Des Moines Sculpture park and time in Kansas

Our hotel in Des Moines had a great breakfast.

The chef made indivualized omelets.  Just the way we wanted them.

There was a wedding going on at the hotel.  The lady in the pink sari in the background was the mother of the bride; we talked with her in the elevator.  She had come from India. There were so many women with beautiful silk saris with lots of bling and wearing lots of jewelry.  Men with colorful turbans. The father of the bride's turban matched the mother's sari.  It would have been so fun to watch the wedding! 

After eating, we checked out and drove down the street to Papajohn Sculpture Park.

Jill and I took turns about every 2 hours and drove to our home in Kansas, 6 hours away.

We made a stop in:

where Jill's family had lived for a few years.  We drove by their old home and had to stop for a snow cone!  And of course stop at Dale's grocers for sausage!

We had a few days together in Newton.

We played games.

Jill met up with her friend, Kendall and they went walking together.



I took Claire to Meridian Market for her favorite bread; porridge bread.

We shopped downtown.

At Faith and Life, Jill found a book that mentioned my father!

Of course, she had to get the book!

We went to Braums.

We made cinnamon rolls.

I fed the birds who really missed me while I was gone.  I don't ask Al to feed them while I'm gone.  Mr. Squirrel was also missing me.

Claire wanted to go to the:

We got in free using our Sunflower app.  We took the dark elevator 650 feet below ground.  The Strataca is a salt mine museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.  It is one of the world's largest deposits of rock salt.  It began operation in 1923 as Carey Salt Company.  It is the only salt mine accessible to tourists.  

Because the temperature remains the same (68℉) it stores original camera negatives of many movies like Gone with the Wind and Ben Hur.  Also some costumes of famous movies, like Batman.  A newspaper from 1865 telling of the shooting of President Abe Lincoln.

There are 2 train/tram rides you can take also.

We went to the family farm, stopping first at the cemetary.  I was especially missing our parents that day.

We had a wonderful visit with brother Sid, and Gayle and Jared.

One evening we listened to the "semi" (pronounced sehmee in Japanese) or locusts, and Claire went with Papa to catch lightning bugs.

Listen to how loud they were.

We made lots of memories with Claire and Jill.  And next, a trip to Colorado!

Cave of the Mounds and the Fenelon Place Elevator Company

 While Adam and the older girls were flying to Romania to serve at a youth camp,

Jill, Claire and I were on our way to Kansas.  Look at Claire's interesting glasses.  These are to help with car sickness.

Claire wanted to stop at Cave of the Mounds as she had never been inside a cave before.

This guide gave an introduction about the cave; how it was found by accident, and also the type of stone formations in the cave. After that it was self-guided, but there were guides along the way who would answer questions if you wanted to ask.

I can become claustrophobic, but it didn't bother me.

On the way to Des Moines we ran into a storm with torrential rain.

At times we could barely see the road in front of us and had to slow down to 35 mph.  Other drivers were putting on their hazard lights so we did too.  I didn't want to stop by the side of the road and chance getting rear-ended.

A friend gave me this bracelot.  I have heard that the LORD says "Fear Not!" about 365 times in the Bible.  He knows we get afraid.  We need a daily reminder!

Here is one example from Isaiah 41:10  "So do not fear, for I AM with you; do not be dismayed, for I AM your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

At Dubuque, I had to take the girls on the world's shortest and steepest historic cable car - the Fenelon Place Elevator.  Open 8am - 10 pm daily April 1 through Nov. 30.  It costs $2 up and $2 down per person.  If you want to go and type in Fenelon Place on Maps, it will take you to the top of the hill overlooking Dubuque and the Mississippi River.  

I prefer to park at the bottom of the bluff and if you want to do that, you could type "4th and Bluff Street, Dubuque" into your Maps.  

We read that a certain businessman had it built to shorten his time to work.  On his horse, it took 45 minutes, but this cable car took 5 minutes.  Soon other neighbors also wanted to ride and he began charging for it.

At the bottom of the bluff, we walked by some shops and went into a couple.  One elderly gentleman was sitting on the porch of a dress shop.  He told us he'd been waiting for his wife for over an hour.  Oh my.

We stopped at an ice-cream and candy store.

 

We got back into the cable car and pulled the little chain to let the operator at the top of the bluff know that we were ready to go back up!

From Dubuque to Des Moines is a 3 hour drive.  Claire was keeping track of license plates from the different states. 

When we got there, Claire asked if we could go to the Cheesecake Factory.  Yummos!  Jill and shared a plate and still had leftovers!

We stayed at a hotel downtown.  It was one we stayed in when we helped them move to Wisconsin several years ago.

Claire and I had some swim time.

And before going to bed, we ate our cheesecakes while watching HGTV!