Iola, Kansas

This post is more for me, so that I can remember.  If you find you're not interested, just skip this one!

 From Wichita, it was about an hour and a half to Iola.  Iola is a tiny town that Tyler used to live in from ages 2-5.  However, his dad, Bill, grew up there many years ago, and most of Tyler's extended family lived there when Bill was growing up.

 This is the front of the Coca-Cola bottling company that Tyler's grandpa, Ralph Copening, used to own.

 This is the alleyway on the left side of that building that says Coca-Cola.  Sadly, the building sits empty these days. 

 Not far from the Coca-Cola building was Tyler's old house.  Again, we drove down an alleyway to get to the back part of his old house.  Tyler was very excited to find out they had painted his old house a light pink color. :P  They did have a good sized yard to play in though. 

 This is a view of the front of that house.  Across the street, a stone's throw away, is a nice, new middle school.  This house is for sale but I'm not sure I'd want to wake up and see the back of a school every day. 

 

This house was a little further away from downtown.  This is Tyler's great grandpa and grandma's house.  (His dad's dad's parents.)  It is on a corner lot.  Apparently, they owned a big chunk of land and had it sectioned off so all their kids could live close by.  As we traveled down Red Bud Lane, it was one Copening house after another. 

 

The first house after his great grandparents was Great Aunt Frances.  She was a sister to Tyler's grandpa. 

 

This light green house was Tyler's grandparent's house.  This was the house that Bill grew up in. 

 This house was Tyler's Great Aunt Mary's house.  She was also a sister to Tyler's grandpa.

 

This house was down the main road a few houses but within walking distance from the others.  This was Tyler's Great Uncle John and Aunt Inez's house.  Great Uncle John was a brother to his grandpa.

So you see, I didn't have to go far to get a trip down memory lane in Iola.  :)