My Birthday this year was great! I have been not getting along with parents real well (fighting or feeling bad everyday, more than once a day), but this day was no problem! And it was sunny and beautiful but not hot; probably seventy or so. But! What we did! Mom made me brownies that were super yummy, (^^!) and we all enjoyed them. I have the worst itch to get out and explore, and drive through the countryside this summer, and mom and dad concurred at whatever levels. Mom had also wanted to see this painted boulder off the interstate in Adair county (two over) that is painted with something different and patriotic every year. (it was on the news a week ago.) So, I decided that I wanted to take a drive out in the beautiful Iowa countryside to there.
Dad drove; that's expected and uneventful, really, beyond the laughs yo ujust get from dad being along. ^^ I took a pic of mom and dad from teh backseat, to remember when I'm 80, or away from home. xD;
We did so much! Mom picked out all these things she wanted to see, and we did them all! We saw one of "the bridges of Madison county" because it was a few miles from the main road, and I got them to go see it! It isn't necessarily remarkable, but it's cool and it was a nice valley and there was a TON of little swallow things. :D I found it majorly awesome in total.
Then, we went to Winterset (about a mile from the bridge), that is the capitol of madison county. It's a very pretty small town! I took a pic or two; maybe I can enter the pic of the courthouse in the state fair. It's nice, but not really a work of art. It's apretty pic, though. *shrug?*
AFter that, we went and drove for a while, and came to a town called Orient. It was a railroad town, and has a consoldated school with macksburg. There's a beautiful park in the town, though we saw abosultely no one except the woman who was in the tiny mormon trek museum. The town's main drag was absolutely running down except for the school, which is still so very pretty, and it's library. (there's a public library in this town! whoa!)
So we saw the little mormon trail muesum and that was cute. We were the first people to visit in the week (there was a guestbook I signed for us), and there less than twenty who had visited since December. O_o; Also, we stopped at the town looking for food, but there were no open restaurants. The bathrooms at the park were not indoor-plumbing type. ^^; there was quite the breeze there! D: It was amusing in a way. xD; At the park I climbed a little kid climbing wall and got a stroke of "oh this is scary, no wonder I've never done it before!" Mom took a picture of m e on it. ^^ (happy memories are fun.) Also to note, Orient is an old railroad town, so the reason it had stuff but now really doesn't is because the railroad left after 1880 something.
Well, we were in orient because we were looking for the "Henry A. Wallace (a vp of the US) monument" as said on the map, but ended up at the birthplace, the other direction from town....So we don't know if there actually was a monument, but that birthplace was the highlight of the trip! It was kind of at the top of the surrounding hills, so you could see for so far in every direction! and it was the most picturest pioneer farmhouse ever. *_* And i was SOOOO windy! I've never been in so much wind in Iowa! (only rivaled by cheyenne, wyoming) So that was really something. Apparently, the wind going like that all the time, with no neighbors, was why so many people went at least a little nutso on the prairie back when. Still, if I had grown up with this view, I would have aspired to the big time, too. Going from city to city, it's not much of a difference, but from your one house to a city, I can really see a difference. All my smalltown friends, I understand now! O_o
After that, we went to Greenfield and had teh best burgers ever, I swear. It was the quitescential small town diner, FULL of old coca cola product signs! woah! But it was GOOD. *_* (i forget the name of the place...the Blue-something Diner?) And it was topped off by a butterscotch sundae that had a slight aftertaste of coffee! wierd.
Ack, low on battery! Well, okay, so then we finally saw the Adair rock, and it was the windiest thing ever! I was being pelted with gravel!! Mom and i had a lot of fun there. Took pictures of us with it, and of the daisies and the two lake/ponds on either side of the road there. ^^
Then we lastly the site of the first train robbery west of the mississipi, and it was by Jesse James! It wasn't much, but it was really fun, and funny. There was a little plack, a wheel, and a bit of track (and the actual traintracks were a little bit behind the hill.) and on the hill they made a little park, that is recreated iowa prairie. I think it was more overrun with non-prairie things right at the moment though, such as normal grass. But I learned some stuff about prairies, which is fun! Did you know that praires are so well designed that they can survive against invasive species? NEAT! And they also were taken out all in thirty years almost. :( But we should end on a note of hope. I'm a year older, so let's see what good I can bring to hearts of people with hope this next year. :) I might need your help, but we'll do something great, how's that sound?
love you!
cheerful