The Iowa Cafe

Just for kicks when we first got to Arizona, Brett's Aunt Judy took us out to the Iowa Cafe for breakfast. It's really neat inside because it has tons of Iowa-related memorabilia: John Deere stuff, cow & pig decor, and t-shirts and pennants from every college in the state.

Except Palmer.

*Gasp!*

I may have to get in touch with some of my Palmer buds still in Davenport and see about having some Palmer gear sent my way. Gotta represent. ;)

The 'Big Move'

Ah, the joys of moving across the country. In town moves are infinitely easier. Since I know you are dying to hear all about how the move went, here it is:

We started packing quite a while ago, but didn't start loading the truck up until graduation week:


We had the challenge of fitting all of our stuff into 12 linear feet of truck, and Brett & our friends accomplished it.


We are very grateful for all of the friends and family that came out in full force to help us get the truck loaded and the house cleaned.




Moose was not a very big fan of the whole situation, but he was a trooper and hung out in his carrier during the packing and the drive across the country.


We waved goodbye to the Iowa-80, the World's Largest Truck Stop, and a landmark that I drove by everyday on my way to work.


We stopped to rehydrate at what is probably the cutest little gas station ever.

This is the evil Subway that gave me a horrendous bout of food poisoning on our drive to San Diego in Summer of '07. Don't worry, we did not eat there, we just got gas there.

(Side Note: Does anyone else find it funny that all of these cars are silver?)

We waved goodbye to Mr. Terrible and his casino as we left the state. He was the first thing that greeted us when we arrived there nearly four years ago.


We hit Kansas City just in time for rush hour.

This is the most traffic that we had seen in some time.

Here is Brett's very serious traffic face:


And this is my not-so-serious traffic face:

On road trip day 2 this cow really wanted to say hello:


And most of Oklahoma and Texas was flat and boring like this:

On day 3 we woke up to snow in Albuquerque. Things started off okay, but then visibility got worse...


and worse...


It did make for some pretty scenery though....





The good news is that the snow cleared up relatively quickly, which is a good thing because nearly 400 miles at approximately 40 miles per hour is not the way we like to do a road trip.

Just for old times sake we had to go stand on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.

Moose was pretty well pooped at this point.


Flagstaff was chilly but picturesque, with only mild flurries.




It was our last stop before arriving safely in the Phoenix area. I busied myself for the last leg of our journey by harassing Brett with my camera:


Look! It's both of us!


Uh-oh I know what this look means. This look says 'this crazy woman better stop taking pictures of me soon...'


Yeah, game over.

Vibrant

There is a cemetery a few blocks from my house. It's a really old cemetery with graves dating back to the 1700's. It's really quite picturesque, and the other day when I drove by I noticed that the trees there were looking especially vibrant as their leaves changed color. So, naturally, I pulled into the cemetery and started snapping pictures (what? Doesn't everybody do that?). Here is the result:

I forgot to blog about this...

A couple of weekends ago Brett & I decided to get out of Davenport for the day.  We went to the Amana Colonies which are a little more than an hour away from here.  

The Amana Colonies are formed by a 17 mile loop of a handful of former Amish communities.  Many of the old buildings have been converted into cute little shops and restaurants.  They had lots of German restaurants (read: not vegetarian), so it took us a while to find a place but we eventually found somewhere to eat lunch.  

Image of me per my grandmother's request.  ;)  Hi Grandma!

Side note:  I walked into one restaurant and asked what they had that was vegetarian.  I was offered frog legs.  

All in all it was a fun little day trip.  I was a little disappointed because I thought it was an actual Amish community.  I found out later you have to travel a little bit farther North for that.  Maybe next time.  :)

It's Freezing Cold

I really don't have much to blog about this week. Other than the incredibly cold temperatures here, everything else has been pretty normal. Last week I headed to work in -44 degree windchill. That is officially the coldest I have ever been. The air temperature here reached -29 degrees last week- that doesn't even factor in windchill. Even penguins would be cold. The day that we reached twenty-nine below was the coldest day in recorded history for Davenport. How lucky that Brett and I could be here for that. :-P <---Note the sarcasm.

I hope that everyone reading this is warmer than we are right now. ;-)

We Haven't Blown Away (Yet)

I am having a hard time believing that today is the first official day of winter, because we have been hit hard by the winter weather already. It all began on Thursday with lots of snow, sleet, and of course freezing rain to go on top of and solidify all of the snow we already had on the ground. Yesterday Brett was kind enough to go out and de-ice my car that had been sitting outside since Thursday night. The snow was so solid that this huge chunk came off in one piece off of the roof of the car:

Everything outside is completely covered in ice...

Even this bird house has a giant icicle:

We could even pick up giant chunks of snow in our yard because everything is so frozen:

Today it is very cold and VERY windy. When I woke up this morning the air temperature outside was -7 degrees with -32 degree windchill... I think I am just going to stay inside where it is warm and cook some chili. :)

NOTE: For those of you receiving e-mail blog updates, I added a cool plug-in to the blog so that it looks like it is snowing. If you want to check it out, you can go here.

Winter

I think I blinked and missed fall. I had the best of intentions and was planning on going out and taking some pictures of all of the beautiful fall leaves... and before I knew it they were gone. This was the view out my front door this weekend. Can you make out the tiny snow flurries? I promise they are there.

To get into the spirit of the season, I decided to make an apple pie from scratch. A patient brought us some yummy apples from her very own apple tree. I think I get two points for using locally grown apples. ;-)

And here is the delicious end result (a-la-mode, of course):

Holy Cow!

No wait, that’s a pig.

I had the opportunity to go out to my boss’s farm last Friday night. They raise pigs and cows and I swear that I about fell over when I saw how big this pig is! It has to be at least 4 feet high if not more, and according to Dr. G he weighs about 600 pounds! This picture does not even begin to do justice to his size.

Good Times in Galena

We had an awesome "retreat" day today that consisted of me, Brett, Jamie and Dr. Johnson doing a little bit of Iowa/Illinois road-tripping. Our first stop was at Crystal Lake Caves in Dubuque, IA.


This is the crystal clear lake for which the caves are named:




They refer to this stuff as "cave bacon":


This stuff is onyx, which apparently will shine light through it no matter how thick it is:


And here's the group after the tour with our trusty tour guide:


Next we crossed the river into Illinois and spent some time in beautiful Galena.


We went to this awesome winery for some wine-tasting and some "group therapy"


We got some amazing wine called Oktoberfest from Galena Cellars that I can't wait to have. Since we were all a little tipsy from too much wine tasting and not enough food, we headed to lunch.


Brett & I:


Doc. J and Jamie:


After lunch we went and walked around the downtown area. They have so many fantastic shops. Here is one of our favorites... an entire garlic store!


Finally, to relax after our tough day of cave exploring and shopping, we stopped at Frank O'Dowds Authentic Irish Pub on our way out of town. The kegs chained up out front really add a nice touch. ;-)


For more pictures from the day, go here.