Grotto has been maintained by Deacon Gerald Streit since 1994

photobomb..................we are at Adrien campsite now and the wifi is so slow so we're using the car's wifi which is super fast bad thing we have to keep the engine running

time to turn in for the night 

Good NIght