This was our second visit to Pella. This time, we stayed at North Overlook Campground, just five minutes out of town.

What do the residents of “The Friendliest Small Town” in Iowa do after a grueling month of visitors? They take Memorial Day off! The first three weeks in May of this year included Easter, Cinco de Mayo, The Tulip Festival, Mother’s Day and High School Graduation (May 23rd). Great for business but exhausting for the staff.

Pella’s full-time population is roughly 11,200 but during the annual “Tulip Time” (early May) hundreds of thousands of people descend on this small, friendly town.

We were tired after traveling for a week and decided to stay at our campsite on Saturday and visit town the next day. Little did we know that the bakeries and many of the other shops would be closed on Sunday and Monday. However, what we did find open on Sunday was noteworthy….

After 10:30am Mass, we were hungry for lunch and were very glad to find Cantarito’s Grill and Cantina open. And boy, was it tasty! Thankfully, we decided to share a meal as the portions were huge, enough for us to have another meal, or two. Traveling with our refrigerator is very handy for leftovers.

After a delicious meal, we drove a few blocks to the town center to sightsee. The Public Library on Main Street has ample parking for Class Band vans and was nearly empty on a Sunday. There is also plenty of street parking on the side streets to accommodate longer RVs.

We enjoyed a lovely walk around this sweet town on an absolutely beautiful Sunday afternoon, mostly window shopping. 

True to its Dutch heritage, Pella features a canal in the center of Town. The Molengracht Canal was constructed in 2001 is surrounded by shops and restaurants.

Sue was craving ice cream and had given up all hope of finding an open shop when we happened upon Sweet Henry’s, which was not only open but serves excellent ice cream. We shared a scoop of their new flavor, Peach Lavender. It was yummy and hit the spot—the perfect end to a perfect day! Chocolate Shoppe Independent Ice Cream Shops (such as Sweet Henry’s) are definitely worth checking out and appear to be located in many states across the US. A Sunday miracle for Sue!

We were grateful that each of these eateries was open on this quiet Sunday afternoon and would highly recommend both.

If you stay at North Overlook Campground, we recommend that you avoid sites 01-12 as these sites are close to the road and there is traffic noise. Sites are electric only. There is a single sanitary dump station and fresh water fill. A beach and swimming area on the lake are within walking distance of the camp.

On our way out of town on Tuesday, we stopped by both Jaarsma and Vander Ploeg bakeries. The pastries were as good as we remembered from our last visit.

Thanks for following along.