"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!"

The main reason for our visit to the Midwest was to go to Iowa. The majority of the people I met in Berlin either came from Iowa or had some connection to Iowa, so it became quite a joke amongst all of us. Michelle and I both felt the need to experience Iowa firsthand, so what better tour guide than Karisti, a native Iowan. The first stop in an Iowa adventure was the Field of Dreams. The minute Karisti told Michelle and I that she would take us there, we couldn't stop talking about it. The words "heaven" and "Iowa" became the most used in our conversations.

The Field of Dreams didn't disappoint at all. It was beautiful!! It looks exactly like it did in the movie, of course, and just has this great feeling to it. There were some visiting families who were throwing around a ball and running the bases, but other than that we had the place to ourselves. The house is gorgeous from outside - definitely my dream house - though in my dream it would be looking out over a lake instead of corn fields. Michelle and I both acted out the scene in the movie where they come out of the corn fields and utter the famous words: "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa." It was incredibly fun and I am so thankful to Karisti for driving a few hours out of our way to take us there. I think I need to watch the movie again sometime soon...

Michelle and I were determined to get our picture taken with something that said "Iowa", so here we are on the steps of the old statehouse, which is now the main building on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Karisti went to U of I for grad school, so it was fun to have her show us around the campus and the town. While we were there, there was a tornado warning, a first for both Michelle and I, being East Coast girls. The sirens went off and we took cover first in a store and then in a cafe, which had the bonus of food, a TV, and a bathroom. The tornadoes didn't end up coming through Iowa City, but they were nearby, so it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to get on the highway and drive back to Cedar Rapids. We watched the news coverage until the warning was over, then headed back. It was a very exciting afternoon!

So, the moral of the story is that Iowa is wonderful! I'm so glad I had a chance to see where Karisti is from and experience Iowa firsthand, after hearing so much about it. It was great to see Karisti's parents and just spend some time at her house. It was a fabulous trip from beginning to end!

Chicago is my kind of town...

It has already been almost a week since I was in Chicago (and it has been quite the week!) but better late than never for this post. Karisti, Michelle and I met up in Chicago last week and had a fabulous time! For those of you who don't know, the three of us lived in the same apartment building in Berlin for my first year, then Karisti moved to London and Michelle moved to Singapore. The last time the three of us were together was my 30th birthday in Berlin 2 years ago (it was also the World Cup, which was super fun), so it has been way too long. Karisti lives in Iowa, so meeting in Chicago to start our trip was the most logical. I had never been to Chicago before and I loved it! What an incredible city!! I could very easily live there.

We had a couple of fun-filled days in the city, including:
* Taste of Chicago - The annual huge food festival was going on while we were there, so we ate and drank our way through it. Tons of people and lots of great food, even some vegetarian things!
* Bike tour - Chicago is a flat city, so it is perfect for biking. Michelle booked us on a 3 hour, 11 mile bike tour of the city that was fabulous! We biked along the lake and through a bunch of the parks. I had forgotten how much I love to bike and it is the perfect way to see a city.
* Boat tour - I'm also a big fan of boats, so a boat tour along the river and on the lake was right up my alley. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and kept throwing information at us about all the buildings we were seeing, most of which I can't remember. But it was very cool to be on the river and look up at all the amazing architecture.
* Fireworks - Chicago does it's fireworks on July 3rd, which worked out perfect for us since Michelle and I were leaving on the morning of the 4th. We camped out in Grant Park, took turns going to get food and beer at Taste of Chicago, listened to the Grant Park Orchestra perform (they did 1812 Overture, which is Michelle's favorite, so she sang along), and then watched the fireworks, which were awesome. They set them to radio music and started out with Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer", so we had a great time dancing and singing along.

All in all, a wonderful time in Chicago with the girls!

Josh Ritter and the Boston Pops

It has been a busy week, so I figured I should start posting some items, in hopes of covering everything as soon as possible. I'll start with oldest and work my way forward. Last Friday night Karen and I went to see Josh Ritter with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. We had first seen Josh at this tiny jazz club in Berlin in 2006. It was just him and his guitar and we loved it! We even went up to talk to him after and he was super friendly, and probably very happy to be talking to Americans in the middle of Berlin. We heard him again last year at the Somerville Theater, then I saw that he was playing with the Pops this year. It was so fun to see him and his band up there on stage with these classical musicians. Josh was visibly blown away by the moment and kept talking about what a big deal this was for him and his band - all their families were there and he just couldn't get over the fact that he was playing on stage at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops. It was great!! And the audience loved every minute of it - Karen and I were talking about the members of the Pops probably aren't used to an audience that hoops and hollers and sings along to every word. It was cool to hear his music being played with orchestral accompaniment (some songs worked better than others) and he played some old favorites along with music from his newest album. And he made me incredibly happy by playing my favorite song, at least my favorite of the last few months, as his final encore of the night. Check it out below.



And here is the link to his website if you are interested in checking out more of his music. I highly recommend it!!
JoshRitterWebsite