An Ode to Iowa in Pictures

This is the view of the red barn out our living room window by summer, which belongs to the neighbors. Before our little town expanded adding the street we now live on, they used to be surrounded only by farm fields. Now we get to enjoy the charming view of their barn. Too bad next to the barn is a huge gas tank and an ugly chain-link fence, behind which a big St. Bernard and a tiny Dachshund like to bark at us new neighbors. But they're getting used to us...

This picture was taken with one of my other best friends, Bethany, and me when she and her German boyfriend, Jan, made a fun weekend trip to visit when they were in the States in March/April. Our golf course has a walking trail all around it and this big mansion of a house, which belongs to one of the Blue Bunny (see below) family members.

As we continued around the golf course path, these little ducks looked as though they'd just made a trek through a sewer. Luckily this was just a tunnel under the train tracks connecting the small bodies of water.

Our small river, the Floyd River, is mostly brown, but it's water! Beyond it are the Iowa farm fields. The new bike path the town is working on takes us over a bridge at this point of the river.

The bike path then leads out to this building and then back into town. The building in the middle of no where is the new corporate offfice center for our town's ice cream "Blue Bunny" corporation. My mom also works here.

Taken at Easter when my parents and I drove to meet my siblings for dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, who also drove from Iowa City to meet us for the event. This was one of the only restaurants serving Easter dinner, but we were not disappointed. A huge home style place, not only did they have more than enough pumpkin bread on the table at all times, there was a nice "Iowa" gift shop attached. The scarily real-looking man behind in the booth behind my brother shocked us when he mechanically lifted his head every 5 minutes or so to talk about "The Good Ol' Days.."

Outside the "Machine Shed" Restaurant were parked tractors by the pond, making the ambiance even more rural and traditional. It was a gorgeous, chilly April Easter evening.

An Iowa highway with my parents. Okay, not a great representation of Iowa, but good grief - don't highways look the same in almost every country, anyway, give or a take few cracks?

This is a view of the Mississippi River from downtown Dubuque, Iowa. And, what would an American river be without a riverboat casino? ...

The Dubuque Brew Co. building. Behind me was the Mississippi River, only in a different part.

River walk in Iowa City, home of my Alma mater, the University of Iowa. This path leads to the music building I spent most of my college career inside of. But when the weather was this nice, it took all my strength to practice when the alternative was sitting out here, watching the back-pack-clad students, dog-walkers, and roller-bladers go by.

And, finally, the view from the bench, overlooking the Iowa River that goes through the Iowa campus. In the fall it's filled with rowers on the crew team.

See - Iowa has something to offer! It's no mountains, but we have some little stuff plus a lot of green fields! Jen, you can show this to those East Coasters who seem to think nothing exists west of Pennsylvania.. ;)