Sunday Road Trip

Today I went to Des Moines for Breakfast with the Hoffmann's and on the way I stopped at Costco to get gas. The gas I got there was almost 20 cents cheaper than the most expensive gas in Ames. After Breakfast I headed home and decided to do some drive-by shootings. This first is at Camp Dodge. There is a house on the way to Jester Park (my destination) and I have always liked it. I think it looks a little like a funeral home but is probably a private residence. Below that is another house just down the road which is just being finished. The bridalwreath bushes and the Iris were beautiful. They have always been two of my favorite flowers.


Then I arrived at Jester Park which is north and on the west side of Des Moines. I enjoy pictures looking up into the woods. I especially like the trees coming up from a green carpet floor. I took several photos as I drove the Jester park roads.

This sort of looked like a monster to me,

A family was enjoying fishing. Kind of chilly for me but it didn't seem to bother them

The park has some Bison. I was quite aways away from this resting fellow but I was able to hold the camera steady enough with the zoom lens.

I love pictures of the sky and the clouds were beautiful. I suspect that we will have rain this evening. Click to embiggen the pictures. The coloring at the top of a couple of the pictures is caused by the tinting on my windshield.



















When I got back to Ames I decided to drive home via Crawford Avenue. There is a home there where the owner has put a lot of work into his landscaping and there is always something interesting to look at.

I particularly like the grouping here with a piece of wood in the flowerbed.

As luck would have it the owner was working on his place so I pulled over and visited with him and told him how much I enjoyed his place. He has put a lot of effort and work into it and I think it pleased him when I told him I regularly drove by just to see it.
My great aunt and uncle lived just down the street from him and I went to grade school in the neighborhood and walked to their home every day for lunch and also went there Wednesday nights for supper. Being with them are some of my favorite childhood memories.
There is another house on the way home and I also enjoy seeing it so I snapped the picture of it also.

While I was at Costco I got a couple of bottles of wine and some Gentleman Jack. I was going to get a bottle of wine at Target but when I went to check out the checkout person asked for my ID. I opened my wallet to show it to her (incredulously, I certainly look old enough - I mean 68 my god) ad she wanted me to take it out of the wallet so she could scan it. Needless to say Target lost my wine business.

My neighbor was working on his lawn. He is working in Omaha so he comes back on week-ends to take care of his place. He has a dog. The dogs name is Farnsworth and is really cute. Miles and Bailey were not good neighbors and spent a lot of time barking at him. So that is it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, ARTYAL. j-bird