visit Iowa

Visited Cedar Rapids prior to the flooding this summer with my brother and took in a baseball game.

It is a lovely facily, but as a business guy I can tell you that the experience could have been better. We paid a premium price to get great seats behind homeplate, but it turns out that there are no ushers to keep the kids from crashing in.

Here is a photo of downtown Vinton, Iowa.

• Visited with my brother and his family
• Attended a Cedar Rapids Kernals baseball game
• Tended wild grapes
• Drank home made wine
• Participated in a “crush”
• Saw flooded rivers
• Stayed up late
• Got up early
• Bought a Vinton Iowa tee shirt

It was a long drive, but well worth the time.

The weather looks like it will be rainy as I drive from Maryland to Iowa but I am undeturred.

It will be a short visit to see my brother and his family for the weekend. I hope this visit will be the first of getting reacquainted with my younger brother.

I am honestly looking forward to Iowa. From everything I hear, it is truly small town life. Given my existance in DC and Balto, I am REALLY looking forward to spending time with my brother in Iowa.

I realize that I am really writing in the wrong “43” thing. This is not about visiting Iowa. This is about getting reconnected with my Brother who lives in Iowa.

The years really do get out of hand. I was busy with my life and my career and oblivious to the family that I have and that I love. Shame on me. As I have gained a little wisdom over the years I have come to yearn to heal those connections that have grown thin over the years from neglect.

I know that two or three days together won’t make up for thirty years.

But it is a start.

I am getting excited about my trip to the heartland of Iowa. My plan is to take off sometime after May 23rd. I was looking at Mapquest, and that program says that it is a 17 hour drive from Maryland out there. Don’t know if I’ll do it at one sitting, but I just may.

Need to coordinate my trip with my brother’s schedule so that I can visit the “field of dreams”, watch pits and corn grow, drink wine, feel skinny (that will take SOME doing) and find a tractor to drive.

Time to get reacquainted with my brother. Time.

Top 10 Reasons to visit, Iowa: Gem-of-the-Midwest:

10. Actually visit the “Field of Dreams”
9. See the Bridges of Madison County!
8. Ride your bicycle in RAGBRAI (across Iowa)
7. To see where pigs and corn grow
6. Watch a first run movie in our town for $2
5. Drink some of our wine (my wine in particular)
4. See what life was like in the 1950’s
3. Feel skinny!
2. Meet, first-hand, your favorite presidential candidate
1. Drive your tractor to school day!!!

Yes, Iowa is this and much, much more! Its my new home!

You may ask yourself, “why would ANYONE want to visit Iowa?” and that would be a fair question. I mean, the place doesn’t get any love. When is the last time you heard anyone speak glowingly about the place.

My intention is to drive to Iowa in late May to visit my brother who likes SOMEWHERE there (note to self: figure out precisely WHERE to drive in Iowa) in the state.

Last year he told me about, “Drive your Tractor to School” day at this local high school. That compares quite favoribly with the “leave your semi-automatic pistol at home” day we have here in DC and northern virginia.

I don’t know quite what to expect. But, I am looking forward to the visit. Oh, I am THRILLED that there are five other people who want to do this too. Perhaps we could all meet for a cold beer.

I was born and raised in Iowa. Lived in 4 different towns and hung out with the “farm kids”. Iowa is a beautiful place. Beautiful rural areas, progressive big cities, you can have it all, just have to look around.

I still have family there and when we visit, I get nostalgic and really do miss the rich, dark soil there. I do not miss the humidity and cold winters, though.

I highly encourage you to visit. If you can, drive all the way across. You will see many different landscapes. Despite much popular belief, most of Iowa is not flat!

I was at a convention in Texas and this random lady came up to me and told me that if I was cool enough to wear a pink cowboy hat, that I was cool enough to visit Iowa. She gave me a map of Iowa and it had a sticker on it that said something like “You have offically been invited to Iowa” and a bunch of other stuff. I thought it was totally cool and random and decided that I want to visit there.