I'm Back! Here's Another Barn Charm!

Okay . . . I know I've been away from blog-land for a while. We'd been at an out-of-town wedding a couple weekends ago, and when we got back, not only was I swamped with schoolwork, but our internet wasn't working. Found out our modem had gone kaput, and we had to wait a while for a repair person to come out.

Anyway, I'm back! And I have a "Barn Charm" entry from our out-of-town trip a couple weekends ago. This was taken on the south side of I-80, from the parking lot of a rest area near the Coralville, IA exit. Not the best picture in the world, but it gives you a great idea of the hilly, green landscape in eastern Iowa.

I love all the hilly farm land, with the farm way back in the background.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily.

Barn Charm: Heading East on I-80

Here's yet another on-the-go "Barn Charm" photo. This was taken on a very overcast, dreary Saturday over Labor Day weekend. We'd been eastbound on I-80, heading to the Quad Cities area for the 2012 Quad Cities Air Show in Davenport, IA.

While it seemed like all of eastern Iowa was overcast, the clouds having parked over us permanently, or so it seemed, the rain was pretty much hit-or-miss; maybe we'd get rain, or maybe we wouldn't.

However, this photo was taken just about the time we got to "the rainy area" where it basically drizzled all day. Once we got to "the rainy area," I'm not sure it stopped drizzling for more than a few minutes at a time. When it wasn't actually drizzling, it was very lightly misting us.

Anyway, here's the on-the-go photo I took of the farm (please click on the photo to get a somewhat bigger view of it):

The red buildings really stand out against the greenery (and the cloud cover). I adore red barns. Barns of other colors certainly have their charm, but there is just something about the red ones that I love.

Barn Charm is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the button below to view the rest of this week's entries:

Quad Cities Air Show 2012, Day 2

Okay, here are some photos from day two of the Quad Cities Air Show, 2012, as well as a couple photos from our drive home.

A Navy Super Hornet

A sunny, muggy day! Liv's waiting for the Thunderbirds.

The U.S. Air Force's awesome Thunderbirds!

Again, a spectacular Thunderbird formation!

A soybean field, located just outside the airport's property.

Iowa 80, the "World's Largest Truckstop" near Walcott, IA.

Heading west, a few miles east of Iowa City, IA.

(Part 1 is here.)
(Part 2 is here.)

Quad Cities Air Show (Day 1) Part 2

Here are a couple more photos from a soggy day one of the Quad Cities Air Show, 2012.

On the flightline after just arriving

One of the University of Iowa jets

And here are some photos from our adventure in Muscatine, after day one wrapped up.

Cornfield on the way to our hotel - I thought it looked cool

After dinner in Muscatine (at your average chain sit-down family restaurant near the hotel - it was nearby and I didn't know where else to go), I decided we needed to have a photo opportunity near the Mississippi River. We've driven over it a few times, but never had the chance to stand near it and get a photo. So that's what we did.

Mississippi River, Muscatine, IA!

Looking at the Mississippi River, looking towards IL

A cool bridge parallel to the river

We liked this overlook!

A riverboat!

Guess who liked the riverboat?!

Statue for City of Muscatine

Dedicated to the Mascoutin tribe

A few more photos will follow soon!

(To see the first batch of photos, click here.) 
(Part 3 is here.)

A Brief Report - Quad Cities Air Show 2012 Day 1

This past weekend, we headed to the Quad Cities Air Show. It was Livie's first air show. Sure, she'd seen a formation of 25 F-117s fly overhead once, on that ship's 25th anniversary (and she was only about 6.5 months old at the time, and doesn't remember it). But she's never been to an air show.

And it had been quite a while since I had been to one in person, so it was pretty exciting. (I think my last air show was when I was still in the Air Force . . . it was probably the Aerospace and Arizona Days Air Show in Tucson, back in 2002).

The Quad Cities are about an hour and a half away, by car, the air show taking place at the Davenport Municipal Airport. After packing overnight bags for ourselves and a cooler with lunch, we grabbed the portable DVD player and some movies for Livie, and then headed out.

Since this was a last minute trip, we weren't able to get a hotel in the immediate vicinity, so we'd booked a room in Muscatine, IA, about 25 miles away from the air show. Because we couldn't check in until around 3 PM, we headed straight for the air show.

It had been overcast all morning, turning to constant rain as we'd gotten closer to Davenport. Apparently it was due to remnants of Isaac, just lingering (seemingly endlessly) over the Quad Cities area.

So our first day at the air show was wet, wet, wet. It hadn't stopped raining ALL DAY in Davenport! But Livie had her rain gear, so she had no complaints. (Andrew and I got rather wet, even with an umbrella, simply because it was pretty windy, too.)

But regardless of the weather on that first day, we'd had fun. And Livie was impressed!

*However, there was a tragic event during the day. At some point, while Livie, Andrew, and I were distracted by the static aircraft displays, there was an accident. One of the aircraft (an L-39) crashed, killing the pilot on impact. (Click here for a news story.) Fortunately, Livie didn't actually see the accident. (And Andrew and I didn't know the tragic fate of the pilot until after we'd left for the day.)*

Anyway, after having that horrible gut feeling after seeing that (and again, not yet knowing the fate, but knowing search and rescue teams were doing their thing), we went on with the afternoon, since the FAA had cleared the rest of the day's performers for flight.

Here are a few photos of the first day.

Liv and the Air Force banner

An A-10 and Star Spangled Banner

Liv loves "Spooky"!

"Is that a Native American?"

Corn at the Davenport Municipal Airport

(Somewhere in between taking these two photos was when the accident had happened. As you can see, Livie was sufficiently distracted by a churro and a static display. By the way, we hadn't heard a thing. )

Checking out the bomb drop

Since it had been raining a lot, and the ceiling (where the cloud cover was located height-wise in the sky) was low, the Air Force's Thunderbirds had to cancel their performance for this first day. So we headed to our hotel, about a 30 minute drive away.

Once we checked in, got dried off, and relaxed a bit, we headed out to dinner and then went sight seeing at the Mississippi River.

More photos (from our evening at the Mississippi River, and from Day 2 of the Air Show) coming soon . . .

(Part 2 is here; and Part 3 is here)

Barn Charm - Another Iowa Barn "On the Go"

This past weekend, we went to the 2012 Quad Cities Air Show in Davenport, IA. On the way back yesterday, I took a photo of this farm as we were traveling west on I-80, in hopes that I could use it for "Barn Charm." This barn is on the north side of I-80, somewhere between the Quad Cities and Iowa City.

Not the best of photos - the clouds were moving back into the area, we were going about the speed limit (70 MPH), and the vehicle windows were a bit dirty from having been in the rain. But you still get a good idea of what this great farm looks like.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the button below to view the rest of this week's "Barn Charm" entries: