Day #2: Hitting the Road In Page County, Iowa.

Mom and I took a tour of Page County yesterday. Our first stop was Clarinda, which is the county seat. Here’s a picture of the courthouse. The whole town is cute. There are antique stores and little shops everywhere. Here are some fun facts about Clarinda:

Clarinda was founded in 1853.
Johnny Carson donated money to the Clarinda Lied Center.
Actor Billy Aaron Brown who starred in John Ritter’s last television sitcom is from Clarinda. (My Aunt Sue was one of his schoolteachers).
Alton Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda.



Speaking of Glenn Miller, the good people of Clarinda are busy getting ready for the 32nd Annual Glenn Miller Festival. People around here are very excited about the upcoming event. Just in case you don’t know, Glenn Miller was a very famous musician and bandleader back in the 1940’s, and he died in a plane crash during World War II. Glenn Miller is Clarinda’s favorite son. I took some pictures as I walked around the town square. Here’s a picture of a Glenn Miller street banner.






Here’s a street sign located by the courthouse.
















Here’s a sign outside of a quaint antique store.











Local Glenn Miller fans have formed the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society. The society organizes the yearly Glenn Miller Festival. Glenn Miller fans travel from all over the world to attend the event. I met a man from England when I went into the office to buy a tee shirt and some postcards. I also met Glenn Miller’s son. He traveled to Clarinda from Los Vegas. He’s a very nice man.








Our next stop was the old Clarinda Asylum for the Insane. Today it’s called the Clarinda Treatment Complex. It has a much nicer name now. The original hospital sat on 513 acres and was opened in 1888. Unfortunately the hospital administrator didn’t have enough time to take us to the hospital’s museum. Maybe he had second thoughts about showing us how patients use to be treated in the hospital. Drat! And of course, due to HIPPA laws I did not take pictures of patient care areas. However, I was able to take a picture of the front of the building. I think Nurse Ratched would like working here.






Our next stop was Shenandoah. It’s my mom’s old hometown. It’s also the hometown of the Everly Brothers. They were the guys that sang, “Wake Up Little Susie.” This sign is in the Greater Shenandoah Historical Museum. This sign came from the town's original speed trap.


I think every little town in Iowa has a museum. And of course I gravitate to the medical displays. Here’s an old faded picture of Shenandoah’s first hospital.





Here’s old all-purpose quarantine sign. I also saw a Scarlet Fever quarantine sign in the museum.







This is the office equipment of old Dr. E.J. Gottsch. Mom said she knew Dr. Gottsch when she was a little girl. She said he was a grump. Maybe he was grumpy because lots of his patients were in quarantine.


That's it for today. I plan to go see some of my relatives tomorrow. They're all a little crazy just like me. Well, they say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.