Flamingo on a Stick

A visitor to our campsite at Squaw Creek Well summer is winding down and our fall travel is taking shape. It has been a great summer here in Iowa. We spent lots of quality time with friends, family and especially our granddaughter but it's time now to hitch up for adventures down the road. Hitch-itch always hits me in August and this year is no exception. We are packing up and preparing this week as well as saying goodbye to people here. We have a little bit of a roundabout route coming up. Sunday we will drive to Omaha to spend some time with good friends there, Al and Judi, as well as Dan and Dixie who are coming in from Loveland, Colorado. We always have a good time with this group and this will be a great start to our travels. Leaving Omaha we will go back into Iowa to stay near our son Gabe and his wife Melissa. We will be trying out a new camping spot south of them at Black Hawk Lake State Park. They really like this park so we are anxious to check it out. Then...

A beautiful summer sky So is it hot where you are? It sure has been a hot one here and I think it has been in much of the country. The previous two summers were pretty mild so this one has been a bit of a shock but I do remember other summers in Iowa that were like this. With world wide temps on the rise I just hope this doesn't become the norm. We have had plenty of rain bringing a banner crop of gnats and mosquitoes. In spite of all that, it's shaping up to be a great summer. When we came this summer we thought this would be a slower pace since we weren't working. Well, such is not the case. It's been a great summer but busier than ever. We have tried to spend more time with our granddaughter, even had her overnight once and maybe we will get that privilege again. At three, she is simply a delight to be around. We have gone with her preschool on two field trips and that was a hoot. The last one was to a splash pad and park. After helping to wrangle about 15 3-4...