Des Moines, Iowa

 We had a car trip to Des Moines for a wedding and had geared up with things to do in the car, because Oscar is used to a lot of plane trips, not long car trips.  I kept waiting to hear “are we there yet?”, but instead got the much angrier “this is taking too long!”  We tried to explain that we were going through several states and hadn’t even left Michigan yet, but until we hit I-94 where there were big rigs to watch it was touch and go.  All through I-80 through Illinois we heard, “big rig!”, “big rig!!”, “big rig!!”, 

 “tanker truck”.  My child is going to be an announcer some day because he is super excited to run into the same trucks over and over.  It was like a commentary of driving and I thought that he would outgrow this last year.  Hey, it kept him happy and contented and he would occasionally do some things in the work books that we got him to play with in the car.  We did stop at Herbert Hoover’s childhood home and gravesite in 

Iowa.  It was great to get out of the car, walk around a lot and see some woods, water and what the town used to look like.  Oscar was amazed at how small the home was for the whole family.  He kept saying, “that’s where they all lived?”, “where did their toys go?”.  As if everyone grows up with rooms

dedicated to their toys, he can’t comprehend a family that lives in one room or maybe two.  It was a great stop though and we enjoyed it immensely.  We got to Des Moines late in the day, but were able to check in and find a half price book store near out hotel.  John always worried that we would have a child who hated books or wasn’t like us in the things they liked or did, but  

 Oscar was more excited at the book store than either of us.  I was able to find a whole bunch of kids’ books to prepare him for the sabbatical trip and the different cultures that we’ll be visiting.  We had time before the wedding in the evening to visit the state capitol in Des Moines and it is a beautiful building.  Mosaics, beautiful dome and very graceful smaller

 domes with incredible brass chandeliers from Europe in the 1800’s.  We weren’t expecting to enjoy that visit that much either, and it was capped by the fire trucks and an ambulance arriving when someone got sick.  That made Oscar’s visit complete since he got to talk with the paramedics.