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