Salsa because it's cheaper than therapy

July 23, 2022

Iowa dance day

After 2 weeks of no dancing, we actually have plans to attend one tonight in Perry. It's called "A Little Salsa on the Prairie" and will be held at the Hotel Patee. Our friends had told us about it and it sounded fun - live music and a salsa lesson which is one dance we don't know very well.

So the morning was spent running a few errands in Adel and a fruitless drive down a dusty gravel road to a produce farm that didn't offer what we wanted. The truck was so dirty after that trip that we had to take it through a car wash.

After dinner, we put on our best Latin duds and drove to Perry. We got to the hotel early and were able to tour one more room. This one was decorated in a 1913 farmhouse theme.

But we got a surprise when we went into the dance. It was supposed to cost $15 each but the organizers decided to make a free event because hardly anyone was there. That was nice but we weren't thrilled with the dance floor.

The ballroom floor was carpeted (I bet the original floor was wood) and there was a very small portable wood floor. The surface was also sticky so I had to cover my suede bottomed shoes with what are called dance socks that cover the balls of my shoes.

The salsa lesson wasn't great as it was done by a local couple that were just beginners and weren't true dance teachers. But we did get a taste of the basic steps. The music was much better which was a guy performing with his guitar, and singing a mix of Latin and pop music. He was pretty good and we did ok with the dancing as we had the floor to ourselves most of the time.

We ended up staying fairly late and then headed back to camp. The stars were amazing tonight - we could even see the Milky Way!

This train mural in the cafe showed the "Hiawatha". When we were in Idaho several years ago, we rode a rail trail called the "Route of the Hiawatha". It had several trestles along with tunnels, one of which was 2 miles long. When you reached the middle of it, you couldn't see either end. Very disorienting!

This room was called the "R.M. Harvey" room. Harvey was a Perry man who was a circus agent, and worked with the Barnum & Bailey Circus and Buffalo Bill Cody's show. Many of the greatest shows and circuses marked their beginnings in Iowa.

Anyone for a game? This is a working bowling alley in the basement of the hotel.

The dance floor tonight was disappointing as it was quite small and the surface was sticky. The guy playing the guitar was named Juan and his duo was called the "Juan & Only". He was a good singer.

We've seen quite a bit of art sculpture in Iowa including this interesting work next to the hotel.

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