Near Toledo

Well, here we are at a rest area plaza on I-80 near Toledo, OH. I've been reading aloud from Jayber Crow, a wonderful novel by Wendell Berry. We also listened to Fresh Air, an interview with Robin Wright, a very knowledgable author about the recent flare-up of hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which threatens to undo a great deal of recent efforts toward diplomacy.

                 In the Plaza

Last leg

We dodged freezing rain this morning. No precip. and in the high 30's as we head out. Last night was a great gathering of the clan with Susie and Dennis, Dan, Becky and her friend Mark, Peter and Lori, and also Damon, who is now officially Dr. Crockett, having received his Ph.D. from UC San Diego. His field bridges philosophy of the mind and neurology of the brain, specifically visual perception. But he is branching out into a job in L.A. later this winter which will attempt to analyze cultural phenomena mathematically. E.g., it will analyze the millions of images transmitted daily on social media in an effort to determine what they tell us about our society. So ponder this question: what would it tell us about city "A" if the images sent by residents of that city consistently contained an average of 4.2 faces, compared to city "B" where the average # of faces was only 1.4? Is that significant? And if so, in what way?

Sadly, I forgot to take pictures. The conversation was too engaging. It did include a very funny look at research into what Google search terms are most common in various states. So, e.g., in Alabama, "Obama the Anti-Christ" is a common search term, whereas in Illinois, "deep dish pizza" is very common, and in Vermont, "Kale recipe" gets the prize. Now that is fascinating! And perhaps even significant for an understanding of culture. 

We'll be home tomorrow!

Hamlin and Anamosa, IA

Today we drove from Kearney, NE to Dixon, IL. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a Road Food restaurant called Darrell's Place in the tiny hamlet of Hamlin, IA., which is about 90 miles west of Des Moines. It is famous esp. for its sandwiches, pies and home-made root beer. We each had a tenderloin sandwich, Ellen had a root beer float and I had rhubarb pie. All met expectations.

200 miles down the road or so we stopped to see Betty Remley in my old home town of Anamosa. Betty is 98 and sharp as a tack. She was choir director in my father's church when I was in high school! It is always lovely to visit with her. This time I was able to play a recording of my mother and father for her and she was very moved to hear their voices again after 60 years or so. 

                    Darrell's Place - a fairly non-descript exterior

                                      Ditto interior

                        The founders, Darrell and Marilyn Munch

                                 The root beer float 

                             Betty Remley and me

We'll be in Bartlett tomorrow late morning.

Ramada extravagance

Last night when I had to go back to the front desk three times to get working key cards I kept getting lost! The problem was that we came into our room from a secondary entrance off the parking lot that led into a small hallway, but the other end of the room also had a door leading out into an interior lobby. This place is a conference center and it is huge! Here are some shots:

             The pool area with Hawaiian-themed bar overlooking pool

                 The lobby in front of our room 

 Turn the corner - another big lobby. But where is the front desk? No signs. 

The breakfast bar area - complete with customized omelettes and an extremely attentive attendant. 

Long driving day

We're in Kearney, NE tonight, which is about 750 miles from Alpine! We didn't really intend to come this far, it just worked out that way. Partly it was because we had perfect driving conditions and were enjoying just sailing along on I-80 while I read aloud or we listened to music. 

We're in a Ramada Inn. Not our usual place. The front desk was incompetent. I made a reservation by phone an hour before we arrived. But when I checked in, they couldn't find it. Then I made three trips back to the front desk because the key cards didn't work. They finally gave us another room and took $20 off the price. 

When we left Alpine it was early (7:30) and cold (about 2). But here it's in the 40's. 

                        Looking out the car window this a.m.

Yesterday I went to church at Star Valley United. It was good we hear Pastor Allan again. He talked about being incarnations  of the word and invited each of us to choose a word we would try to incarnate in our lives this week. I chose "hopefulness." It has already helped me a great deal!

Sunday eve we watched Episode 1 of the last season of Downton Abbey. It was satisfyingly juicy. 

                            Violet and Lord Grantham

Not sure where we'll be tomorrow night. We'll see.

Star Wars again

Yesterday we went to Jackson and met PJ&M at the Snake River Brewery for a late lunch after Max's 1 pm ski lesson at Snow King. It was in single digits temp-wise for the lesson, but Max braved it for an hour and improved. Lunch in a warm place was welcome!

                                      Lunch at the brew pub

                                     The big vats 

Paul

Then after lunch we had a little time to kill before our 5pm tickets for Star Wars so we went to Teton Toys, which is adjacent to Starbucks - something for everyone! The toy store had a huge inventory but we just looked. 

We understood Star Wars better the second time, but it is still not clear whether Rey might be related to Han and/or Leia. She seemed to pick up flying the Millenium Falcon awfully fast. We commented that in many ways this film is just a re-make of the first one. We understand George Lucas was not happy about that "retro" aspect of the film. But he has his $4 billion from the sale to Disney to comfort him!

New Year's Day walk

I just did our usual walk up the hill above Paul's house, but it was about 8 degrees. However, it was very sunny, there was little to no wind, and I was warmly dressed, so I was not uncomfortable. One unexpected event was that a small group of elk crossed the road in front of me. I kept a respectful distance.

                       Elk approaching the road

                                   Coming up the bank 

                               Crossing the road

By the time I got to the point where they had crossed the road, they had disappeared into the woods, leaving their tracks behind them in the snow.

Another little surprise was that the folks in the big house at the top of the hill are adding a garage. I think I would have sited it differently, but it's their garage. 

                            The new garage

One thing this house has is a nice view:

                  View from near the top of the road

Jenny had to work today - on New Year's Day! The girls next door are visiting and playing Clue with Max and Ellen. 

                                     They've got a Clue! 

Tomorrow Max has a ski lesson in Jackson and then we'll see Star Wars (again - for us).