Iowa

We’re getting ready to head out to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving day. Our trip yesterday was pretty uneventful. We drove Stephanie’s Beetle (named Phoebe, for those of you who are just joining us) because it’s a fun roadtrip car and somewhat more comfortable than my truck. So I had the opportunity to take pictures out the car window and mess with the manual settings on me camera, which was enlightening. I learned all about the different color settings for my camera. A round barn in sepia tones:

It’s a six-hour drive to Brighton, Iowa from Indianapolis. Brighton’s population is about 700 people, and my extended family numbers around 50 people, so we drastically increase the town population when we show up. We’re staying in Washington about 11 miles away, because there aren’t really any motels in Brighton, although there is a bed and breakfast.

Washington has about 7,000 people and is the county seat, so they have a community center with theater performances, and they’re expanding their public library. They also have an evening Thanksgiving Day parade around the square. We sometimes catch the tail end of that if we go to the single-screen, retro movie theater in the evening to see whatever children’s movie is out over the holiday.