A Little Effigy Goes a Long Way
I rolled over in the hotel bed this morning and muttered a word inappropriate for this PG-13 blog. They say that payback is a b—-, well my body was demanding payback for all the dancing and late night celebration of the night before. After I finally dragged myself to a seated position, I gave very serious thought to taking the straightest route back to Grinnell. It was a close decision, but I opted to head up to Effigy Mounds National Monument in upstate Iowa as originally planned. Since I didn’t get onto the road until after 10 a.m., I did the drive-through breakfast thing and headed back across the Mississippi into Iowa. The river doesn’t look like all that much size-wise this far north, but it still has it majestic moments. I stopped at a scenic view along the road and got these shots: Effigy Mounds is a bit off…
On the Road to Chicag… Moline
Woke up early Saturday morning but didn’t get on the road until almost 11 a.m. because,… well between procrastination (hadn’t done laundry) and having decided to forgo the library time I’d planned, I took my time leaving. After grabbing drive-through lunch and deciding not to get my nails done in Coralville, I finally made it to the Herbert Hoover Library and Museum in West Bend. Hoover is the only Iowan who has been elected president (as of this date anyway), and I thought the stop would be interesting. Actually, it was interesting–and surprising. Even considering the expectation that the president life and career are going to shown in the best light possible, I found Hoover’s accomplishments to be quite different than I anticipated. Some of the pictures I took are below, but I suggest you take a look at a bio on him. Someone on Facebook asked me why I…
EWF-Chicago Concert or Bust
This weekend’s forecast is for nice weather (for Iowa in April, anyway–sorry, I let my Southern roots show), and I’m feeling a serious need to get out of Grinnell for a couple of days. Plus, I just got a new hat to wear when a-wandering that I need to break in, AND I’m still feeling jealous of two of my brothers who just went to the Earth, Wind and Fire/Chicago concert last night. So,… When I learned that the tour was coming to Moline, Illinois–which is just on the other side of the Mississippi from Iowa (only a two-hour drive away)–this weekend, I couldn’t resist. So, the game plan is to stop by the University of Iowa music library for a couple of hours to do some Spirituals research–can’t be all-play, can I?–finally visit the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library (maybe), and get into Moline in time for dinner and the…
Up, Up, and Away!!
Two of my brothers visited me from back East, so I wanted to find something for us to do together. Trouble was, I had literally just had surgery on my leg that morning, so we were limited in what I could do. Fortunately, co-workers had told me about the National Balloon Classic being held in Indianola. Unfortunately, that Monday afternoon turned into a nasty, stormy day with occasional flashes of lightning. A dangerous evening for ballooning, but a nice one for dinner at one of the Jethro’s BBQ restaurants in Des Moines. (Note: all of us stayed away from their Carolina pulled pork since there’s only one place where one can get REAL Carolina BBQ.) My brothers had left by Thursday. I wanted to try again, anyway. I was up early enough to go to the sunrise event, but I decided to wait for the sunset program that evening. This…
Afterthoughts about Goin’ West 2014
This is the map of my 16-day, Goin’ West 2014 trip: This surpassed my previously longest car trip from Grinnell to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, by a whole 17 miles!! I stuck pretty closely to my original route, with some new additions–especially Little Bighorn National Park and North Cascades National Highway–and only two major deletions. After the magnificence of Yellowstone, I didn’t feel the need to deviate 250 miles from my westward trip to see Glacier National Park in Montana, although I’d heard many wonderful things about it. I also didn’t cross into Canada to visit Vancouver. The trip included visits to seven national parks: Little Bighorn (Montana), Yellowstone (Wyoming), North Cascade, Olympic, and Mount Rainier (Washington State), Redwood, and Yosemite (California). The parks were fantastic and more than worth the cost of the annual season pass. My favorites were Redwood and Yosemite, but none disappointed. There were other parks…
Day 16: Back to the Old Homestead
Final day of Goin’ West 2014, which was a 1000-mile dash for home.
Day 15: RB and the Need for Speed
Interstate 80 runs from San Francisco to Teaneck, New Jersey. This highway will be very prominent in my now two-day dash to get home. The short drive from Carson City to Reno brought me to a casino in town. I’m not a gambler–I hate to lose and can think of fewer, more ridiculous ways to lose money than sticking it into a slot machine. However, in honor of my mother, I walked into Atlantis with a $20 bill and my car keys, figuring it would take me about 30 minutes to lose it in the quarter slots. To say I didn’t know what I was doing would be an understatement. With three presses of a button, my money was gone!! The customer service person explained that the button I was pressing was the max bet, so I was wagering $6.00 on every push! No, I didn’t get more money. As…
Day 14: Yosemite Sa… Randye
While my vacation time was fast drawing to an end, I still made time to visit Yosemite National Park. I chose a route that took us through Modesto and the Napa Valley area. The prominence of vineyards I passed in this famous wine region weren’t surprising to me, but the significant presence of almond tree groves was. There was a museum in Modesto I’d hoped to visit, but just as the unplanned nature of my journey sometimes meant I arrived at a site too late to be able to do more than capture a few shots, it also occasionally caused me to arrive too early. In this case, I felt it was necessary to be at Yosemite by the museum’s scheduled noon opening time. The drive into the Sierra Nevada Mountains had both eye-catching scenery plus attention-demanding twists and turns in the road. Upon reaching Yosemite, I followed my established pattern of…
Day 13: Things Don’t Always Go As Planned
After a great night’s sleep Wednesday, I got up, packed, and bade Dan farewell. I had some time before I was scheduled to meet two of my “California cousins,” so I took RB back to Fort Point in the hope the fog would have lifted from the San Francisco Bay so I could get a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. It had lifted enough to get a few pictures of the base of the bridge and its surroundings: Unfortunately, the plan to meet my cousins fell through, so I began my trek east. The route through San Fran took me close enough to the Haight Ashbury district that I was able to briefly detour. The neighborhood is best known as a focal point for the American counterculture that arose in the late 1960s, including 1967’s “Summer of Love.” Even today, the shops there still seem to take on that…
Days 11/12: The (Foggy) Streets of San Francisco
Tuesday turned out to be a recovery day. I didn’t even make it to see the San Francisco Opera’s production of “Show Boat,” which was a disappointment because I was looking forward to meeting several people backstage after the performance. Wednesday, however, my host–a gentleman named Dan–and I did some sightseeing around town. I actually let him drive RB–something only my parents had done before this–and my teeth were gritting the entire time. We started at the Presidio and made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, hidden amongst the fog is the infamous bridge, as well as Alcatraz. If you squint your eyes ju-u-ust right…. Dan, who loves to grill, prepped a lunch of brats, stuffed chicken, carrots, sweet potatoes and mushrooms for us. Yum!! I’d not had grilled mushrooms before, but I must do so again. Even the carrots, of which I’m not a fan, were delicious…