Kellogg RV Park, Kellogg, Iowa
When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. ~ Genesis 24:52-54a Now that the ‘transaction’ is complete, Eliezer worships the Lord once more. He relaxes, enjoys the company, and sleeps soundly. Once we’ve completed God’s task for us, and blessed His Name, we can rest easy.
Have you ever wondered why Des Moines Iowa is pronounced “De Moine” and not “Des Moines”? No? Well, I have. So I checked with my old pal Google, who informed me that it was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, which was shortened to “Des Moines” in 1857. It is located on, and named after, the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the early French name, Rivière des Moines, meaning “River of the Monks”.
Do you suppose if I went on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” I could use Google as my ‘phone a friend’?
I still don’t know why there are “s’s” at the end of the words . . . .
Today, we visited the windy city. Not Chicago! Des Moines! It was super windy the entire time we were in town, but that’s okay. It’s infinitely better than roasting hot. We even wore long pants today!
Here’s a brief run-down of what we did today, mostly because it’s now the 24th, and I’m trying to get caught up on my posts today, and I’m doing laundry at the same time, and cooking ribs for dinner, AND we’re getting ready to have a baby – two days past the due date! So there’s a lot of texting conversations going on . . .
So forgive me. I’m not planning on working on my creative writing skills today. I will however, label pictures, so you can check those out if you want. 😊
Our first stop was the Visitor Center, which they make very difficult to find, by the way.
Then we decided to walk all the way up the street to the Capitol Building.
Iowa’s capital building is exquisite – inside and out – as you will see. They offer tours by reservation, which we didn’t have, but you can do self-guided as well, which we did.
We gawked and took pictures for an hour-and-a-half.
And just wait until you see inside!
100 years from now, what kind of 21st buildings will people be looking at?
Dull and boring, that’s what.
Is that cool or what?!?
When they gave us our map, they told us we could go in here, so we did. And were greeted at the door by a sweet young woman who gave us a tour of the office! I felt weird taking a picture of his office, so I didn’t, but his desk is a replica of the Kennedy desk in the White House. His mother had it made for him at some point.
She said it’s one of the shortest of all the states at only 40 pages.
The yellow and blue folders are ALL current bills (as in stuff to vote on), etc.
Can you believe there are that many?!?
Boy, I wish I could remember her name. She was a wonderful hostess!
As we walked away from the building, headed back to the Jeep, we accidently came across a Holocaust Memorial that was beside the walkway up to the capital. Very sobering. Too bad they didn’t use better materials on it, much of it was fading and difficult to see. ☹
These flowers are pretty novel. The stem grows, a flower grows, and then, out of the top, another flower begins to grow! 
We ate a small lunch in the Jeep, right where we parked it when we got to town – alongside the street. Afterwards, we walked the opposite direction through town to the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Nope. You’re wrong. It has absolutely nothing to do with the pizza guy.
Blaine and I are more into “reality” sculptures and paintings, so I’ll keep my comments to myself and just show you the pictures we took with the labels (condensed) that were in the brochure we had.
The two goofy faces? They’re part of a set of 12 – one for each month. They’re called “Moonrise”. The artist “created this series in homage to the moon in a time when our day to day reliance upon it has waned and its mythic significance has faded.”
(there’s supposed to be a lantern in there somewhere. Must work better at night. . .
“Nomade” the artist “uses letters as the basic components of much of the art, which explores communication issues whether they be between individuals or cultures. This work depicts a crouching, anonymous figure, with a ‘skin’ composed of letters from the Latin alphabet. . . . individual letters or symbols as components that have little or no meaning on their own, but blossom into words, thoughts, and language when combined with others. . . they offer a metaphor for human culture, in which a person alone has limited potential, but when formed into groups or societies, become stronger.”
We were wrong. It’s called “Ancient Forest” and it’s made of cast bronze.
They’re called “Back of a Snowman (White)” and “Back of a Snowman (Black)”
“The title plays a clever joke on the viewer in which no amount of circling will reveal the snowman’s front.”
Okay. We’re done here. It’s time to return to the Jeep.
Roughly four hours from when we first parked this morning, we left town headed for the Bass Pro Shops that’s not too far away. Along the way, we witnessed a flaming car. Yikes!
Blaine was looking for a new camp chair, but if you’ve ever been in one of these stores, you know you have to take an hour or more looking at the decorations! Most everything is taxidermized and mounted in a realistic way. Very cool!
And last but not least, we had dinner and a show. I can’t remember what we had for dinner, but I remember the show. There’s a camper across the way from us. The campers in that row all have doors that face the front of our coach. For some reason, one of the ladies decided that she should change her clothes right in front of her door. Her open door! Fortunately, she left her bra and panties on . . . Good grief! You never know what you’ll see on the road.
Now just imagine how much I would’ve written if I wasn’t pressed for time! 😊