An Overview of our Walk:
Since my parents no longer live in Sheldon, Iowa, the town I called home from the age of three until high school graduation, I tour the town every five years when my classmates get together for reunions. Scott and I arrived in Sheldon around 10:30 AM and we started our walking tour at the Sheldon High School. This is when I discovered the indoor pool (where I swam many laps for summer and winter swim team) had been demolished and replaced with an indoor pool. We then headed over to the high school so I could snap a photo of the front and we noticed a volleyball tournament was happening. Scott happens to have an uncle who lives in Sheldon and we saw a car with her name on it so we went inside to see if we could say hello. Only in a small town would we track down family without a phone call! We talked with Barb and Marisa for a few minutes and I talked with Michelle Hoogers a woman who graduated in '93 and is now the volleyball coach. 
After spending time in the high school, we walked one block to my childhood home (604 Union Avenue, the gray home second from the corner pictured below). The new owners have added new siding but I still mourn the loss of the giant picture window in the front of the house because that is where my mom spent hours reading on the couch and watching out for me and my sister. Everything else on my block looks the same. I lived directly across from a Emmanuel Christian Reformed Church (not the church I went to) and East Lawn Cemetery (pictured below).
From Union Avenue, we turned right onto East 6th Street and walked passed several childhood friends' homes. We then turned left onto Washington Avenue (a main thoroughfare in Sheldon) and then right onto 7th Street. I was able to see the green space/parking lot that used to be my Middle School which was torn down shortly after my 10 year reunion. Even though the middle schoolers of today have it much better than I did, I still wish something interesting could have been put into that big old beautiful building. The Emmanuel Bethel Reformed Church (pictured below) is now much more prominent with the school's absence.
A block away, on 8th Street, we walked passed Sheldon United Methodist Church, the church I attended with my parents and sister every Sunday morning at 8 AM. I have many fond memories of Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and Youth Group. This is also where I was introduced to puppet ministry which many of my friends from Sheldon didn't know about (and none of my adult friends knew about until recently).
We continued on our walk heading towards downtown. I had to take a photo of the Sheldon Community Building as this was the site of Teen Scene, where I spent many Friday nights talking to my friends about things we thought were important at the time (e.g. boys). I was happy to discover the library was open and even happier to find that it smelled the same. It had a very library smell to it. Besides the addition of wireless internet connections and more computers, the library looked exactly the same to me.
Once we arrived into the heart of downtown, I remembered all of the nights "cruising the loop". I can't believe that was once so entertaining. Even though I saw the big hole that once was Pizza Ranch the last time I was in Sheldon, I can't help but be sad that my first employer burnt down! We stopped in for a treat at the Prairie Queen Bakery and I was had an elephant ear in honor of my mom as it was her favorite when we lived in Sheldon.
We continued our walk downtown via 3rd Avenue and saw that many stores were now closed but Ben Franklin remains! The saddest losses to see were Holly's (which didn't exist growing up but it was a dear friend's gift shop which rivaled most independent stores in Minneapolis) and Pucci's which was a favorite dining spot of my family's.
After looking around downtown, we headed to City Park, which the entire community helped build in 1994, my senior year in high school. I was impressed by the new memorial built to honor all of those who faught in the wars. However, our camera battery was drained so I couldn't capture as much of it as I would have liked.
After we left the park, we walked down 6th Street where I spotted what looked like my old moped! It appears they still travel in packs! In hindsight I wish Scott and I could have rented a couple of mopeds for the day as it was my primary means of transportation from the age of 14 until 16 when I started driving by myself.
After returning to our car at the high school, we drove out by the new Hiway 60 bypass. This is where all of the new restaurants and hotel have been built. As an adult I now couldn't care less about access to McDonald's but I can't even tell you how much I wished we had a McDonald's growing up. Well, Sheldon now has a McDonald's (in a gas station - but still). This is the part of town where Pizza Ranch and Taco John's relocated. While I didn't take a photo, I noticed that Roller Roulette is still up and running. We also drove down Country Club road as many of my childhood friends lived in that area though now it is far more developed with new houses due to the addition of the new middle school.
We discovered that the camera battery was completely drained so we drove back downtown to Radio Shack where we spent at least a half hour trying to figure out if a universal charger would work. Turns out it did and we were on our way to Holly (Hamill) Kamstra's house for an afternoon gathering. Classmates I was able to connect with included Andrew McDowell, Sarah (Popkes) and Hans Wagenaar, Rachel (Wolfswinkel) Matthaei, Kristi (Fedders) Hill, Nate Merrill, Mark Woelber, Kent Magnussen. It was fun to talk with their spouses and meet their children. I wish more people would have come to this part of the reunion because I found it was much easier to talk with people in Holly's backyard than it was later in the evening at the restaurant.
After the gathering at Holly's, we drove around town a little more. We were advised to drive around the section of town where childhood friend, Cindra (Schelling) Kamphoff lived as more new houses have been added. It definitely has changed a lot since I frequented that part of town! A photo oppp of Dairy Dandy was a must. I also noticed that yet another restaurant is in the old Iron Horse space and yet the Iron Horse Inn remains. I also checked out Hills Park (looks the same). We stopped at Pamida because of the number of years I spent helping my dad when his pharmacy was located inside of Pamida. It now appears that the pharmacy is a part of the store rather than its own entity. We then drove passed the golf course since I played on the junior varsity team for a couple of years. We then headed back to the Middle School area and I noted a new park had been developed as well as an assisted living home.
Our Sheldon tour was complete and it was now time to depart for Aston, Iowa the location of Cedar Cabin, the restaurant many of us went to for PROM. Everyone looked great and I wished I would have been able to talk to everyone more than I did. We opted out of returning to Sheldon to go to the bar because we had to drive back to Sioux Falls where my parents now live.
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