Days 17-20: Birthday celebrations & Grandma's house

Next stop was 36 hours with dear friends in Illinois, where I celebrated my birthday. We had lunch at a lovely wine bar & cafe (with a gluten free menu-- well done, Joel!), stayed up late laughing and talking, and made notes of restaurants we want to try next time we come to visit.

The drive from Illinois to Joel's grandparents in Iowa was our longest driving day of the trip (9 1/2 hours), which was a shame, as we passed through some places I would have loved to stop. We crossed the Mississippi River at La Claire, Iowa, home to the Buffalo Bill Museum and the Mississippi River Distilling Company, both places that would have been fun to tour. We did have lunch at a wonderful old mansion (converted to a restaurant) overlooking the river.

Joel's grandparents live on the western edge of Iowa, so we had to drive across the whole state, through tiny towns that seemed to consist of nothing more than a grain elevator and gas station, with names like Cherokee and Pocahontas. We saw lots of corn that looked like this:

(Very blurry corn. Just kidding, that was just because these pictures were all taken from a moving vehicle.)

And also a lot that looked like this:

Seeing field after field of scorched, stunted corn really made the reality of this year's drought hit home. I forget that even in this country weather patterns are tied to people's livelihoods, and can be far more than the mild nuisance they are to most of us.

But so much of the drive was really beautiful, and once again I found myself surprised by the quiet allure of those endless expanses of fields and sky. I hadn't seen much of the midwest until 3 years ago, when we drove east across the country from Oregon to Boston. (The irony of this was that I had married a man who claims Nebraska as home, a state that I hadn't even set foot in until that cross-country trip.) As we crossed the vast flat center of the country I found myself understanding Joel a lot better, and also appreciating that there are many kinds of beauty, not all of the mountains and trees variety. (I admit it, I'm kind of a snob about the spectacularness of my own state, Oregon.)

Joel's grandparents' house felt so familiar and comforting, even though I've only been there once before. I guess it's because it reminds me so much of my grandparents' houses, with pastel bedrooms and candy dishes and afghans and old fashioned pictures on the walls. I've lost both of my grandmas in the past 2 years and I miss them and their warm, cozy houses. It was good to be back in a grandma's house, eating eggs and bacon in the kitchen and having Joel's grandparents chuckle at William and say, "It's been a long time since there's been a baby in this house."

Here they are:

Joel's grandparents live in a pretty quiet town, but it is the self-proclaimed "ice cream capital of the world," thanks to being the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. We did our duty to the local economy and visited the Blue Bunny Ice Cream parlor.

More midwest scenery, taken on a morning walk near his grandparents' house.

Days 11-16: Good-bye to the South, and canoes & cousins in Indiana

I looked at a map yesterday and realized that over 3 weeks into this trip we're actually less than halfway across the country! We're currently in Wichita, Kansas, making our last stop to visit friends and family. A week from today we expect to be pulling into my parents' driveway, and in between we'll hit Denver, Arches National Park, Salt Lake City, Reno, and Crater Lake.

But first, let me catch up with where we've been.

Eating barbecue in Troy, Alabama, en route from Tallahassee to Birmingham. (These next few pictures aren't wonderful as my camera was out of commission for a little while and I was relying on my cell phone.)

I had been really excited about seeing the civil rights museum in Birmingham but unfortunately we were there on a Monday, when it was closed. So we ate lunch, then got on the road.

Ted's was a place where everyone from businessmen in suits to construction workers stood in line to be served a meat and sides, cafeteria style, by women who called you "honey" and seemed to belong to an earlier era. I'm missing Southern food just thinking about it.

We spent that night north of Nashville, with friends who had an adorable blond-ringleted girl who William was, predictably, smitten with. I know this picture is fuzzy but I love it anyway!

Next stop was 5 days with Joel's family in Indiana. William was fascinated by his two older boy cousins, and they loved him.

As did all the rest of his relatives:

The cousins acquired a new puppy while we were there, who quickly made friends with William and everyone else.

While in Indiana we took William on his first canoe trip, down a river for a couple hours. I wish I had more pictures of the river, but I didn't have my camera with me. Don't know what it says about me that I was willing to take my baby but not my camera in the canoe. Fortunately we didn't capsize, although we did get pretty wet when it started raining about halfway through. William happened to be sleeping when the rain started, and slept on (he sleeps like a rock) under a little blanket shelter we made for him. 

Days 7-10: Tallahassee & Florida's Forgotten Coast

We came south to Florida to see our friends Sam & Shannon:

(Don't mind William, he was just sad because we took his bottle away for the sake of a nice picture, a strategy which clearly backfired.)

The rain followed us to Tallahassee, and it seemed like every time I announced a plan to, say, go swimming or take a day trip to a historic plantation, it was a cue for mountains of gray rain clouds to fill the sky and start dumping rain. But we still had a fantastic time with indoors pursuits such as catching up over delicious meals and consuming large amounts of chocolate and wine while watching Olympics.

On our last full day we decided to drive down towards the coastal town of Apalachicola (part of the region known as the Forgotten Coast), in spite of the gray rain clouds filling the sky. And miraculously, as we drove the sky cleared and we ended up with a fantastically beautiful afternoon and evening in Apalachicola. We ate seafood and alligator chili (tastes like chicken) on a deck with marvelous views over the bay (see crying William picture at beginning), and soaked up the wonderful don't-worry-be-happy vibe of the place.

This picture makes it look like I'm falling for the Instagram craze, but I'm not. No digital alterations here.

As we were walking back to the car we walked by a building with fantastic live jazz pouring out of the door, and people our parents' age in white linen milling around inside and looking fancy. Turns out we had stumbled upon a festival celebrating the fact that in 1845 a local doctor invented mechanically produced ice, which pretty much revolutionized life in hot climates. The pertinent point here is that they had free champagne and fresh oysters, and by fresh oysters I mean a guy standing there shucking oysters that he had caught in the bay that day. So good. Also, I learned lots of interesting things about the history of ice, which I enjoyed because I'm kind of a history nerd.

What would an ice festival be without free snow cones? William maintained laser focus on this snow cone for far longer than you would think a baby would be able to maintain an attention span.

And then he crashed.

This is William with our friend Shannon. Do you see the love? William was completely smitten with her.

I always knew a day would come when my son would love another woman more than me. I didn't expect it to come so soon. In several hours in the car sitting between Shannon and me, William maintained a non-stop campaign of getting Shannon to look at him by any means possible: smiles, cute noises, giggles, shameless flirtation. Every once in a while he would glance over at me, to make sure I was still alive, I guess. Then back to Shannon. Ha ha! 

We ended the day with a beautiful drive back along the coast...

... and a spectacular sunset.

Days 5-6: Charleston & Savannah

From Columbia we continued south to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. I was charmed by Charleston's lovely buildings and elegant courtyards and smitten by Savannah's gracious squares, lush gardens, and mighty moss-draped oaks.

Charleston 

Savannah

We did the tourist things: the horse-drawn carriage tour in Charleston (this is while waiting for the carriage)

and Forsythe Park in Savannah

I wish we'd had more time, and I'd love to return, hopefully not in August. We had torrential rain in both cities, and the kind of humidity that makes it feel as if it's raining inside your clothes. We got out and about as much as we could in between downpours. During one deluge we sought shelter in a lovely bookstore where Joel introduced William to Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel.

But enough about the weather. Let's talk about the food.

Shrimp and grits with andouille sausage. For breakfast.

Lunch at the legendary Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House, operating since the 1940s, where you sit down at a table with a dozen strangers, spread with a dizzying array of Southern deliciousness, and stuff your face until you can't move. Fried chicken, meatloaf, barbecued pork, black eyed peas, dirty rice, corn muffins, sweet tea, and about ten types of vegetables. None of it is pretty or fancy. All if it is insanely delicious. If you are ever in Savannah, GO. 

In between we had a great meal at a Cuban place, but dishes that translate as "old clothes" (ropa vieja) don't photograph well.