EIM plans for a fun evening in Maquoketa, IA on Saturday, June 5th -- hope you can join us!

Itinerary:

4:45 - Arrive in Maquoketa; park in the bank parking lot across the street (to the west) from the Decker Hotel and Restaurant

5:00 - Dinner at the historic Decker Hotel and Restaurant (<--link)

6:15 - Depart for the 61-Drive In (<--link); line up outside the box office upon arrival

6:30 - Box office opens; park our MINIs together; lay out blankets and enjoy some pre-movie treats, games, and socializing (Euchre anyone?) (wx permitting) No grilling; no pets.

8:45 - Show time. Subject to change, but the projected billing at this time is a double feature of Shrek - Forever After and How to Train Your Dragon. If you bring a portable radio you can watch the movie from your blanket or lawn chair.

Depart when desired (some may want to scoot out following the first movie)

As an option, some may want to consider a romantic overnight in the Decker Hotel with a return home trip on Sunday morning. You're on your own for these arrangements.

RSVP by clicking on the EIM Calendar Entry (<--link) and feel free to also leave a reply in this thread with actual number for dinner

See you there!

[props to D3m0N for the original idea]

 

Props to me but I will be out of town <sniff>

I will be in FonDuLac Wisconsin at my god daughters graduation...

seems like time is not with me this year at all

 

Looks like it will be me plus two (Jan & Emily) for this one...

 

Looks like Nora & I will give it a go

 

The hubby - Jim - and I will be there as well!

 

My 'party of 4' will be attending the Drive-In only.

 

We will only be able to make it to the Drive In. Hopefully we will be there at 6:30.

 

We just got back from Florida. This sounds like fun, both of us love to eat and watch movies. If the weather allows we will do both!

 

Cool! And even if the weather is ornery, the eating part is guaranteed.

 

I think Lisa and I will be there to eat and definitely for the movie.

Looks like the rain should be gone Friday night and just party cloudy Saturday. Lets hope it stays that way.

 

As you all know, I would love to be there. But we have so many things going on right now that I don't really know what I will be doing from one day to the next. We will try and make it, but God only knows what we'll actually be doing when Saturday gets here.

 

Denny & Sandy will try to attend both. Don't know if we can stay awake that late for a movie.

 

Our plans have changed and we will be there for dinner & the movie!

 

Looks like a fine group will assemble Saturday.

For those thinking about staying for the second feature, please note that the theater has updated the listing and will now follow the Shrek opener with How to Train Your Dragon.

Don't forget those lawn chairs and blankets...and keep your fingers crossed for cooperative weather.

 

my plans have changed...imagine that...I won't be able to attend.

 

The radar map does not look good for tonight, are there still plans for tonight?

 

Absolutely! Dinner is definitely on, and we can assess the weather immediately after. The most inclement weather now (and in the forecast) appears to be limited to areas south of US-30. We might get wet earlier on, but I'm optimistic about our movie chances.

 

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dead of night.....

 

Great! I was hoping at least Dinner would still be on! See you all tonight!

 

Great time, even with the tornado!

 

It's a relief to see this When we returned from the Iowa City Arts Fest, I saw a tornado warning box on top of Maquoketa and thought of you all parked in a row at the theater.

Did you actually see the tornado?

 

Didn't actually see the tornado, but there was plenty of action, nevertheless. Gary M had most of us seqestered inside the hotel playing games until the "narrow band" of bad weather passed. Some of us preferred to stand outside in harms way and watch emergency vehicles scramble in every directions. Paul went across the street to get the newspeople to write our story (no luck) but almost came back with a $6 wren house.

 

Thanks Fred...as Daryl states, other than the spirited winds we didn't see anything. Actually we had decided to camp out at the Decker Hotel after dinner until the line of inclement weather passed. We heard the sirens going off but by that time all of the action had moved off east of town.

I ran across these pics of some of the wind damage that occurred in the NE part of town:

http://qctimes.com/news/local/collec...4c002e0.html#0

As near as I can tell, here is the relative location of the Decker Hotel from where these pictures were all taken:



Thankfully we all stayed "high and dry" and the only slings and arrows suffered by the MINIs were a few stamens from the trees and rain drops.

It turned out to be a fun and (obviously) even more exciting evening than anticipated! It was great to meet Leslie and Jim and add another awesome PW/B MINI to the EIM stable. The Apples-to-Apples game in the hotel lobby was a blast! I'm still amazed at how full the drive-in theater lot was by the time we arrived given the passing storms, and how quickly the clouds cleared out to grace the showing of the movie.

Still assimilating my pics but hope to have them posted in this thread soon.

 

Relieved. I'm always thinking of youse guys

 

Pam and I had a great time with all of our MINI friends in spite of the clouds and cooler temperatures at the drive in. If I had of known, I would have brought a heavier jacket. Another memory to add to our list.