Just down Highway 20, Independence offers patriotic, picturesque adventure

By: Billie Ann Albert

On this week’s One Tank Trip, my friend senior Mary Ingalls and I drove about 30 minutes to Independence last weekend, Oct. 3.

When the two of us arrived, we found an old army tank at a little park area along with a gazebo. It was funny watching Mary trying to climb on top of it to get her picture taken. She was pretty excited to be in the newspaper this week.

Mary and I moved on to get more pictures, and they turned out pretty good. There is a gorgeous waterfall right in town. It is small, but pretty. I wish I was able to get the sunset in the background, but there was a building in the way, and it was at a different angle than the waterfall. The army tank and gazebo were on the opposite side of the river, and the gazebo looked very pretty next to the water.

Once you get into the downtown area, an amazing mural of the American flag with an eagle flying in front of it decorates a wall. I do not know who painted it, but he or she did an awesome job.

Pretty flowers also dot every block corner, and one of the arrangements caught my eye. They’re small and yellow blooms, but they were very pretty and had a small American flag poked into the pot.

As we were walking down the street, Mary turned and just fell in love with this little church. It was small, but very cute and old fashioned. The small businesses were old and run down, so they looked weird. They were all closed because it was late Saturday night, and we felt a little out of place as we were the only ones walking around town.

There was also a movie theater. I always see one when I go to the different towns, and they always seem to look the same, but different from the ones we have in Cedar Falls, and I am not sure how to describe it. This theater, however, was not open for business. The front windows were all torn up on the inside, and it was so dirty everywhere. With things just thrown all around the store, it looked pretty beat up.

It was hard trying to pull Mary back towards the car because she found so many stray cats and just wanted to take them all home. If you knew Mary, you would know she has a great love for cats.

As we were leaving town, I asked Mary to turn into the driveway of the Mental Health Institution. I thought there would be some good pictures to get, as last week’s Hi-Line said it is rumored to be haunted, but it was kind of dark, so the pictures didn’t turn out very well, but it makes it look kind of creepy. I was kind of scared getting out of the car to take a picture of the building, and I don’t even know why, but I did it and got right back in the car and we got out of there.