Iowa

I wish I had cool pictures of Iowa, but I just don't.  Too bad, because I thought it was beautiful.  Our drive through Iowa was a little foggy and rainy, but smooth.  I was surprised.  I guess I always expected to find all Mid-western states created fairly equally, but I was particular taken with Iowa.  It was so green with beautiful rolling hills.  We took a little detour near Des Moines to go see some of the covered bridges of Madison county.  The bridge we found wasn’t as picturesque as I might have hoped, but fun, nonetheless.  We drove a little through the countryside near there and it reminded us a little of Sankt Stephens, Switzerland; vibrant green fields, old rustic barns, lots of cows and a low hanging fog.  It was gorgeous. 

 

We stopped in Ottumwa briefly in search of dinner.  I looked up restaurants online and found that the Canteen Lunch got pretty good reviews so we headed there.  We parked and found the place tucked back almost in an alley.  When we walked in we found a tiny diner with only bar stools and a counter to sit at.  We were also greeted by some pretty awkward stares.  The kind that say, “you’re not from around here, are you?” or “we don’t take kindly to your outsiders here.”  We felt unwelcome to say the least.  After a moment, one lady handling a large amount of unappetizing ground beef, asked if it was to stay or to go.  We said to stay and saddled up at the counter. 

“What'll it be?” she asked.  I scanned the menu that seemed to contain only a handful of items.  “I’ll have a cheeseburger.”  

“Whadya want on it?” 

“Umm… lettuce, tomato…”

“We only have ketchup, mayo, or mustard.”

Nope.  I’m not spending five dollars on a naked burger, thank you.  As politely as I could, I said I’m not really interested and we left.  Afterwards we couldn’t stop talking about how strange that experience was.  Everyone in the restaurant just turned and stared at us.  So weird.

Nebraska

Nebraska was mostly brown and mostly flat, which is pretty much what everyone says about it.  Still, it was fun to see the new terrain and the clouds looks gorgeous in the big sky.   So many people complain about how boring the drive through Nebraska is… and I understand why, but I’m just really grateful to be married to someone who can appreciate the little things that make each place unique and interesting.  I love traveling with Chris.  We have such a good time wherever we go.

We stopped for lunch randomly in Gothenburg and drove in to check out the featured Pony Express Station.  The town was charming and quite possibly the most well maintained small American town I have ever seen.  It was incredibly well kept.  The houses and yards were modest but clean and cared for.   We were both impressed.  Despite the town’s appealing appearance, it lacked for places to eat and we ended up at a Pizza Hut which performed it’s function in providing fuel for our bodies.
   

 

Happy traveler.

 We made it in to Omaha around 6:30.  We wanted dinner, but hoped to see something in the city before we lost the light.  We drove to the Iowa side of the Missouri River and walked up the pedestrian bridge for a view of downtown Omaha.  It was cold, though and the further we got out on the bridge the worse it got.  Before we even got anywhere near the center we had to turn back.  It was just too cold for Jane.

It was still cold and now rainy the next morning in Omaha as we headed over to the Winter Quarters visitor center.  The visitor center was nice, but our missionary tour guide was a little awkward.  At one point I wanted a picture of me pulling the handcart so we asked her if she could hold Jane for us.  She said she had nieces and nephews she missed so much, I assumed she was used to being around children, but the way she held Jane was so awkward we got a good kick out of it later.  

Downstairs of the visitor center was an exhibit for Liz Lemon Swindle’s artwork of Christ’s life.  It was beautiful.  I love her style.  I have one of her prints of Christ in my bedroom (well, my old bedroom).  It was so impressive and we both felt the spirit so strongly.  We were really glad we got to see it.  The exhibit is only there for a couple more months. We walked to the cemetery memorial and then drove over to the temple.  It was raining, so I just got out and took some pictures and Chris stayed in the car with Jane.

Wyoming

Our first leg was only to Cheyenne, WY (about 7 hours), so we didn’t leave until about 11:00.  We were so excited and thoroughly enjoyed our drive into unfamiliar territory.  As we neared Cheyenne, we found the city blanketed in snow.  We took pictures next to the big cowboy boots and walked around the old Wrangler store.

While taking pictures of Jane in oversized cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, we met store clerk Shane who started telling us a bit about the history of the building.  When he got to the part about it being haunted he got really serious.  Apparently, the old Wrangler store houses two strong presences; that of Tom Horn (the last man to be hung in the town square under Frontier law) and the jealous new bride who caught her husband in the brothel next door and took matters into her own hands.  Both ghosts busy themselves opening windows, moving keys and messing with the thermostat.  Come to think of it, I must have had a ghost in some of my apartments because someone was always messing with the thermostat.  Shane recommended with our little remaining time that we go see the Lane Frost monument, so we did.  It was cool.  

 

Jane and Mariah

A couple weeks ago, we babysat our friends' little girl, Mariah, who is just 3 weeks younger than Jane.  Isn't she darling?  Jane was asleep when Mariah arrived and when she came out and saw her playing on the floor she was SO excited.  I mean arms and legs kicking and flailing madly kind of excited.  But while Jane was just coming off a killer nap, Mariah was pretty tired and ready to go down.  The picture above is the closest thing I got to a smile out of her.  Still, she's gorgeous in all her somber photos.  Jane's a little cheesy, hamming it up for the camera.  She really just couldn't contain her excitement.

Is Jane consoling her?

I just love this one.  Busted.