Iowa Vacation

I'm back from five peaceful, relaxing days visiting my dear friend Melanie and her wonderful family in Iowa.

(On the Mississippi after dinner at a steak house.)
I love Iowa in the summer -- mild, warm weather with brilliant blue skys, puffy white clouds and cool breezes -- quite a nice change from the sweltering heat and humidity of Florida:

Driving around Bettendorf, we saw miles of lush farm land with many silos:

And acres and acres of corn.  At one point I asked Melanie to stop and snap a pix of me at the edge of a corn field (wearing, of course, one of my Retro Revival aprons):

We visited the historic town of LeClaire, nestled along the bend of the upper Mississippi River.  This delightful town is full of quaint shops and eateries, and to my surprise, the home of Antique Archaeology!  Antique Archaeology (http://antiquearchaeology.com/home.html) is Mike Wolfe's store and "home base" for his History Channel show, "American Pickers."  I'm a huge fan of American Pickers; love watching Mike and his partner, Frank Fritz, travel the country pickin' treasures and sharing the history of their found objects.  Here's a peek inside his shop:

Just as we were about to leave Mike's shop, he walked in the door!  We were so excited to meet him and we were not disapointed -- talking with him was like talking with an old friend; he was incredibly nice, informative (shared with us his work pitching the show to the History Channel) and accomodating (willing to pose for a picture):

Other than tooling around town, we spent some time in the kitchen, whipping up several delectable meals and also baking my daughter's pound cake recipe (June 27th blog post):

This really is a delicious cake and even the batter is yummy!  We're wearing the Retro Revival aprons I made for her.

On the trip home was a bit hairy (wicked weather delayed then canceled my connection!).  We flew through some fantastic clouds though and I shot a couple of frames (pretty clear through the plane window):

Now that I'm home it's back to business!  One of my Toronto retailers has placed her fourth Retro Revival shower cap order -- yay!  I need to get sewing!

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