Et cetera : Boston couple already feels at home after visiting Vinton for less than a week

John and Carol Manson of Boston are a bit surprised to find out how quickly they have become celebrities in Vinton.

Many people have seen them walking the streets and nature trails together, with John using his cane to determine obstacles he can't see.

The couple chose to spend a week visiting Vinton after deciding that the Iowa State Fair would be too crowded. John, who grew up in California and graduated from one of that state's schools for the blind, has been seen walking throughout Vinton with his wife, Carol, since last Thursday.

The couple is celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary today; they met 28 years ago while working for the National Park Service. John worked for three decades for the NPS, giving interpretative tours of many of the monuments to the Revolutionary War. He spent most of his time working in Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most historic places.
John has also served on a panel of six blind people to help make the Grand Canyon more accessible to those with handicaps.

Now retired, the couple spends a lot of time traveling.

"I retired on July 3, 2008, so that on July 4, I could claim my independence," says John.

While planning the trip that ultimately led them to Iowa, the Mansons first considered going to a state fair someplace. They remembered the old movie called "State Fair," and how it referred to Iowa's annual event. But when they found out that nearly a million people were expected there, they decided to look for something smaller.

Being residents of a crowded East Coast city, the Mansons say they were not looking for "small."

"We were looking for 'tiny,'" said Carol.

The couple's favorite destination is on the other side of the U.S., the tiny town of Yachats, Oregon (population 600 or so), along the Pacific coastline. They go back there every year.

The Manson's quest for county fairs led them to determine that it would be too hot to visit in July. But it also led them to learn about the Benton County Fair and Vinton.

So last Thursday, the couple boarded a plane in Boston, and took a shuttle from Cedar Rapids to the Cobblestone Inn.

"The manager was surprised to hear that we were staying right here in Vinton the whole week," said Carol.

Since then, the couple has walked on many city streets, as well as the nature trails. John said he had read about the trails before coming to Vinton, and had been looking for a chance to walk them.

While John is legally blind, he does have some light perception ability.

"I can see that you have had beautiful weather here lately," he said.

The couple has already made friends in Vinton, including librarian Virginia Holsten.

"We probably have more friends in Vinton after a week than we do in Boston after many years," said Carol, explaining that the business of a big city makes it more difficult for neighbors to become friends.

John said he was already aware of the Iowa Braille School and its connection to Laura Ingalls Wilder. The couple plans to visit the IBSSS on Tuesday, and the Vinton Depot on Wednesday, before returning to Boston on Thursday. They began Monday morning with a tour of the Benton County Courthouse, which reminded John of the atmosphere of Faneuil Hall.

While John worked with memorials of the Revolutionary War era for the National Park Service, he says his favorite Boston place is the Memorial of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the most famous Civil War unit featuring black soldiers.

"These men were fighting for the north, without a guarantee of freedom," said John. "The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the States of the South. Yet they fought, and most of them died."

The couple loves nature walks; Carol has already found a rock from Vinton to take home to add to her collection.

John uses the old-school way of getting around with a cane, and is quite capable of living on his own, which he did for 20 years before marrying Carol. "He can do everything by himself," she said. "Even cook." While John says he wishes that some of the modern technology available to blind people would have been available when he was of college age, he said his school did a very good job of teaching him how to find his way around by using his other senses.

The week in Vinton has left the Mansons impressed with the determination of area residents who have overcome the flood of 2008 and then the storm of July 2011.

"The people here are very scrappy," said John. "Vinton residents have desire to keep the place going, and to reinvent yourselves when you need to."