Tag: Iowa

Iowa day 4 – going home, musings, and a little history

Sara Moser2 Comments

Today I head home. Rachel and Geoff left for church around 9:30, and I departed shortly afterward. The train that was passing when I left was a double decker, which stopped for a few minutes, then started backwards. I wonder what that was all about.

I decided that I couldn’t leave town without visiting Cafe Diem one more time. Their coffee is really good, and I wanted another waffle. It is a good place to hang out and write. I had originally thought to drive into Des Moines and find a coffee shop there, but the warm and friendly atmosphere here beckoned me to come inside.

After I ate my delicious waffle, I spent a little time browsing around looking at travel blogs, and all the ones I found are to exotic faraway places. My little trip to Ames pales in comparison in some respects, but I am of the opinion that everywhere is interesting. Here’s a little information about this quaint midwest city, from Wikipedia:

The city was founded in 1864 as a station stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad and was named after 19th century U.S. Congressman Oakes Ames of Massachusetts, who was influential in the building of the transcontinental railroad. Ames was founded by local resident Cynthia Olive Duff  and railroad magnate John Insley Blair,near a location that was deemed favorable for a railroad crossing of the Skunk River.

Ames is also the home of Iowa State University, whose campus takes up a major part of the city proper, and whose mascot can be found around town in various attire. This mirror mosaic version on Main Street is my favorite!

 

Writing while I wait in the Des Moines airport…

 I love to take back roads, when I have time, so I took the opportunity. Miles and miles and miles of newly planted cornfields flew past me. I marveled at the wide open spaces, and the big sky. Very mind clearing and heart opening. Along the way, I got a phone call that my flight was delayed 45 min. So I got here with time to spare, still feeling pretty relaxed.
Announcement overhead: They need 12 volunteers to check their carry on bags or they will check boarding group 4’s bags. I’m in boarding group 4, and I want to hang on to my bag! If I didn’t have a connection I’d check it, but I don’t trust the airline to care about my stuff and get it moved to the right plane.
Another announcement: The flight is overbooked and they need 6 volunteers to take a later flight. Are you kidding me? Does this happen all the time? Seems crazy to me. What do they do if no one volunteers? Draw straws?
Now at Dallas Fort Worth Airport….
No rushing this time. Google just notified me that my connecting flight is delayed 2 hours!!

Obviously, I made it onto the plane and they didn’t confiscate my bag. I was imagining myself wrestling someone over it, and am very glad that fantasy didn’t come to pass! I had a window seat this time, so I got to see the farmland from the air, and later the beautiful changing clouds as we flew above them. I was very hungry when I got here, glad for some time to rest and recoup. I got a veggie burger at a place called UFood Grill. It had to be the worst veggie burger ever. I only ate a few bites, but the baked potato fries were a little better, so I ate enough of them to ease my hunger pangs. Airport food, yuk. By this time I was feeling very imbalanced, shaky, and tired.

So I decided to sit right there in the middle of the busy airport and meditate. I wrapped my silk shawl around me (I had read that silk can keep negative energy away), put one hand on my suitcase, closed my eyes, and went inward. It was an interesting endeavor, and 20 minutes later I opened my eyes feeling more grounded and alert.
Checking google on my phone, I found that my flight is delayed even more, not leaving here until 10:12 pm, arriving in Houston at 11:30. Then I have to get my car, and drive the 30 min home.
I again observe the people around me. Young, old, all shapes and sizes, some rushing frantically to catch their next flight, others taking their time, or just sitting. People on their phones. I wonder about their stories. I see a team of adolescent girls all dressed alike, most likely returning home from a tournament . There are couples, friends, family groups, lone travelers like me. Some are traveling for a happy visit, or a wedding, some for a funeral. This is an international airport, so I see a diverse crowd and hear snatches of different languages.

The masses of humanity are everywhere. Tomorrow I return to work, to the patients and coworkers who are a part of it all too. Everywhere there is life, hope, and heartbreak. I am glad to be on this journey, one soul touching other souls.

Epilogue:
The plane didn’t take off from Dallas until midnight. Delay after delay until I was too tired to care, or write, or even sleep. I finally got home to my sweetie at 2 am! I am very glad I made this trip, and reconnected with my daughter. It’s been a long time since we had one on one time.

Iowa Day 3

Sara Moser1 Comment

My sleep wasn’t as sound as the previous night, and the couch seemed lumpier. I’m not sure if the gray of dawn woke me, or the rattle of the freight train. The sound of a train is unique.. after it passes by, there is a trail of sound that follows, fading into a low sigh.

I enjoyed some quiet time, then fixed a breakfast of stewed apples and fried eggs. The temperature was in the upper 60’s and lacking the humidity of back home, so I took a morning walk down to the water tower and back. I love experiencing new places on foot – there is always so much to see that is often missed in a car. Discoveries today included a very realistic statue of a dog in a flower garden and a front yard that was completely converted into a vegetable garden.  I wonder about the people behind the walls, each with their unique experience.

I walk past a school and a cemetery on my left, and apartment buildings on my right. I see maple trees, lots of evergreen trees, a chipmunk! and the water tower, which is one of those great ones with legs that you can stand under. The grass in the field is the soft kind, that I would have loved to lie down in and roll around in. The dampness of it kept me from making a spectacle of myself!

The rest of the morning was spent visiting Rachel’s good friend Christi and her three daughters – a 4-year-old and identical twin 2-year-olds. Rachel is their godmother, and they were very happy to see her. One of the little ones even warmed up to me. I had seven children, but can’t imagine the energy it would take to have two babies at once! I enjoyed the drive there and back through Iowa’s famous farmland, and the visit was fun and relaxing.

After another lunch in a cafe called The Cafe, I took Rachel home to take care of some business things she needed to attend to, and set off on my own. My destination: Reiman Gardens on the University of Iowa Campus. My favorite part of the place was the small butterfly observatory, the most plentiful and very beautiful butterfly being what I later identified as the common blue morpho.

I enjoyed an afternoon walk through the gardens but it was a bit early in the season for flowers, and it got very warm, up near 80. The most interesting thing I found there was a statue of “the world’s largest gnome”!

I went back to the Main Street area to see if I’d missed any good stores there, and found Random Goods, which I highly recommend if you like vintage clothes and jewelry. They had other odds and ends of old dishes and miscellaneous, too, and I bought a bracelet, a scarf, and several tops, for less than $15 total! I love vintage stores and clothes!

I made one more stop – Wheatsfield Cooperative, the natural food store. I wanted to see if I could find a healthy snack for the plane ride, and I found it. They have a wonderful bulk section, and I was like a kid in a candy store. Only the fact that I have one small suitcase kept me in check! I got cashews, chocolate chips, and cranberries to make my own trail mix, and a small bag of loose licorice root for tea.

I certainly got in plenty of walking today, which is something I want to keep doing when I get back home, in preparation for my Montana trip in two and a half weeks! It was nice to get back to Rachel and just hang out for the rest of the evening. I had had such a large lunch that I opted for tea and toast for supper, and enjoyed the Chocolate Peppermint tea that I had picked up along my journeys.

We wrapped up the evening with Starship Troopers, which neither of us had seen. Both of us enjoy sci-fi, and I especially like the cheesy type. This movie, made in 1997, is based on a 1959 Robert Heinlein book. I was an avid Heinlein fan back in the 60’s and 70’s, and the movie was well-done and enjoyable. The best kind of movies are the ones that make you laugh and also have scary tense moments, and this one didn’t let me down.

Settling down for my last night here, a light rain was falling, the freight trains kept running, and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

Iowa Day 2

Sara Moser2 Comments
I woke to the sound of the freight train across the street. I love the sound of trains.

I slept surprisingly well, considering I was away from home and on a couch. Travel can wear you out. I checked my phone for the time: 5:07, about normal for me. Dense fog advisory. Nice, means it is warming up a bit.
I knew I wouldn’t see Rachel for a while, as she has never really been a morning person. So, after my morning meditation, I drank some Raja’s cup while catching up on social media and writing, enjoying the sounds of the trains, of which there are many. More than I could ever imagine. At 8:20, finally satisfied with my blog post, I decided to venture out for food, as there was still no sign of activity elsewhere in the house.
Thankful for GPS, I searched for local coffee shops, chose one, and headed out. As I drove along the tree lined roads, I passed a bicycle rider, a couple of joggers, and a girl walking a dog. Everywhere I go, people are the same – they all have hopes, dreams, and struggles. The difference is the unique experience each one of us has. Anyway…
I came out of my reverie and  found myself on the campus of Iowa State University. I decided to look for another place rather than find myself at some college hangout, so pulled over and checked the GPS. This time I chose Cafe Diem, and here I sit.
It is on Main Street, and it is one of many intersting looking businesses in this restored old downtown area. I enjoyed a Belgian waffle with butter and syrup, and am sipping a cup of excellent coffee with cream and nutmeg.
Later….
When I got back to Rachel’s she was up and around and we decided that the day would be well spent down on Main Street. She’s only lived here a couple of years and hasn’t been in all the stores. After we got back to the area, we walked past several beautiful old church buildings. I love looking at old buildings, inside and out. They are generally more interesting than new ones, and better built as well.
After stopping by a local art center, we went back to Cafe Diem for lunch, and both of us enjoyed really good black bean burgers. It is a cool place, has old books, games, furniture, and old doors and windows for dividers

wpid-wp-1431781949685.jpegWe lingered there for quite some time, talking about our individual spiritual journeys. Her childhood and adolescence were spent in conservative evangelical churches, and in college she found her way to the Orthodox Church and loves it. And I, the one who raised her in the evangelical church, have found my way out of church completely, and feel closer to God than I ever did inside the building. I am very happy that we had that moment, and the best thing is that there is no judgment or trying to convince the other. We each have our own path.

The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing in a couple of great shops. Worldly Goods is a wonderful fair trade outlet, with beautiful handcrafted goods from third world native artisans. I didn’t really plan to buy anything, but sometimes things just jump out at you and you have to get them, you know?  So I bought myself a ring and a beautiful purple tunic. I love the style and purple has been calling to me lately.
Next door to that we found a unique antique store called Tangerine Zebra. That is a cool name for a store, and I do wonder where it came from. So many treasures inside! Jewelry and buttons and kitchen gadgets and toys — oh what is that up there? It is a cast iron horse-drawn fire wagon. I had to get it, to go with the cast iron horse-drawn ice truck I already have. I suppose that I have a collection now. Rachel found a pretty necklace watch, and we left there feeling quite content with our purchases.

The rest of the day we just hung out – resting, reading and what-have-you. We ate take out Thai food for dinner, and called it a night.

Travel – Iowa Day 1

Sara Moser3 Comments

I found my blog from a road trip I took in 2009 with my two youngest kids when they were 13 and 15. It was my first attempt at blogging, and I’m glad I did it because it was fun to revisit those days.

I’m taking three trips this year, and want to preserve the memories, so here goes!

Iowa, Day 1

I’m sitting in Houston Hobby Airport waiting to board. The first leg of the trip is a quick hop to Dallas and a plane change. Then on to Des Moines, get a car, and a short drive to Ames, Iowa and my beautiful daughter Rachel.

I look around at the other people waiting. I cannot find a single person who is not using their smartphone —except for that one lady who is reading on her kindle. Texting, listening to music, social media, playing games — and there are a couple of people actually talking on them. Before I took out my pen and paper to write this, I was doing the same thing! Just 20 years ago, the crowd would most likely have been reading books and newspapers. How things change.

Now I’m writing from the plane on the way from Dallas to Des Moines. The actual flight from Houston to DFW was quick, but definitely  a hurry-up-and-wait operation, as traveling by plane often is. I only had a 50 minute layover, and with all the delays I wasn’t sure I’d make it.

Delays:

1. The first flight was 10 minutes late.

2. After we landed, we were informed there was a plane in the gate we were assigned to. When we did get a gate, it took at least 10 minutes to get there.

3. I had to wait for my carry on bag. It was one of those small commuter planes, and they “valet” the bags. By the time I had the bag in hand, there were only 20 minutes left before my connecting flight was scheduled to take off.

The Dallas Fort Worth airport is like a small city, and has four terminals. I landed at gate B40, and thanks to Google, knew that I needed to get to gate A9. That was a mini road trip in itself! I and another frantic lady,  who only had 10 minutes to catch her flight took off at a sprint, following the signs to the “Skylink”. We had to go up an unnaturally tall escalator, then caught a talking train (that must have been Skylink). I lost her after that – she was on a mission. I wonder if she made her flight.

I found the signs for gates A-1 to A- 23 and broke into a jog, thankful to the inventor of the rolling suitcase. I was at A -20 and had to pee, but there was no time for creature comforts. It seemed like an eternity until way down the corridor I glimpsed A-12, A-11, A- 10, and yes! finally, A-9. It seemed like another mile but I was there!

No one else was there though, except the woman at the desk. “May I board?” I asked as she glanced up, nonchalantly. She probably deals with this every day. “I’ll call, but I think they were closing the doors.”  As my heart was sinking and she was getting no answer, guess who showed up? The PILOT! Yes! So the door was opened for me, and with great relief I was allowed to board the plane, right before the pilot. “Thank God for donuts,” he joked. I would definitely have to say Amen to that, I thought as I gratefully took my seat.

********

There was a light rain falling in Des Moines when I arrived, and it was blessedly cool, around 60 degrees. This is my first trip to visit Rachel and her husband since they have lived here. I enjoyed the changing scenery as I drove out of the city, noting large freshly plowed fields. Deep in the heart of farm country, I thought as I neared my destination.

There she is! My heart sang as I saw my dear daughter come out of the house with her little green umbrella. My little girl. So happy to see her and hug her.

After getting settled inside, I told her of my traveling adventures, and we caught up with our lives. She gave me a mandala coloring book, and I gave her a book of Rumi poems. We had a marvelous dinner of bean burritos prepared by Rachel’s husband. We talked about what we might do for the next couple of days, but made no firm plans. Then we settled into a movie. We chose Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and it was a great choice – funny, scary, and romantic.

And I went to sleep on the comfy couch.