Nate and I told Claire that we wouldn't post till our blogs till she put up her first post. Well, that hasn't happened. I give in.

Spring break seems so long ago now. And I guess it was--three weeks ago. Sara and I headed to Iowa. (I guess there's just something about visiting family in the winter in a place that's colder than where you live.) I won't speak for her, although I think she agrees, but I had a terrific time. At the beginning of the week, we relaxed a fair bit. Sara met May (who goes "mmmrrph!" when you surprise her) and helped us finish a puzzle. We also biked around Grinnell, went inside the Jewel Box bank, went on a hike at the Krumm prairie Preserve, and got a nice tour of the college campus. Of course, since there was still a lot of snow on the ground, we had to head out to Hamburger Hill with our sleds:



And we went to the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge. They've got a terrific prairie learning center (geared a bit toward kids, but still interesting for adults). We went on a hike, where we saw (two kinds of) signs of the resident buffalo:



And then, on a drive through the fenced-off area, we saw the buffalo themselves. Pretty cool.
But as neat as that part of the week was, it was nothing compared to what was to come. On Thursday, Mom, Dad, Sara and I drove out to northeastern Iowa to prove that Iowa Ain't Flat:



You wouldn't want to be walking through a field and suddenly fall 200 feet.
First we walked through Lost Canyon, a beautiful canyon with a stream running through it. We had to cross this stream several times, and Mom made somewhat of a habit of falling in.



The whole area was full of beautiful bluffs and caves:



We even saw some ice stalagmites! The cave kept them cool enough to be intact even on this relatively warm day.



On our way out of the canyon, we saw about 10 bald eagles circling high up in the clear blue sky. Pretty amazing. Once we were up, we looked over the beautiful Iowa landscape:



...before going to a point that, according to signs, was called "overlook." Sara and I didn't really know what to expect. We were walking through snowy fields for a while, then through a wooded area. Then suddenly you could see through the trees. It was rather dramatic: out of nowhere, a 200 foot drop into Whitewater Canyon. Pictures didn't really capture it; it was so surprising and amazing to see this view.



That night we headed to Dubuque and stayed in a retreat bed and breakfast owned by the city. It was a turn-of-the-century mansion, complete with servants' quarters, large fireplace rooms, and beautiful views out the bedroom windows to the Mighty Mississipp'. Turned out we had it all to ourselves: no one else had rented a room! We had the run of the place, and played card games (and Dad dozed) in front of a nice fire.
Here was our view:



Not bad.
The trip to the Dubuque area was definitely the highlight of Spring Break for me. The hiking through the canyon, amazing bed and breakfast, and the trip the next day to the amazing Mississippi River Museum were all truly wonderful.

We made our way after that back to Bloomington, by way of historic Galena, IL, and Chicago. But boy, I'd love to travel to Dubuque again!

(And Claire, this doesn't mean you're off the hook.)