Ramada Inn Des Moines

... navigating us through Des Moines to the hotel. Tomorrow, head over towards the Quad Cities, see my aunt who just got diagnosed a couple days ago with stage 4 cancer that had spread to the brain, and then work towards home for a late night arrival. Sigh, there have been many things that have made us wonder if this vacation should have occurred, but yet we survived and life with hectic and chaotic once we get home, Sigh

... and it was ****! I had been feeling ill since Thursday night and this didn't help things any. The three of us took it easy this morning as we didn't really have anywhere to go in the morning and we had got up too late to head down to Knoxville (a trip I wanted to take). That and Mark was still trying to arrange to meet Amanda, a uni friend of his from Des Moines who happened to be in Australia the same time as Alicia. Finally Amanda found some time free and we headed off to ...

... re her stories and I know how much she loves stories :p After the introductions a couple of people popped over and had a chat to us which was great as we were meeting people in small doses; far easier to remember names :)

Dinner came to an end and everyone went there separate ways and we had decided on a big night on the town. I went home and slept for a bit so that was the end of that! Kym woke me up just in time for the highlight of the week (OK, maybe not), the AFL Grand Final ...

... got up and jumped on the computer so he avoided slacker status. The plan for the day was to do the grand Des Moines tour so we got our stuff together, bode farewell to Nate (he had to work) and headed off.

So there we were, myself, Alicia, Mark and Kym... and whoever was on the other end of Alicia's phone at the time (she was ringing ALL day much to her annoyance). The first stop was the Des Moines Capitol building (which works cos Des Moines is the capital ...

... little tougher than I imagined, but not horrible. We then showered and hit the road towards Des Moines. We arrived and parked downtown. After walking around for about 15 minutes, we felt like we had seen all we wanted to see, haha. It was a little bigger than Knoxvilles downtown, but it seemed like noone was smiling and there wasn't anything around except buisnesses. Maybe we were in the wrong part, but oh well. We left after grabbing a bite to eat for lunch and started towards Nebraska...

... Who would have thought that Iowa would have the worlds best rest stops? Amazing.

So we headed south into Iowa and down to Des Moines, the state capital. The capital used to be Iowa City but for some reason it was abandoned and now the honour belongs to Des Moines. We visited the capitol building, with its lovely gardens, and the nearby war and peace memorials ...

... feed! It’s grown for plastics, clothing, and ethanol. That’s right, you can buy t-shirts, cars, toys, and fuel all made out of corn. Turns out to be a pretty amazing crop.

We then walked through the 1875 town which boasted a broom maker, blacksmith, cabinet maker, etc. That was really neat. It even had a shop that made hats and dresses for women and a general store. ALL of these places were functioning. The brooms were made in the town and used in the shops. The ...

... to the Scottish Rites Park and Wesley Acres care centers were planned so that Choir members could give service while on their concert tour of the America’s heartland. It is unusual for the 360-voice Choir to divide its ranks for performance, but the centers could accommodate only about 40 singers at a time. “Because this is a service project, we made an exception,” said Choir general manager Scott Barrick.

For some residents, the chance to hear the Mormon ...

Aww, my dear, dear girl pulled through, booked her flight and will be joining me in Orlando! It was a very happy day for this lady. She'll be coming from Denver so I do still get the small adventure of getting to Florida on my own and of course, my first girls getaway. I know for some of you seasoned ...

... et tant qu'à y être, pourquoi pas une photo du groupe devant le foyer en marbre de Monsieur (photo annexée). On visite la bibliothèque du Capitole ; elle enlève le cordon rouge pour une meilleure visite des lieux et de meilleurs angles de photos (à voir). On visite la chambre des représentants ; elle enlève le cordon rouge pour nous permettre de nous asseoir à un siège de représentant pendant qu'elle nous donne un cours sur le fonctionnement politique des USA. On a aussi visité la ...