Old Train Station in Amana Road Trip 2013 - Day 2 - June 12 - Indiana, Illinois, Iowa - Stop #2 (Indiana Dunes, De Immigrant)

The history of Amana Colonies begins in the eighteenth century in Germany. A community left there and went to America to seek religious freedom. They initially settled near Buffalo, NY but when more land was needed they looked to Iowa where land was available and prices reasonable. They arrived in Iowa in 1855 and chose Amana ("remain true") for the name of their six new villages: Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, High Amana, and Middle Amana.

After our stop at Fulton, IL, we did not make it to Amana until about 5 PM. Unfortunately, most places were already closed  One exception was the Amana Woolen Mill and it was a fun browse both through their products and the history. Even here though, the late hour prevented us from seeing the mill in action.

Wool Blankets from Amana Colonies, Iowa After looking their current and historical machinery over and checking out their wool blankets we still had daylight left to walk around the now deserted and very quiet village. There's a small creek right by the mill, and a lot of interesting old buildings. To my dismay, the oldest brewery in Iowa, Millstream Brewing Company, was also closed. Past the brewery was a short path to their old train station shown in the first photo above. Its bright orange paint made it stand out. I really loved all of that thistle that the station was overgrown with. They were blooming and looked great. There is something about the thistle plant in bloom. They're very pretty, yet, they're prickly and they're weeds. An interesting combination, like a beauty and a beast all in one. But then again, who gets to decide what's weeds? A rose has thorns too.

Lost shoes in Amana, Iowa Also by the station luck brought me some lost shoes. Lost shoes you ask? Yes, that all started a few months back in New York City where I found some old lost shoes on the street and had fun finding the right perspective. So here, I could add another pair to my collection. It will be fun to see how far my collection will grow over time. If those shoes could talk!

It was getting late and we still had one more stop to make on this road trip day #2 so off to the car we were. Overall, a nice and relaxing stop with lots to see. Only next time, arriving a bit earlier would come handy, although the photographer had no complaints.

Enjoy your summer vacation, wherever your plans take you!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Promaster 72mm Circular Polarizing Filter
• Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards
• Nikon Capture NX2

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