Day 2

We arrived in Cedar Rapids, IA around 5:30 this afternoon.  The day started at the Arch in St Louis. Wow!! We were amazed at how that monument can stand at 630 feet and not move with the winds that are here in the midwest.  The views from up there were AMAZING. The ride up (only 4 minutes) went well and no one was bothered by the small elevator type cars. The Western Expansion museum was pretty awesome as well.  We were so amazed and thankful that Lewis and Clark made that trip out west to expand our country.  What a hard trip that must have been for them. 

We are also learning as we go.  Today we discovered this new treat called "Kettle Corn". Some of you may already know about it. Its sweet and salty popcorn. Here they sell it on the side of the road so Caleb may have a new business when we get back.  We also learned that 200 years ago they cooked stew in the stomach of a buffalo (isn't that special).  Gretchen is so excited to get to Montana to "catch" a buffalo so that we can try it. The rest of us aren't quite as excited as she is.

Our kids are also teaching us things we didn't know as we go along the road as well.  Apparently the reason there is so much obesity is because when we get bored we immediately want to eat.  This seemed to happen over and over again today but we resisted the eating at every turn.

Mostly we are seeing how beautiful this part of the country is that God has created.  The farms go on for miles and we can't quite figure out why there is so much corn but there is a lot.

Tomorrow takes us to Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes.  I don't think we plan to see them all but we may try.  Thanks for all the prayers.  As I said we made it safely and my allergies are all cleared up for the day.