Archive for August 6th, 2008

Aug-6-2008

2008 Iowa State Fair Parade


Tonight I got to go downstairs, out my front door and around the corner to watch the 2008 Iowa State Fair. They were tons of people here and I never had to deal with travel, I just took the elevator down 9 floors and before I knew I was in the middle of a parade. The parade kicked off around 6:30 p.m. from where we were sitting, in front of the Liberty Building at the corner of 6th and Grand. The Parade is the state’s largest and the annual kick-off to the Fair, which runs August 7-17. 

Iowa native and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson served as Parade Marshal. According to press releases there were nearly 200 floats, animals, vehicles, novelty and performing units. I only watched till 8:15 pm and it was still going. I’ve attached a slide show of some pictures I took tonight.

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Aug-6-2008

Showing My Des Moines Pride in Provincetown


On Friday morning I am leaving for an 8-night drip to Provincetown, Massachusetts. For those of you unfamiliar with the city check out the Wikipedia link, but Provincetown is the place where the Pilgrims landed in America and is at the tip end of Cape Cod. Since I will be about 1,400 miles away from Des Moines, and in a resort town with people from all over the country, you end up in conversations about where you are from. I think I should be okay this time just saying I’m from Des Moines, unlike my last trip to Seattle in June. While in Seattle, I would tell people I was from Des Moines and I would never get any follow-up questions, like “What’s it’s like living there?” I found out the reason why only after my return home. There happens to be a suburb of Seattle called Des Moines. So when I was in Seattle, telling people you are from Des Moines, is like being in Des Moines and telling people you are from Ankeny, it’s no big deal.

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