be it ever so humble

There's no place like home!  Rick and I both got home yesterday ........ I love going away but man do I love coming home ....

Here are a few pictures from Kimberly and my last day (which was Sunday) in the Council Bluffs, Iowa area.  Sunday was nature day for the sisters.  We did about a 100 mile loop of a scenic byway.  At one point Kim had Arlo and I hiking (yikes - out of shape "older" sister and dog hiking) now that is scary and I thought for sure either Arlo or I was going to pass out from heat stroke ...... not only am I very out of shape but it was about 93 degrees and so stinking humid you could cut the air with a knife.  Kimberly, of course never broke a sweat!!  At the visitor center of a scenic overlook I saw this huge butterfly hiding behind a light fixture - it was pretty interesting but I have NO idea what it was!

Here is a shot of another scenic overlook - there was a trail where you could go up higher to see more of this valley - Arlo and I opted out of that jaunt tho.  Arlo should have gone with Kim because he was so interested or concerned about where she went that that was all he spent the entire 1/2 hour stressing about where she went.

After we got back from out nature day we rested and went out to dinner in Omaha - Rick's Boathouse Cafe right on the Missouri River.  Terrific view, great food and horrific service - really terrible, like the worst I've had in a long long time!  After dinner we thought we could walk along the river - Omaha has beautiful beautiful parks but it was so stinking hot and humid I just couldn't do it.  We did however find a park in Council Bluffs that Kim had wanted to see.  So we searched out and finally found Bayliss Park with it lovely fountain and play area for kids with a neat water feature.  This was like one I had seen in San Diego a couple years ago and just saw one in St. George, Utah, where water squirts up randomly from holes in the ground - it is really a fun way for kids to cool off and they seem to thoroughly enjoy it.  I was tempted!  Also, the Council Bluffs "mascot" is a black squirrel and statues of these guys are scattered throughout this lovely park.  

Council Bluffs was an interesting town (city?) - it seemed to have so much potential but also seemed content to be a "suburb" of Omaha .... there were many many empty storefronts in this nice historic downtown area surrounding this park!  There is lots of history and beauty in this area ... I'm not sure if it's lack of funds or lack of desire to enhance the area.