the midwest

fred and i have just traveled up and down the midwest.

landed in des moines, iowa on friday; drove to reinbeck to spend the night with rodger & liz; saturday morning up to minneapolis, the starting place of the gutierrez family reunion 09. 2 days later, drove further north to breezy point, reunion location. thursday, back down to minneapolis with a jog over to hudson wisconsin for a fun lunch with larry & carol szyman and their boys.

dropped off our kids at the airport and continued south to des moines to swap rental cars for a smaller one and spend the night. friday morning we drove yet further south to visit my nephew, philip and his wife jen in kansas city. yesterday after church we drove back up to des moines.

we are quite surprised at how pretty it is here...
- the drives are so scenic with the lush green alongside the highway
- downtown minneapolis is charming and clean... once you get around all the construction
- kansas city is full of beautiful architecture and some great food

...maybe we could live here after all. but then we open the car door and are blasted with that wet heat and it's confirmed: california is the place for us!