I had a delightful day with other Iowans in ye olde Iowa. This required more driving time than actual time spent hanging out, but that's also par for the course in a state where tings worth doing are hours away from each other. I got up this morning and left the house fairly soon after waking up so that I could drive 3+ hours to Cedar Falls, where I saw....
<drumroll>
Ritu Rani, the original Master of Disaster. We are both Iowans (Iowegians), although we didn't know each other here, and she was in the state because her niece started med school at University of Iowa this weekend. So, Ritu and I took Ritu's small children (who are full-blooded Iowans since their dad is also Iowan, although they were born on the coasts) out for lunch in Cedar Falls. We stopped by a cute little paper store, and then we had a leisurely lunch on the patio of a place where I ate entirely too many varieties and quantities of fried potatoes (tots under my steak and eggs, and also truffle fries with cheesy sauce). I'm also pretty sure that Ritu's younger daughter is a raccoon since she washed her pizza in Ritu's water glass, but I could be wrong about that one.
Lunch was a total delight, and we followed it up with a trip to the candy store (where Anika, the older daughter) managed to negotiate her way into far more candy than anyone intended), and then to the Dairy Queen where Ritu used to go as a kid. Ritu also drove me by the house where she grew up, which was fun for me (and prob v. bittersweet for her). I've never been to Cedar Falls or Waterloo, as far as I can remember, because there is no reason for me to go there, but if I were going to spend five hours in Cedar Falls, this was the way to do it.
Eventually, we met up with Ritu's mom at a coffee shop, and then I abandoned them to their evening plans and drove home. And now, I need to sleep so that I can get some stuff done tomorrow - goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment