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.
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.
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