Thursday, October 19, 2006
Was I a liberal arts major, or what?
Dang it all. A formal dinner last night with Dr. ER kept me from attending an anti-Iraq war demonstration a few blocks away on the University of Iowa campus.
Yesterday, I popped in at the history department and actually had five minutes with the department chairman. And danged if I didn't get a free book.
Just inside the department door was a sign on the wall, "Free Books," with a bunch of books just stacked in the floor. A professor had retired, clearly. The pickings were slim, but there was Henry Steele Commager's classic, The American Mind, so I grabbed it.
Dr. ER is through with her conference at midday today. I think we're going to go to the Amana Colonies. We're here all day tomorrow, too.
Might go to Cedar Rapids, where the museum has an extensive collection of Iowa artist Grant Wood's paintings. Maybe not, though, since his greatest work, American Gothic, is at the Art Institute of Chicago. Grrr.
Might drive on up to Burr Oak, Iowa, 150 miles north, to see where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived for a year or so when daddy Charles worked at a hotel between frontier farming failures. It's just a few miles from Minnesota, so of course, we'd have to drive on up so we could say we did, neither of us having been to Minn-e-SOH-ta!
Might see if Dr. ER wants to go to the Museum of Art on campus to see Jackson Pollock's "Mural." It's just right *there.* Huge. I had no clue it was so big. Very cool, although look at it for very long makes my eyes twitch like when I'm getting an eye exam.
Then we head back Saturday, to as far as Wichita, Kan., maybe, or maybe all the way home It's only 665 miles.
We plan to go through Ottumwa -- "Radar's" hometown -- *and* Dr. ER doesn't know it yet, but we'll whip through Eldon, Iowa, on the way to see the actual house that Grant Wood depicted in "American Gothic."
--ER
Yesterday, I popped in at the history department and actually had five minutes with the department chairman. And danged if I didn't get a free book.
Just inside the department door was a sign on the wall, "Free Books," with a bunch of books just stacked in the floor. A professor had retired, clearly. The pickings were slim, but there was Henry Steele Commager's classic, The American Mind, so I grabbed it.
Dr. ER is through with her conference at midday today. I think we're going to go to the Amana Colonies. We're here all day tomorrow, too.
Might go to Cedar Rapids, where the museum has an extensive collection of Iowa artist Grant Wood's paintings. Maybe not, though, since his greatest work, American Gothic, is at the Art Institute of Chicago. Grrr.
Might drive on up to Burr Oak, Iowa, 150 miles north, to see where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived for a year or so when daddy Charles worked at a hotel between frontier farming failures. It's just a few miles from Minnesota, so of course, we'd have to drive on up so we could say we did, neither of us having been to Minn-e-SOH-ta!
Might see if Dr. ER wants to go to the Museum of Art on campus to see Jackson Pollock's "Mural." It's just right *there.* Huge. I had no clue it was so big. Very cool, although look at it for very long makes my eyes twitch like when I'm getting an eye exam.
Then we head back Saturday, to as far as Wichita, Kan., maybe, or maybe all the way home It's only 665 miles.
We plan to go through Ottumwa -- "Radar's" hometown -- *and* Dr. ER doesn't know it yet, but we'll whip through Eldon, Iowa, on the way to see the actual house that Grant Wood depicted in "American Gothic."
--ER
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Oh yes, another little know IC historical site I once visited and it was closed.
Be sure to go by the Morman Handcart Trail campground/museum/monument in IC or Coraville maybe (I'll look it up and give you a site).
The starting point of the ill-fated death march of the Morman Handcart Brigades to Salt Lake City in 1856. One of the damndest stories in American History.
Try these and check in the IC city library just outside your hotel for museum times and locaction.
http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/03_Iowa_City.html
http://207.12.117.47/members_details.asp?I=119
Be sure to go by the Morman Handcart Trail campground/museum/monument in IC or Coraville maybe (I'll look it up and give you a site).
The starting point of the ill-fated death march of the Morman Handcart Brigades to Salt Lake City in 1856. One of the damndest stories in American History.
Try these and check in the IC city library just outside your hotel for museum times and locaction.
http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/03_Iowa_City.html
http://207.12.117.47/members_details.asp?I=119
# posted by 
: 1:33 PM
: 1:33 PM 
You'll go see the hometown of a fictional television character, but not the actual town of a friend.
Sheesh!
Probably good idea, since my alma mater, Fort Hays (Kan.) State University, is playin' in Maryville. The Tigers, who haven't won a game this season, play the second-ranked Bearcats, who haven't lost a game.
I'm guessin' it'll be a blowout, but I gotta be there. And friends are comin' in to watch the Tigers lose.
It's a busy weekend in the town of 10,000, which expands to 16,000 when the students are in town. It's homecoming, so alumns will SUV their way back.
It oughtta be a spectacle.
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Sheesh!
Probably good idea, since my alma mater, Fort Hays (Kan.) State University, is playin' in Maryville. The Tigers, who haven't won a game this season, play the second-ranked Bearcats, who haven't lost a game.
I'm guessin' it'll be a blowout, but I gotta be there. And friends are comin' in to watch the Tigers lose.
It's a busy weekend in the town of 10,000, which expands to 16,000 when the students are in town. It's homecoming, so alumns will SUV their way back.
It oughtta be a spectacle.
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