Saturday was our last full day in Iowa before we left on Sunday morning. We'd done just about everything we wanted to do, so it was a pretty relaxed day. We were staying at the home of our good friends the Hansens (more on that tomorrow), but Melanie had been away all week and she got back late on Friday night, so on Saturday she and I went for one of our good old walks and we went out to lunch with our friend Kaelyn.
I got one of my favorite dishes at Monica's, chicken balsamico. It was good to eat that again. But it was even better to spend time with Melanie and Kaelyn.
That afternoon the boys and my mom and I went to downtown Iowa City so that John could walk around and get a feel for the University of Iowa campus. I think it would be a good school for him to apply to next year. He remembered going there for field trips and summer camps. It would be quite a bit different to go as a student!
What's up Herky!
This is the old State Capitol building (Iowa City was originally the capital of Iowa). It's now part of the university campus.
I'll always associate the color yellow with Iowa.
That evening Sam and I returned to Red Lobster for dinner. I would have preferred to go to HuHot, which is where John and my mom went, but Sam really wanted to go to Red Lobster (mostly for the biscuits), so Red Lobster it was for me and Sam.
I don't know why these pictures came out so badly! Maybe my phone's camera lens was dirty.
This was my attempt to take pictures of the beautiful country landscape near the Hansen's house, but my camera still wasn't cooperating. There was also some haze in the air from the wildfires out west.
I never thought I'd miss cornfields as much as I have!
There was a cool inverted rock wall in the Hansen's garage that the boys had fun climbing on.
It was so good to spend time with Melanie and Marlan that evening. We played cornhole and sat and talked by the firepit. They are such good friends to us. I feel very blessed by the support of good friends and family in my life. 💛
