The Beginning....

Hello blogging world. :-) I am excited to start this new blogging thing. I wanted to start this blog because I will be far away from a lot of my family and I thought that this would be a good way to keep others updated on the happenings in Iowa City.

Well, the first blog posting I wanted to write about was my trip TO Iowa City. It was not that exciting, but there were some cool places/signs and funny (note-worthy) experiences. Dad drove out with me on this adventure and he is a great travel buddy. I took my car so we were in separate cars. The good thing is that we had the walkie talkies and talked back and forth throughout the trip.

So really... the trip is not that hard. Go on I-80 and go east until Iowa City. That is pretty much the whole trip. The trick is to keep yourself focused on the road and on more interesting things. The problem is there is there are not that many exciting things through Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa (at least not along I-80).

To keep me awake and alert I listened to "Fire of the Covenant" by Gerald N. Lund. If you have not read this... GO READ IT NOW!!! It was so amazing to hear this story of the handcart pioneers again. It was very interesting to hear this story on this trip, because the handcart pioneers outfitted in Iowa City. So I was traveling what they traveled (except backwards...). I was very blessed to be in a car. Their faith and perseverance is incredible to me and their stories and trials of faith built my faith as I listed to it. I think was really hit me this time was to let the "Fire" of our covenants burn inside us always to help us overcome any trial.

So the trip... Here are some fun facts, stories, and pics of our trip.

Cool rock formations in Wyoming

***There is a town called Wamsutter, Wyoming and Dad told me that it is his favorite town name. He wants to name the next child in our family that name. I dont know how Mom feels about that. I mentioned maybe they could name their dog that and nickname it Wammy.

***We passed the world headquarters of Cabelas somewhere in Nebraska (of ALL places... NEBRASKA???)

***Hastings, Nebraska is the birthplace of kool-aid (because you either farm out there,...or you invent stuff....) hence Kool-aid.

***We passed a town called Ogallala and it had the WORST SMELL IN THE WORLD!! I dont even know how to describe it. But the smell went on for miles. It was like horse, cow, pig, farm smell all put together. It was so strong it was causing headaches! So this town wins the smelliest town award on our trip. (Although Dad traveled back the same way and didnt smell anything).

***Established in 1868 is the town of De Sotto, where John Wayne was born.

This is SOOO exciting isnt it!? :-)

***Dad and I have come to make two places to eat a tradition: Wendy's and IHOP. Both are excellent. I love the OJ at IHOP and I love going there with Dad. It is just an enjoyable time to sit and talk. We got Wendy's a couple times and we got the chicken nuggets (which are actually really good) and of course we got frostys. WE LOVE frostys. When we were driving Dad said after eating a frosty, "Even frosty burps are good." I couldnt agree more!

Cool bridge

FLAT land on BOTH sides...

We got to Iowa safely and I got all moved in. I'll write another post about the apartment and about downtown in another post.