Although it rained most of the day, it did not slow us down. We started the day with a drive-by tour of Des Moines and the Capitol building with its 23 K gold dome. From there we detoured south to Madison County and renewed our romance while seeing the Bridges of Madison County. Of course to get to the Bridges, you have to drive down rough dirt roads and remember at the beginning I said it has been raining. That means mud roads and our car would love to have a bath about now. We had breakfast in the Northside Cafe, which was used in the movie. Also, Oprah ate there. We drove past John Wayne's birthplace, but it was too early and the house was not open. I don't think it would take more then 5 minutes to tour it, since it appears he came from very meager means. We continued on to Omaha and had a relaxing, educational stop at the Jocelyn Art Museum in downtown Omaha. They had many American artists on display and most of the famous European artists. As would be expected, a portion of the museum was dedicated to American Indian art including beaded suitcases, dresses, moccasins, pottery and carvings. We discovered that Omaha's Central High School sits on a cliff overlooking downtown and the building looks like the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Very impressive! We then drove on to Sioux Falls passing Boys Town and two Indian reservations--the Omaha and the Winnebago. They had very nondescript casinos, so I don't think they are striking it rich. So far we have been fortunate finding hotels with wireless internet, so we are updating more then we planned.
I liked your picture of the Bridge of Madison County so much that I saved it. Oh, yes, I remember the Iowa capitol building in Des Moines. We have numbers of childhood pictures of us sitting on the statues surrounding the building. I wonder if that gold top gets weathered.
ReplyDeleteYou're making good time on your trip.
We had a bomb scare yesterday, so the U. was closed yesterday afternoon and today while security scoured. Supposedly, the bomb was to explode today. We return to our regular schedule tomorrow.
Wow, you aren't joking when you said that you thought that you could tour John Wayne's house in five minutes. When I saw the first photo, I thought it was some small gazebo type building in town--it took me a second to figure out that it was actually a house. I can't believe that you guys have already made it to South Dakota!
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