SuZan Klassen

One of my friends goes on a trip every year with her granddaughters—all five of them. To protect the identity of the children I’ll simply refer to my friend as Grandma M.

This year COVID put a cramp in their plans. “However, it opened up new, exciting possibilities,” she said. “And you can quote me on that.”

My friend planned the trip with social distancing in mind. Everything needed to be as far from other people as possible and be held outside. This wasn’t just for their safety, but for the safety of other family members with serious health risks.

They left Grandma M’s house and drove to the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa. The bridges were all in the area of Winterset, Iowa so it wasn’t difficult to locate them. My friend used her GPS, but you can print a map from the website (see below) or pick one up at the visitor’s center.

After viewing three of the covered bridges, the girls were over it. But they humored their grandma and saw all six of them.

Instead of hotels, they stayed in a cabin at the KOA campground in west Des Moines, Iowa. “I don’t know why I never thought of that before,” my friend said. “It was great—lots of stuff for the kids to do. And we were able to distance since we went during the week when it was less crowded.”

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KOA campground activities, here are a few the girls did:

• Roasted hot dogs and made s’mores over the fire pit beside their cabin
• Rode the paddleboats on the pond
• Launched water balloons at each other
• Ordered pizza at the main office and had it delivered to their cabin
• Jumped on the Jumping Pillow

Travel Light Humor

Travel Light Tips

• KOA website: https://koa.com/campgrounds/des-moines/
• KOA app: https://koa.com/get-the-koa-app/
• John Wayne Birthplace & Museum: https://www.johnwaynebirthplace.museum
• Madison County, Iowa travel info and a printable map of the bridges: http://www.madisoncounty.com/the-covered-bridges/
• “Trips are TOTALLY do-able, even with COVID. It was fun!!!” Grandma M said. (She loves exclamation points. Can you tell?)

What did you do with your children or grandchildren this year? Tell me about it in the comments below. Or brainstorm some new plans for the future. Share your ideas in the comments.

In my next post I’ll tell you about the trip she took with her grandsons. Grandma M is a busy lady.

Until next time . . . Travel Light,
SuZan
© 2020 SuZan Klassen                    All Rights Reserved