Location: Cedar Falls, Iowa
Attractions: George Wyth, Texas Roadhouse, & Cedar Valley Art & Wine
Dates: December 31st and January 9th

If you caught my last blog, you know my plan was to take Charlie, my 12 year-old daughter, on a snowboarding trip on my last day of vacation time from work. The night before we were to go I was getting my gear ready and I could see the nervousness in her eyes so I asked her if she was excited to go. My suspicions were confirmed when she hesitated and said, “…Kind of.”

After a bit of deliberation, we decided that we should maybe plan something else instead of snowboarding. I knew that if she wasn’t excited about it now, she certainly wouldn’t be excited about it the 4th, 5th, and 10th time she fell while she was trying to learn. I told her we could do something else if she was able to find something that we would enjoy as much or more than snowboarding. She jumped on the web and looked around for things to do and landed on a painting class. I thought that sounded great, but the kicker was that the class that was doing the painting scene that we wanted to do wasn’t for another week. So we booked a class at Cedar Valley Art & Wine and decided to spend my last day of vacation hiking near George Wyth State Park; Mattix, Charlie, Macy (our golden retriever), and me.

The next morning we parked at Gateway Park and sought off on the trail. It was brisk and the wind had a bite to it. It was around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was quite a bit of fresh snow on the ground. The kids were afraid they would be cold but I told them if they got moving they would warm up quickly. We got a move on and soon our blood flow warmed us up. We hiked along the Cedar River, heading into the woods under a highway bridge.

There is just something magical about heading into the forest after a fresh snowfall. You can see all the animal tracks, and the world just looks a bit different. Things are so quiet and the world just seems to move slower. After we trekked our way under the highway bridge, we noticed there were hundreds of geese swimming in the river beside us. We took a little break, watching some take off and some land in the freezing water while we listened to them honk at one another. We took a trail less traveled and got deeper into the woods. It was neat to see all the bunny and squirrel tracks and places where they dug up their nuts from underground. When we had our fill of the forest, we headed back to the vehicle and back home but first stopping at Cup of Joe for a coffee and some hot chocolate.

The next weekend, Charlie and I were up for our revised date plans. Our painting class was at 1:00 so we decided to have lunch first. She also got to pick whatever place she wanted for lunch and she had her heart set on Texas Roadhouse in Cedar Falls. We were there before noon, so I figured we would have no trouble finding a table. I was wrong. We had a 15 minute wait and due to the pandemic, we had to wait out in our vehicle. I can’t believe how busy this place always is. I guess the lesson is: Always call ahead.

Once we were seated, we ordered some drinks and our food at the same time because we had a 1:00 date at the art studio. Besides, we knew what we wanted because we had been thinking about it all week. Charlie got the mini cheeseburgers, applesauce, and a Sprite. I got a small steak, a loaded baked potato and a beer. It wasn’t long after our drinks came that I asked Charlie if she wanted to try some of my steak and as she reached to stab a hunk of perfectly seared beef her elbow collided with her glass of Sprite, knocking it all over the table. Luckily, our waitress was walking by moments after and was quick to provide us with a couple of rags.

We enjoyed our meal, paid for our food, and head out for phase two of our daddy/daughter date. There was only one other group in our class: a young couple, probably fresh out of college. Our teacher gave us instructions and we followed them as best as we could, asking questions whenever we felt insecure about the way we were doing things. We got to know the teacher and the couple a bit through small talk and had a really nice time.

The scene we were painting was a snowy landscape with the moon and stars in the background. Charlie has always liked art and we try to encourage her creativity as much as possible, so this was right up her alley. I too loved art class growing up so I enjoyed the session immensely as well. We worked our way through the class, stopping to blow-dry the work we did so we could start on the next part with out disturbing the paint beneath.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well our paintings turned out. We worked hard on them and we were pretty proud to have created something so beautiful. Through some additional conversation with the teacher and the couple, we found out there was a car wash down the street that had just opened up that was giving away free car washes. We stopped over for a wash-down and you would have thought we were at an amusement park as excited as Charlie was to cruise through it. I think its safe to say we both had a great day.

George Wyth Hike

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Texas Roadhouse and Cedar Valley Art & Wine

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