Touring Emmetsburg and on to Forest City, IA

We enjoyed our free breakfast this morning and then toured around Emmetsburg, IA which is a small town in northeast Iowa. We were surprised to learn that the town is named after Robert Emmet, an Irish patriot and orator in the late 1700's. Mr. Emmet has the unfortunate distinction to be the last person condemned by the British court to be hanged, drawn and quartered! Wow -- this gave me the chills.

We learned that there are only 4 statues of Mr. Emmet in the world, including this one in Emmetsburg. Emmetsburg was settled by the Irish and it was natural to name the new town after their great patriot.

Located next to the statue is the Blarny Stone, which Cody thought was very interesting. He also was enthralled with the beautiful lake that is located at Emmetsburg. This looks like a very nice town to live in.

After an enjoyable morning, we headed for Forest City which is about 70 miles away. This was an easy drive in the coach and so after lunch, Orinda humored Rick by joining him for 9 holes of golf (Orinda does not golf, but provides advice!). We tried the Forest City club which was beautiful and a fun place to play. Rick had a good time, but I don't think he is quite ready for the PGA Tour. That said, he did have some good shots including this par 3 where his tee shot ended up about 6 feet from the pin (yeah, he missed the putt!).