(insert generic blog title here) Happy Halloween!
Betsy, her Mom, Bones, and I piled into our van in the wee hours of this past Saturday morning heading for Betsy’s sister’s family’s house in Iowa for the weekend (yikes, that was a long sentence). The drive was uneventful, but the stay was fantastic, as usual. We all love visiting their two little girls, Melissa and Sonja (pictured below).
I like Iowa, as it turns out. After years of being conditioned by dumb Iowan jokes and hearing about how corn is so copious that it’s on the brink of overtaking civilization as we know it, I just couldn’t see the appeal. But after having visited the state a few times, I can see that it does actually have something offer after all. For example, the southern part of Iowa, where we stayed, is not flat and dull. It’s actually quite hilly and beautiful. The rolling deciduous landscape reminds me a lot of those American farm oil paintings you find at flea markets (like this one, for example). I’d even say more nice things about Iowa, but my Minnesotan acquaintances might excommunicate me, and I don’t want that. I have to make clear, just so there’s no confusion, that the top two thirds of the state are, in fact, very flat and on the brink of being taken over by corn.
I don’t think I’ve posted any pictures of my nieces Melissa and Sonni before in my little corner of the web. I intercepted some pictures of them apple picking and also at a kids’ Halloween event. Oh, Melissa is three and a half, and Sonni is turning two next month. I hope you enjoy them!
(click them to see the full picture)
I like Iowa, as it turns out. After years of being conditioned by dumb Iowan jokes and hearing about how corn is so copious that it’s on the brink of overtaking civilization as we know it, I just couldn’t see the appeal. But after having visited the state a few times, I can see that it does actually have something offer after all. For example, the southern part of Iowa, where we stayed, is not flat and dull. It’s actually quite hilly and beautiful. The rolling deciduous landscape reminds me a lot of those American farm oil paintings you find at flea markets (like this one, for example). I’d even say more nice things about Iowa, but my Minnesotan acquaintances might excommunicate me, and I don’t want that. I have to make clear, just so there’s no confusion, that the top two thirds of the state are, in fact, very flat and on the brink of being taken over by corn.
I don’t think I’ve posted any pictures of my nieces Melissa and Sonni before in my little corner of the web. I intercepted some pictures of them apple picking and also at a kids’ Halloween event. Oh, Melissa is three and a half, and Sonni is turning two next month. I hope you enjoy them!
(click them to see the full picture)
posted by Steve Gravley at
Monday, October 31, 2005
5 Comments:
I came here expecting to write a comment about your post Steve, but the first post here has me so interested in buying and selling, well, I just forgot what I was going to write!
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By
Jon Roberts, at 11:06 AM
From now on, I'm just going to delete these blog comment spammer messages. But I'll leave this first one up because if I deleted it, Jon's post would make him look like a raving lunatic.
By
Steve Gravley, at 11:36 AM
I've had to go to Iowa a few times since my wife's parents moved there. I don't think I'll ever like the place. It's so.... bleeech. I've never seen the southern end though. Maybe I'll have to give that a try.
The only interesting thing that happened to me in Iowa was when I had to pick up a friend there in 2001. I drove all the way out to Mason City(?) and had to pee. There, of course wasn't a gas station anywhere near, so I pulled under a bridge and straddled a support colum. I peed on the cement colum and it drizzled down onto the concrete below, turning everything a dark brown. I hadn't planned on that. Every car that passed honked at me, and the peak of my peeing culminated in 5 cars slowing down to honk and watch, along with a semi that blew it's horn long, and loud. I released one hand to pump my fist as to reinforce the bond we had made, and to signal that I would like another 'honk'. He supplied that. Under my breath, as I gave the driver a plastered smile I said, "fuck this God-forsaken state".
By
Anonymous, at 7:26 PM
Like that trucker has never peed on the side of a road before...
By
Steve Gravley, at 6:25 AM
Well... maybe he had never seen anyone humping a support column before. =)
Was that what it looked like? Pat humping the bridge in some kind of erotic wet dream sort of way?
...I feel dirty now.
As for Iowa, been there. Flat desolate place, but the one area I stayed in with my family was hilly and alot of fun. So for what it's worth, it's only 95% spawning ground for the evil corn invaders who are bent on world domination and will one day "shuck" us as we do to them.
Or not.
By
Jon Roberts, at 12:47 PM
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