Road Trip

This week we took a little road trip to Fargo, North Dakota, followed by a stop in Storm Lake, Iowa.
One of our goals is to visit all 50 states. I lack 5 and LW lacks 6. North Dakota is one of those we both need to visit so we headed up there on Monday.
The temperature in Council Bluffs had been hovering around mid 70. When we stopped for lunch in Watertown, South Dakota, the temperature was 58 degrees. In Fargo, we checked out the Walk of Fame and a replica of a 12th century Norwegian church.  We had dinner at Old Broadway Sports Bar while watching Monday night football. The food was great and the free popcorn was even better. That night I saw people walking around in shorts and t-shirts, while LW and I were wishing we had brought warmer clothes. They probably thought it was a nice day.  I guess that is all relative.  This morning when we woke up, the temperature was 48 degrees. Brrr.

Fargo Walk of Fame

Woodchipper from Fargo movie, Norwegian church

This morning we headed south to visit Storm Lake, Iowa.  This will accomplish 2 things. First and most importantly, I hope the temperature will be much warmer. Second, it is a sentimental stop.

Storm Lake is the home of Buena Vista University. Both LW and I are alumni. We graduated 31 years ago in 1985. What? Whoa! That can't be right! I know its been awhile but....31 years?  Where the hell has the time gone? We have not been back to Storm Lake in many years.
So here's the sentimental part. Cue the oohs and aahs.  This is where we met. This is where the great love affair began. (Maybe I'll tell the whole story in another post.) Anyway, we wanted to check out how the town and college had changed in those many, many years.

Along the way we made a few stops. First was Devils Gulch in Garretson, South Dakota. Supposedly Jesse James evaded capture by spurring his horse to leap the 20 ft ravine. Historians believe it is impossible.

After that we stopped at a spot where you can see 3 states...Minnesota (To LW's right), Iowa (behind LW) and South Dakota (to LW's left).

Then we came across a town in Iowa called Lester. So of course we had to go 5 miles off our track to stop and get a picture.

Next stop...the ice cream capital of the world...Lemars, Iowa. Wells Blue Bunny got this distinction because in 1994 they were producing 100 million gallons of ice cream a year. There is a nice little free museum highlighting the company that has been in production since 1913 upstairs above the ice cream shop.

Arriving in Storm Lake, we drove around town. Our Pizza Hut is now a China House. The site of our first date, the movie house is still in operation. The Villager, our favorite restaurant, is still there and tasted just as good. Storm Lake High looks much the same. (I did student teaching in the high school Spanish program there.) But the college has changed A LOT!  Although the buildings we lived in looked about the same. 

We had hoped to spend the night and walk the campus, check out the bookstore, let LW play golf at one of the courses he played while on the college golf team. However every hotel was booked so we headed back to Council Bluffs.

Back in Council Bluffs with a few more things to do and see here before we leave on Sunday.

Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium

Omaha is home to a world class zoo and aquarium called the Henry Doorly Zoo.  I know that when the kids were young we came to this zoo but we had not been here since.  LW and I spent 4 hours at the zoo yesterday.  The collages below show some of the best of the pictures from the day.  The highlights were the giraffes (my favorite), the tiger momma and her 3 cubs, the elephants that they rescued from Swaziland and the silverback gorillas. If you have the opportunity to be anywhere near Omaha, make it a priority to stop at this zoo.  You'll need a good chunk of time but it is worth it.  It's the best zoo we've seen so far.

Annual Father-Daughter Game

Labor day weekend hosts the annual father-daughter weekend when LW and Lauren attend the Husker opener.  This year was a little different in that we were already here in Iowa/Nebraska.  Lauren flew up for the long weekend arriving late Friday night.  Even though the game was not until 7 pm, a tailgate party started around 11:00 on Saturday in Lincoln in the stadium parking lot.  I have not been to a tailgate party or Husker game in years, so I drove down to Lincoln to participate in the fun that they call "tailgating." After eating the last brat and hanging out for a while, some of us went for a long walk to check out the stadium. Shortly after returning to the tailgate, and just before the gates opened, the  rain began.  It rained... and rained... and rained.  There was talk about packing up and leaving.   There was standing around huddled under the tents.  There was moaning and groaning about the rain. There was debating about who wanted to go to the game, who would want to leave early if it continued to rain and who was just going back home to watch in the comfort of a dry home. Tailgate supplies were packed between bursts of showers. I wasn't going to the game in the first place so I ended up hitching a ride back home with family.  The ticket holders finally were able to emerge from the tents and attend the game once the rain completely stopped.  Bonus:  Huskers won 43-10!

Kansas City

Originally we planned just 2 days in Kansas City.  But when LW's brother was able to get tickets for he and LW to see the Chiefs/Packers on Thursday night, we extended our stay.  Good thing we did. There is so much to see and do in KC.  Here are the highlights.

Royals vs Yankees game

Harry S Truman Presidential Library, Museum and Home in Independence, Mo.

 We had ice cream at the Clinton Soda Fountain where Truman used to work.  I had Harry's Favorite-chocolate ice cream with butterscotch.

This is the outside of the Kansas City Public Library.

 We drove to Topeka to see the Brown vs Board of Education Historical Site.

Then we drove on to Abilene, Kansas to visit the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and boyhood home.

Today while LW and his brother played golf, I visited the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and the Donald J Hall Sculpture Park. The world's largest shuttlecocks are on the grounds.

Then I went to the Hallmark Cards visitor center and the Crayola Store.

Tonight the boys are enjoying the preseason football game and I am enjoying some alone time in the hotel.  Tomorrow we are off for Council Bluffs.  We will stay there for about 18 days, visiting LW's family, watching the Huskers and we will get to see Lauren since she will fly in to go to the season opener of the Huskers with her dad ( a long standing tradition).

See ya Branson

Driving into Branson on Friday, August 26, LW pondered whether we had made a mistake booking a condo for 3 nights. Would there be enough to stay busy for 3 days? Ha! You could stay here a month and not see or experience everything! Figuring that out, we had to be slightly more selective. First we drove around town. Here's the fun we had.
Mini golf at Shoot for the Stars. It highlighted Hollywood landmarks. LW beat me of course.

We spent several hours reading about and experiencing the Titanic. My favorite parts: receiving the bio of a passenger and finding out at the end if he/she survived or perished.

There was a bucket of water in which you could submerge your hand to see how long you could withstand the cold. It was 28 degrees, meant to simulate the ocean water that night.
There were 3 decks sloped at various angles to simulate the sinking. I could not even get up the third one, the steepest at 45 degrees.
Then there was the Grand Staircase. We were able to walk up and down it. They also had Leonardo DiCaprio's costume from the movie. There were priceless artifacts including Madeleine Aster's life vest.  This attraction may be my favorite thing in Branson.

We also saw 2 shows. Hammers Unbelievable Variety Show and Legends. The variety show included magic, a singing impersonator, and acrobatics. Legends featured Johnny Cash, the Blue Brothers, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Michael Jackson and Elvis.

So much to see and do here that it is a place we have added to our list of "need to return." Onward to Kansas City for 5 days.

Invisibility

Jennifer here. Just in case you can't see me. Cause the wait staff at Cantina Laredo obviously can't. When we walked in they took us to a table on the patio per our request. It's a beautiful night in Branson. We sat there waiting for 15 minutes. No one brought chips. No one asked about drinks. No one even looked our way. They checked on tables all around us but not a single sign of acknowledgement. Finally I got up and went to the hostess and asked if a server was assigned to our table but by the time I returned it had started to sprinkle and LW had gotten up and was moving undercover. A waitress saw us looking for a new table and helped.  I'm a very patient person when it comes to waitstaff. I've never held that job and never want to.  So you know if I was not happy ....
Having magically appeared, we ordered drinks and queso.  Soon our drinks arrived as did our queso. But still no chips. We waited and waited and waited. Finally I asked a busboy if he could get us some chips. LW wanted to leave. But I have an issue with leaving after I've already ordered my food and consumed some of my adult beverage. So...I guess we were wearing our invisibility cloaks this evening. What would you have done?

Razorbacks and Big Cats

August 25, found us in Fayetteville, Arkansas to start the day. We began with the Clinton House Museum.  This is a very small house where the newly married Clintons lived near the University of Arkansas.  They were actually married in the living room.  If you listened to President Clinton's speech at the Convention, this is the house he talked about.

After that we drove through the university campus.

We also had lunch on the square, saw the Peace Prayer Fountain and checked out the view from Mount Sequoyah Park.

At least 3 times people told us that Fayetteville is often compared to Austin.  It felt like Austin but much smaller.  We need to come back and spend more time here.

Then we drove to Eureka Springs to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.  This is a non profit refuge primarily for big cats, although they do have small cats and bears. All of these animals have been rescued from deplorable situations or from people who suddenly realize owning an exotic cat as a pet is not a great idea.  We walked around the complex looking at the animals, reading the signage and talking to the zoologist interns.

We watched feeding time.  Tyson Foods donates about 300,000 pounds of food for the big cats every year.  We watched as tigers were fed 2 whole chickens.

We drove into town for dinner and then to the Christ of the Ozarks statue.  It was built in 1966, stands 7 stories tall with an arm span of  65 feet and can be seen for miles around.  It is the largest statue of Christ in North America.

Then we returned back to the Wildlife Refuge for the night.  We stayed in their Treehouse.  We could hear the lions "caroling" off and on throughout the night and into the morning.   Today we will go on the guided tour led by one of the interns before heading to Branson.