Before leaving the area, I went with my date to West Branch, Iowa, 10 miles east of Iowa City to see the Herbert Hoover museum. It was, to the best of my knowledge, the 5th visit I've made in my lifetime. I might have made even more visits than this, but would have been too young to recall. My dad took me there the first two times I visited, and he gave me my love of history at an early age. The first visit was when I was 10, then again 4 years later, the third when I was in college, most recently it was in 2009.
Being there did bring back the memories of the previous visits, like when I shared in a summer class in college about going there one weekend a classmate said 'that's boring', but they probably weren't a history major. It was my major, I wouldn't call it boring. For the second visit, I recall seeing an exhibit called '39 Men' which had artifacts of each president. When my dad saw the artifacts related to Jimmy Carter, like a candy dish in the shape of the peanut, he said he always knew him by his 'teethy smile'. For the 2009 visit, it was my excuse for making it back to eastern Iowa to use a rain check for a minor-league baseball game in Davenport. I had wanted to see a Quad City River Bandits game, but they were rained out in June so I went again in August. I felt kind of sad, don't know why, when I heard the music from the museum at the end of the day. Music usually has the opposite result for me, making me feel happy. Maybe it was the memory of a previous visit, and how I hadn't been there in a while. With one of the visits with Dad, he saw Hoover's birthplace, a cottage, and he spoke of 'humble beginnings'. I liked history more than my siblings, and for the first visit my sister was disappointed how we weren't visiting the Amana Colonies. We were staying in Iowa City/Coralville, so we were a comparable distance to both.
The morning began with having breakfast at a McDonald's near the hotel, a Motel 6 in Coralville, on a road now known as Hayden Fry Way, after the former football coach. We ate lunch at a cafe in West Branch not far from the museum. I did all of the driving today, didn't mind it at all. It meant making just one stop along the way, in Clear Lake. This likely worked in our favor, as the weather starting getting bad after crossing the state line. But I've driven at night before, and through snow before. If it means going slower and letting others pass us, then so be it. I just care about making it home in one piece. There wasn't much to do in terms of errand running once I arrived back home, just grocery shopping. I purposely try to run out of food before leaving town so there is very little chance of any food spoiling.
Being there did bring back the memories of the previous visits, like when I shared in a summer class in college about going there one weekend a classmate said 'that's boring', but they probably weren't a history major. It was my major, I wouldn't call it boring. For the second visit, I recall seeing an exhibit called '39 Men' which had artifacts of each president. When my dad saw the artifacts related to Jimmy Carter, like a candy dish in the shape of the peanut, he said he always knew him by his 'teethy smile'. For the 2009 visit, it was my excuse for making it back to eastern Iowa to use a rain check for a minor-league baseball game in Davenport. I had wanted to see a Quad City River Bandits game, but they were rained out in June so I went again in August. I felt kind of sad, don't know why, when I heard the music from the museum at the end of the day. Music usually has the opposite result for me, making me feel happy. Maybe it was the memory of a previous visit, and how I hadn't been there in a while. With one of the visits with Dad, he saw Hoover's birthplace, a cottage, and he spoke of 'humble beginnings'. I liked history more than my siblings, and for the first visit my sister was disappointed how we weren't visiting the Amana Colonies. We were staying in Iowa City/Coralville, so we were a comparable distance to both.
The morning began with having breakfast at a McDonald's near the hotel, a Motel 6 in Coralville, on a road now known as Hayden Fry Way, after the former football coach. We ate lunch at a cafe in West Branch not far from the museum. I did all of the driving today, didn't mind it at all. It meant making just one stop along the way, in Clear Lake. This likely worked in our favor, as the weather starting getting bad after crossing the state line. But I've driven at night before, and through snow before. If it means going slower and letting others pass us, then so be it. I just care about making it home in one piece. There wasn't much to do in terms of errand running once I arrived back home, just grocery shopping. I purposely try to run out of food before leaving town so there is very little chance of any food spoiling.
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