Curly was well behaved riding to Iowa. . .She is now well-traveled!
The St Louis Arch on the ride back home
Heather's hospital where she works in Iowa City
Trenton being the navigator
Heather dressing warm!
Jason & I cruising around town
One German colony named "Amana" that we visited
The Amana visitor center
The name of this candy store is "Schnitzelbank." This colony has all the little shops and stores a small colony needs to support itself. We ate a German lunch here and it was delicious. They also make handmade furniture here which is sold all over the country and is NOT cheap!!
This was an instant reaction!
This is Heather & Trenton's house
In Iowa they have the FATTEST squirrels I have ever seen!!
Trenton & his son Guardian snoozing
One day temp!! The worst was the wind! We did see snow but just flurries so hopefully on our next trip we will see real snow.
Daddy doing some driving through Cedar Rapids
Us hanging out in the back
Me & Heather
Cedar Rapids was flooded this summer because of the extra snow they got last year. When all the snow melted so fast it flooded the city. They call it the "5 year flood" because this happens every 5 years or so. This house says "You loot I shoot!"
This is a pic of the river. It was very shallow and therefore called a "rapid." There was still shopping carts and trash in the rapids. This river goes right through downtown Cedar Rapids where Heather & Trenton and his family lives.
This is the Czech and Slovic museum downtown which is closed from the flood.
The museum was underwater. Only the roof line was seen!
More construction
In this Czech community almost all of the houses were destroyed!! And these are just some of the pics we got. This area reminded me of what I saw in New Orleans.
You can see the water line. Trenton said the city said to put the trash and debris on the roadside and the city would pick it up and take it off for them. Most of the houses in this area are going to be destroyed but some are re-building.
A downtown business still closed. The sign says "Bent NOT Broken, We Survive"
This is the Nickel monument downtown. Trenton said in school he remembers collecting nickels to have this monument built. Very unique structure. Again this monument was underwater up to the loops.
Our visit to Iowa was awesome. It was a long drive but it was great to see Heather & Trenton. We really miss "you guys"!! We were amazed at the area. It is very different compared to TN. There is land and farms everywhere and I love that! The houses and building are not skyscrapers but a much more logical size and most houses have underground rooms versus our upstairs. It is much more logical for their area because of high winds and freezing temps. We had a really good trip and hope to go back for some good snow!!
