American Gothic

Ha ha ha ha! Don't be confused--this isn't the actual 1930 painting by Grant Wood entitled "American Gothic." It's really Mom and me at the actual American Gothic house from the painting!!!



We took this picture of the original painting last year at the Art Institute of Chicago. It's one of our favorite paintings ever. The funny thing is that it is not a painting of a husband and wife--the lady is Wood's sister, Nan, and the man is modeled after Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby. So, you may wonder, what was the house modeled after??????

Well, here's the answer:













The house is located in the tiny town of Eldon, Iowa, which is about 15 miles from Ottumwa, Iowa, where Radar from "MASH" is supposed to be from. Mom and I stopped there on our way to Ottumwa where we are spending the night tonight at the historic Hotel Ottumwa. We loved visiting the American Gothic house and trying to take serious pictures of ourselves. We also love Hotel Ottumwa. It's a pretty funny place--very Iowa-ish--but it's a neat historic building, and they've done a good job of restoring it to how it might have looked back in the day. It was built in 1917.

It has been quite the busy and exciting last few days. Greg and I went to the St. Louis Cardinals game on Thursday then we picked Mom up at the airport. Mom and I spent yesterday packing and then today we left Charleston, stopped by Greg's to drop a few things off, and then headed west.

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

On Thursday all of my fondest baseball dreams came true, and I was able to go to a St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium! I am a big Cardinals fan and had always wanted to go to a game, and Greg and I were able to go before we picked Mom up at the airport! It was so exciting. They were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was quite a rainy day, but it was still a lot of fun. We were hoping that after the 5th inning, when they could have canceled it due to rain (while the Cardinals were ahead), they would cancel the rest of the game and the Cards would win it. But, they continued to play through the rain, and the Cards ended up getting beat pretty handily. It was sad, but I'm glad we were there. I've been to Minor League games before, but this was my first Major League baseball game, and I loved it.

We were sitting right above the bullpen, so we got to see the pitchers warming up, and we saw my favorite catcher: Yadier Molina. As a token of our first baseball game together, Greg got me a neat souvenir from the "game-used" store there at the stadium. It is a framed picture of Molina which includes a slice from a bat he used in a game--very cool! It is number 5/250, so it is very exclusive.

"Meet Me in St. Louis"

After the game, Greg and I hung out for a while before picking Mom up at the airport. It was so great to see her! I have missed my family very much.

On Friday we spent the whole day packing, visiting with friends, and trying to get everything ready to move back to Utah. Mom and I did all of Charleston's "must-do's," and ate lunch at Dog and Suds, visited the world's tallest Abraham Lincoln statue, and ate BBQ at the Stovepipe Grill. Mom even got to see the museum exhibit about which she had heard so much :-)

Then Mom and I went to visit the cute Stowell family who was kind enough to adopt me while I've been away at school. They are so much fun, and I will really miss seeing them every week. But luckily we can stay in touch!

Then today, Saturday, Mom and I tried to get everything loaded into the car. That became quite an adventure when Paul Bauman from the ward came by and started trying to pack the car his way! After we finally got on the road, we stopped in Tuscola at Flesor's Candy Kitchen to have our favorite sandwich in the entire world: the Reuben with warm red cabbage on it. It was as good as ever! That is something worth coming from Utah for :-) We then went up to Greg's house to drop some things off, and it was fun to see him, but sad to say goodbye :-( I will miss him very, very, very, very, very much, but luckily I'll get to see him in about three weeks when we take our trip to Nauvoo. After leaving Greg's, Mom and I made a stop in Galesburg, Illinois to see Carl Sandburg's birthplace. It was cool to see that after having seen his house in North Carolina. We didn't know that his and his wife's ashes are buried beneath a rock at his birth home! I guess that he had requested to have his ashes returned to Illinois. Then Mom and I stopped at the American Gothic house and came to Ottumwa. I want to write more, but I am really tired, so I'll elaborate another day :-)