des moines, lunch with grandma, heading west

you know, this really has been the vacation of my lifetime. in just under two weeks, i feel like i've lived a summer's worth of adventures. i've seen probably 85 percent of my extended family, encompassing both sides!

there's no way i can recapture all this in one blog, but i can say it would make one hell of a 'what i did on my summer vacation' report!

mississippi river and des moines

when we last left off, my grandparents, aunt and cousin were off to des moines, with a detour to the mississippi river and the state of illinois. it was a great day, even though much of it was in the car.

from lincoln we went through southern iowa and northern missouri to burlington, illinois. my impression from this part of the trip: the mississippi river is friggin huge! i mean, i knew it was big and the current was strong, but i don't think i was prepared for the sure size and awesomeness of it.

monday night in des moines was wonderful. my cousin, Stacey, lives there and showed us some midwestern hospitality that would make a southerner jealous (not sure about the validity of that; it just sounded good!). after my grandparents and aunt decided to crash out, Stacey, Rebecca, Stacey's roommate Candice went to a club in des moines. i just have to say, as i may blog about this later, the iowan guys are something very special!

last day in nebraska

i had wanted to drop into kansas, so on wednesday before leaving, my grandmother and i had a girls day out. we drove past some of the larger farms in the area, then took a little drive across the kansas border into marysville where we had a nice little lunch and did some shopping.

shopping was a major activity in all these places, but there were also some other souvenirs from the trip ... how about a little summary:

sixteen state-named t-shirts; 12 pieces of jewelry, over 25 little trinkets, about five special mementos, samples of dirt from nine states (10 if i can get some during my layover in minneapolis/st. paul!) and, get this, samples of river water from two of the country's largest rivers (mississippi and rio grande).

how's that for a summer?!

brother and school

from here, i go to san francisco to stay with my brother for a couple of days. i have my first face-to-face meeting with my college counselor friday and that's only a 40 minute drive from my brother's apartment.

i should arrive at the airport there early morning of the 12th.

he already told me that he and his fiance, Carla, have a surprise for me when i show up there ... i have no idea what it might be!

but i do love surprises!

~ Kassandra

loving lincoln!

actually, i'm loving the area about 15 minutes outside of lincoln, nebraska. i arrived at the airport very early last thursday and have had the most wonderful several days with my grandparents on dad's side.

we've had two big barbecues the past couple of days, one at their house and another at my aunt and uncle's house. many of my cousins here are close to my age and it's been amazing meeting them, many for the first time in person. before this trip, the only cousins i've really met repeatedly are my uncle Mike's (dad's brother), who live in southern california.

it's a very surreal feeling knowing about these people and having heard their names, yet not ever actually meeting them. it was the same thing with my cousins in new mexico. it's been a real eye opener of the people i've been missing out on. i hope this propels me to improve and continue these 'new' relationships.

early monday morning, my grandparents, an aunt, a cousin and i are taking a two-day road trip, which could take us through as many as five states.

we're starting out going south into kansas, then east into missouri. knowing that i've already seen the rio grande river when i was in new mexico, my grandfather feels it only appropriate that we continue through missouri to the mississippi river. i actually am hoping we can make a quick run across the river into illinois (just to say i've been there)! from there, the plan is to head up to des moines, iowa. my cousin, Stacey, lives there and has promised to put us all up for the night.

on tuesday, we'll head back into nebraska. we've mapped it and there's about 10 hours of driving time monday (we're leaving at 5:30 a.m.), and about three hours on the way back. i'm told this is a relatively quick trip around the block, so we should have some time to stop in each place and take a look around.

something i'm also doing is taking a dirt sample from each state which i've visited. it started with hawaii, and continued during the first leg of my vacation. it strikes me as very strange that by the time i'm finished this summer, i'm going to have dirt from 13 states -- and that's just this summer.

this vacation is very special to me, but i'm very much missing my own family. i've video chatted with them several times, but there's nothing like being there. when i get back, i will only have a few weeks before i go off to college. that thought -- and the feeling of missing them -- continues to grow in the forefront of my mind. my family is very special to me and i fear i'm not handling the impending separation from them very well. i shall attempt to address that in a future blog.

for now, i'm looking forward to the next couple of days!

~ Kassandra