Iowa and the Great Plains

As you drive towards the Mississippi River from Wisconsin into Iowa, you drop into the Mississippi River valley.  Climbing out of it as you enter Iowa, you join the Iowa River and Ceder River Valleys.  They create a varied terrain that is beautiful in its own way.  After these rivers, the Great Plains lay in front of you.  

Its flatness stretches all the way to the Rocky Mountains.  The Great Plains has a strange beauty, like a stand of corn as far as the eye can see or Sunflowers blowing in the wind.   Throw in a super blue moon, and you have one heck of an experience. 

We are driving through Iowa, staying at small county campgrounds.  Every little town is like a fingerprint on the land.  Giving way to its own character.  The great small town parks, trails, and lakes fill in the gaps of the farm fields.  It's a good place to walk and be one with it all.  We saw some cool stuff in Iowa, the American Gothic House, the same house in the famous painting.  Which we have seen at the Chicago Art Institute.  

"American Gothic" is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the Art Institute of Chicago collection.  Wood was inspired to paint what is now known as the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, along with "the kind of people [he] fancied should live in that house."  It depicts a farmer standing beside his daughter – often mistakenly assumed to be his wife.  The painting's name is a wordplay on the house's architectural style, Carpenter Gothic.'

We did many walks in Iowa.   The Bloomington, Iowa, walk was interesting.  They have a Carnegie Library dedicated in 1913.   It looked like it had been renovated, also.  The 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie built 2500 libraries worldwide, but most were in the USA.

The National Czech and Slovak Museum in Ceder Rapids was very interesting and personal.  I was in Europe when the Iron Curtain in Europe came down, and the Velvet Revolution happened.  It was interesting to see the history you lived through being represented.  Prague and Bratislava are some of the finest old-world cities in Europe.

While walking at the Presidential Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa.  I had to go into the  Jack and Jill Grocery Store in West Branch.  The store was run by a guy named Luna from Nepal.  I had to go into the store to get our AVA books stamped.  We got to talking and were both in Dubai around the same time.  He was a construction worker, and I was traveling back and forth to Afghanistan.  We both said it was a small world and wished each other a good life and health.  It was a good exchange. 

In Iowa, you get a feeling that the state hasn't caught up with the rest of the world and doesn't care if it does.  The emptiness gives you a disconnected feeling from the outside world.  A sense of peace sweeps over my body.  I ask if I really want to return to it all.  To the rest of America.  

 

Two Walks in Charleston: Magnolia Plantation Gardens and Downtown

Charleston, South Carolina, is a place we have visited many times.  We have yet to do any of the American Volkssport Association (AVA) walks here.  So this trip during thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to get 2 walks done. It will be a great introduction to my grandchildren in walking America. 

Our older son's family lives here, so we're on a Thanksgiving Trip.  It's COVID season, so we are driving from Tennesee to Charleston all in one day.  It will just be the five of us because our son is currently on a Coast Gaurd Cutter in the Caribbean.  Since the day before Thanksgiving is such a nice day, we decide to get outside to visit the Magnolia plantation, which is a short distance
away.  

Established in 1676, the 460 acre Magnolia Plantation was originally a rice plantation but became known for its Gardens, making it a tourist attraction as early as the Civil War.  The famous Civil war photographer Mathew Brady took photos here.  The Gardens completed in the English Garden Style emphasizes the natural setting.

The walk tours the former rice ponds, swamp, and the Garden that surrounds the Plantation mansion completed in 1850.   There is also a petting zoo for the kids.  The walk also has an observation tower that overlooks the gardens and the river.  It was a great time and the kids had fun seeing all the wildlife.

A few days later, Terri and I take a break from the Grandkids to drive downtown to do the Historical Walk.  Because of COVID, the streets are almost empty.  I overheard one of the carriage operators say that 35,000 people have lost their jobs in Charleston's restaurant and tourism industry. 

What can I say the Charleston downtown is one of the most picturesque in the nation with its palm-lined streets and colonial buildings.  The walk starts at the city visitors center across the street from the Charleston Museum.  In front of the museum sits a replica of the famous civil war submarine, the CSA Hunley.  The first submarine to sink a ship during the civil war blockade.

During the walk, you pass the old slave market and museum.  A slave market is usually a fixture in every southern city, whether it's recognized or not.  Charleston is a little more dubious, being that over half the slaves in America pasted through this city.  Much of Charleston's wealth was due to the slave trade. 

During the walk, we stop at Aw Shucks Seafood to dine on their outdoor patio for lunch.  After lunch, we finish the walk through the famous Charleston market.  Then walking down Meeting Street back to the visitors center.  

In all, the walks were fun, but because of COVID a little subdued.   I'll be happy when we really don't have this COVID thing to worry about anymore.  Still, I say get out there and walk America.