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This is a multi-part blog entry, so it'll be easier to read...
Saturday we got up, got breakfast at a greasy spoon familiar to Julie, and went to see the Field of Dreams. Yes, they really made a baseball diamond near the farmhouse next to the cornfield af someone's farm - that of the Lansing family, who really are corn farmers. If you're in the Dyersville area area and just want to see some silly things, you should add this one. There isn't a lot to it - it looks pretty much like in the movie. There are no organized games there, but when we got to the site there were about 30 people who brought baseball paraphernalia and had a spontaneous practice and scrimmage. If anything I had ever seen drives home the message Terrence Mann (he was James Earl Jones' character in the movie) stated at the end of the movie, it was watching those 30 or so dads and kids play catch and hitting and running into the cornfield. Also, a twist on the first message Ray Kinsella (Kevin Caostner's character) got came to mind - If they film it, we will go. I got pictures and a ball cap (You KNEW I would...)
Next we were off to Brandon, home of Iowa's largest frying pan. Julie seemed to think it was in the movie Michael, with John Travolta, but I somehow doubt it. I thought that one was Teflon-coated, and this one is just an iron skillet. I didn't disabuse her of that notion, however... Apparently, they used it (may again, I don't know) for cooking for real at a fund-raising supper for the Town of Brandon's Chamber of Commerce or something.
Next we went to see Ice Age III. Kinda strange, I know, but it was playing at Julie's friend Jerry's theater. He had a giveaway, too - and got my nephew (whose name is Michael - don't remember mentioning that) to lead the audience in a verse of Old MacDonald. The movie was good, BTW...
We also went just "driving asquare" as Julie calls it - just driving around to nowhere particular. Since we met in college way "back in the day" we tended to get together at least once a week and fill up my gas tank, get snacks (all on her dad's gas card who has since retired from Texaco) just pick a direction and drive. Of course one day, I circled the cars in a parking until she asked what I was doing. "Driving around," I replied. Sometimes one or the other of us would have an agenda for our day trips, but as like as not we just tried to get lost and then unlose ourselves, yapping with each other the whole time. So this was like old times - except for my nephew Michael being with us. While driving asquare, we passed a schoolhouse - like from the frontier days - that was supposedly haunted. I took pics of it - I'll post them when they get developed - and I could SWEAR I heard what sounded like kids laughing! It was probably just the wind blowing through something in the school...
Another little side note - except in the towns, the only real scenery in Iowa is cornfields or soybean fields and farm buildings - quite literally, nothing else. If you want scenery, go to a different state. If you like cornfields or soybean fields, Iowa is the place to be! *sings the Green Acres theme* Farm living is the life for me!
Tune in later for part 3 - same bat-time, same bat-channel!
