“Is this heaven?” No, It’s Iowa!”

Our campground in Iowa is a county park- so no internet!  There is a lake, and some geese and teenage goslings:

And it’s about 35 minutes from Ames, where Kyle lives, so it’s a bit of a haul to see him, but definitely worth it!  After we got set up we picked up Kyle and went to get a rental car, then had a nice Italian dinner.  Kyle looks the same as he did last time we were together 2 ½ half years ago!  He is doing well and just got a promotion to Assistant manager at Kum and Go, the store he works at- Congratulations, Kyle!

We got a picture of our first Iowa sunset:

Sunday the 3 of us went to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum- Jerry kept saying we had been before, but I didn’t think so- he was right!  It was a first for Kyle, though, and we all found it very interesting.  After a late lunch (Linner?) we went to the Devonian Fossil Gorge- it was AMAZING!  I thought we might be lucky to see a fossil or two- SOOOO WRONG!  There were thousands, and basically all you had to do was look down.  The fossils were unearthed when there was a flood in 1998, and then more were unearthed when there was a second flood in 2006- it’s rather ironic that the fossils are all sea creatures! Check these out:

And a picture of an Iowa sunset on our way back from this adventure (thanks for the pic, Kyle!):

We had a HORRIBLE storm here Monday morning- woke up a little before 5:00 to the sound of rain, thunder and lightning!  And it was thunder and lightning like we have never experienced before!  The thunder kept rolling without a break except for the intermittent loud boom over the rolling, and it went on forever- I timed one continuous roll of thunder at 7 minutes!  The lightning was just as extraordinary- it was also continuous and seemed like a strobe light- constant flashes for about an hour! The wind was howling and the trailer was shaking- I was ready to go to the block wall bathhouse- but then the hail started…  It was pretty scary!  There were some broken tree branches in the wooded area behind us, but no other damage except a lack of sleep…

And a little leak from a window that wasn’t closed all the way- and of course it got the bed wet, so we spent time stripping the bed, trying to get everything dry, including the mattress- fingers crossed it is dry all the way through! It’s only a small area, maybe 6X4 inches.

The morning after the storm there were still some amazing clouds:

We had dinner with Kyle, then drove through the campus at ISU.  They have completed construction on a couple buildings that were in progress last time we were here, and are working on more, including a pedestrian bridge to Jack Trice Stadium, which will be a big help for football traffic- Go Cyclones!

On our last day in Iowa we visited some of the Bridges of Madison County:

They were all very similar to each other, and you cannot drive through them. Checking that off my bucket list!

I have to admit, they were kind of a let down, since they are basically the same- oh well, checking it off the bucket list!

We had a fun shopping spree at Duluth Trading Company- and everything was at least 30% off- woohoo!  If you have never checked them out, I love their Noga pants (yoga pants)- super comfy and actually flattering, and I hear their buck-naked underwear is awesome!  😊

We met Kyle for dinner, had a lovely visit, and it was super sad to leave him- we love you and miss you tons, Honey!

Next stop- South Dakota.