Freedom Rock and Bridges of Madison County

This weekend we decided to take a little one day road trip and visit Freedom Rock in Iowa. We have seen pictures of this rock for a few years on emails that came around and when we found out we were only a few hours away we decided to go see the real thing. It is painted by a young man who has been doing it for about 10 years, he started painting it while in high school. Every year he paints a new scene and has it ready to dedicate on Memorial Day. The front of the rock is a tribute to the soldiers in some of our major conflicts. The north side is dedicated to the Viet Nam veterans. The green helicopter actually has ashes of 12 different Viet Nam veterans painted into it. The east side is a dedication to the Medal of Honor recipients so far in the Global War on Terror and the south side is a tribute to our wounded and disabled veterans. If you are ever driving through Iowa on I-80, take a minute and get off on exit 86, go South about 1 mile and see the rock for yourself.

The trip had an unexpected bonus - while driving to the place where the rock is we went through a town called Winterset and there was a big sign that said "Welcome to Madison County, Home of the famous Madison County Covered Bridges." Well - that was something we had to see!! We were only able to see three of them - but what a treat. We also ran across a sign that said Mt. Pisgah, Mormon Trail Historic Site, so of course we checked that out too. Check out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pisgah_(Iowa)
for a little information about the place. All in all - A very fun day!

Our Amazing Trip to Washington, D.C.

Last week Bill and I went on an amazing trip to Washington, D.C. We only had Thursday afternoon through Monday evening to do all that we wanted to do - BUT we got a lot done. We saw everything on our list. This was Bill's first time to go to D.C. and he had a wonderful trip. His favorites were the Viet Nam wall - it is an amazing monument - and the Washington Cathedral - again and amazing place. I knew he would enjoy seeing all that stone in one place!! We were able to spend some time with my brother and his wife, Karl and Gisela, and that was a treat. When I was trying to take their picture in front of the Supreme Court building, a policeman was about to write out a ticket and was calling to have our car towed - that's why the frantic look on the faces. We were also able to attend the Washington D.C. temple. It is a beautiful place and we feel fortunate to have had that experience. Bill had so much fun he is ready to go on another trip, and for you who know Bill, that is an amazing thing in itself.

I wanted to say a little about the monument at the Pentagon. There was a bench for each person killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Their name was on the end piece and if you were facing the Pentagon while you were reading the name they were killed in the Pentagon. If you were facing away while reading the name they were killed on the airplane. The youngest person killed was a 3-year-old. You can see the benches face different directions and they were in lines of the year they were born. An interesting monument and very moving.