Faster Than I Look

Just returned from an awesome trip to Iowa (and Nebraska).  First stop, the National Music Museum in Vermillion, SD.  What an awesome place – worth every moment and every penny to get there.  If you have any interest at all in the history of any kind of musical instrument, this place will blow you away.  And they are expanding!  It took us 3 hours to go through the collection on display, and that’s only 7% of what they own.

Next we spent a few days with Mom in her home town of Rock Rapids, Iowa, then visited Lovriens at Lake Okoboji.  Then on Father’s Day we drove through several notable towns (to me at least), with my wonderful daughter Stephanie buying meals.  First, the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend… magnificent.  Then to Union Cemetery in Humboldt, where more Lovriens are buried than anywhere else.  Visited my grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather’s graves for the 1st time.

We then headed into Cherokee, where I realized I should visit my aunt there but I had not called ahead.  She and her family were wonderfully accommodating and we had a nice visit.  Then to Quimby, my dad’s hometown, to visit my grandmother’s grave.  Then back to Omaha to spend the rest of the evening and the next day with my dad.

Be sure to click the photo above to view the full slideshow.