Camper shrimp boil

When we are here we usually go to a local restaurant and have a traditional shrimp boil. It’s very good and has crab legs, crawfish and shrimp, along with the usual ingredients. It’s $20 per person, plus your drink.

Several years ago we started doing the shrimp boil at home after we return since we usually bring home some great gulf shrimp, and we can bring a little bit of Texas home to the kids. We have it timed pretty good when to add what and how long to cook it. 

The “chef”

And we can do it a whole bunch cheaper than $20 per person, although we don’t do the crab legs or crawfish.

At home, however, we just pour it out on our large table and everyone digs in.

That’s a little harder to do in the camper. It would be great to do it outside on a picnic table, but it was a little cold and windy last night. I think we came up with a decent solution……through it in the sink.

We did this a couple weeks ago with 10 people (sorry, no photos) and again last night with 8 people.  It actually works pretty good.

And it was yummy!

The Fire truck

Every year when we are in Texas, we go to the Fulton Oysterfest. Al loves raw oysters, and it’s just a nice evening out to go people watch.  (can you tell it’s been sunny here? He’s a bit sunburned)

One of the annual contests is the Decorated Oyster Contest. You make something decorated with oyster shells basically. He came up with the idea last year while we were here and started collecting shells that would work. The festival is to raise money for the Fulton Volunteer Fire Department, so he thought a fire truck would be appropriate.

This winter before we left he started on his masterpiece and made a wood base and started adding oysters to it.

It didn’t look like much at first, but it was so detailed at the end.

Right down to the fire extinguishers

Hatchet (cut out of a beer can)

Ladder and sign

And fire hoses. These were made out of sea whip sea grass that we find on the beach. They made perfect hoses.

We took it over Friday night to see what the competition was. Someone made a flag. Last year the first place entry was a flag not too different then this one. Real creative……

A red fish and pelican

And a couple others that I didn’t get photos of.

We sat. And Al ate oysters. We listened to the bands. And perused the vendor area.

Then it was time………

2nd Place!

When the announcer presented the (2 foot tall) trophy he shook Al’s hand and made small talk (where are you from, where are you staying, etc.) and put his hand on Al’s arm. Then said “you’ve got a pretty big arm”. Al said “so do you” and the announcer said “just don’t hit me with it”. It was cute. Al doesn’t embarrass easily, but I think he was a little red in the face. Or maybe that was the sunburn, who knows. I’m sure that’s what HE would tell you.

The pelican won first place, which was a good choice.  The photo doesn’t do it justice, it was nice.

After the contest they auction off the entrants that allow them to, to raise funds for the fire department. The others brought anywhere from $35 to $125 (for the pelican), but Al’s raised $250! The person who bought it wanted to talk to Al, so he went up near the stage and she was almost in tears when she told him “you have no idea what this truck means to me”. No other explanation, though, so  we don’t know what the background is, but I’m glad he made her happy by making his oyster fire truck.

I know I’ve been slacking on blogging this trip. I promise to do better in the coming days. We only have 10 days or so before we leave, so we have to enjoy every day we can.

The Pumpkin Farm

I had class in Des Moines all week last week, so we took the camper down for one last trip of the year. We went early on Sunday so that we could go to the Howell's Pumpkin Farm & Corn Maze with Matt, Erin & Ryleigh.

We did the obligatory tractor ride through the pumpkin patch.

To the corn maze.

Thankfully they had wheelbarrows that we could haul Ryleigh around in, because shortly after we got off the tractor, she was asleep. She missed all the fun kid’s activities and slept through the rest of the pumpkin farm!

They had pumpkins & squash of every color

And gorgeous mums in full bloom.

They had a store with gifts and dried flowers from their fields. Upstairs in the barn you could buy the dried flowers to make your own arrangements.

They also had a Corn Cannon, so each of us tried our luck at it.

They loaded a partial ear of dried corn in the “shooter” and you had to aim to try to hit a pumpkin face on a silo, or three garbage cans on a line.

Erin actually hit the cans once.

I even did it, but aimed too high every time….shot it completely over the silo all three times. :)

We saw this sign on the way out, I assume it was for the employees, which were mostly kids.

It was a great afternoon….too bad Ryleigh slept through it!

Weekend river trip

We are quickly getting to that time of the year when we will have to winterize the camper. The days are getting shorter and it’s getting colder and I hate to say it….snow will be falling soon. Al and I decided to take a quick trip last weekend to southeast Iowa.  We really didn’t have any specific plans and it turned out to be a nice weekend.

The weather was perfect, although a little windy. We camped at Geode State Park between Mount Pleasant and Burlington. It was a nice little campground that was full of campers for the weekend.  I’m sure everyone was thinking like we were that they were going to get one more weekend in.

On Saturday we headed out and made our first stop in Burlington, IA. Burlington is located on the Mississippi river, it was first settled in 1833, 13 years before Iowa gained statehood.  It was a railroad town and home to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad  which merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad.

It is a beautiful town with old churches and lovely old homes built in the 1840’s and 1850’s everywhere, but you can also still feel the railroad/river town as well.

Beer and ammunition….a great combo!

Since it’s on the river, the town is very hilly and streets are very steep. In 1894, in order to provide a more direct link between the downtown business district and the neighborhood shopping area, an experimental street design was built. They named it Snake Alley.

The alley is made of bricks and consists of five half-curves and two quarter curves over a distance of 275 feet, rising 58’ from street to street. It’s really hard to show you the rise in the photos. You can drive on it, but it’s one way down. We were driving the Big Monster and I don’t think it could have made the curves without going over the curbs.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant called Big Muddy’s on the River which had good food and a nice view of the river.

We left Burlington and drove down the river to Fort Madison, home of Iowa’s State Penitentiary. It was built in 1839 and the original cell block that was completed in the 1840’s is still in use today.  I didn’t get a photo, but the prison still looks like it could have all been built in the 1800’s. It is one of the oldest prisons west of the Mississippi.

The city itself was built near the site of the former Fort Madison, which was the first permanent fort on the Mississippi. It was the site of Chief Black Hawk’s first battle against US troops in 1812. Amazingly, it was only a fort from 1808 to 1813. In 1813 after constant attacks by the local Sauk and other Indian tribes, the Army abandoned the fort and intentionally burned it to the ground.

The actual fort site was uncovered in 1965 during excavations to build a parking lot. That site is on the National Register of Historic Places, but it still in private hands. A replica of the fort was built several blocks away with much of the labor supplied by inmates from the prison.

There were many many old homes built in the 1840’s and later that we drove by here as well. I just kept thinking how much their heating bills must be! Many of them were for sale, which I thought was interesting.  Here are a couple listings. As you look at the photos, just think how they looked when they were new!

630 Avenue E

435 Avenue E

915 Avenue E

We went across the river to Illinois on the Santa Fe Wing Span Bridge.  It is considered to be the longest double decker swing span bridge in the world. Vehicles go on the top deck, while the trains go on the lower deck. It is the last remaining swing bridge on the Mississippi.

We headed down the Illinois side of the river to Nauvoo, Illinois. The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon’s) settled here in 1839, and in 1844 was the largest city in Illinois, surpassing Chicago. The LDS members left Nauvoo headed westward to Salt Lake city in 1846 making it almost a ghost town. Here again were many many historic buildings from the 1840’s.

The temple that can be seen for miles around. I’m not a member of the LDS church, but you can’t help but be amazed when you see a building of this grandeur.

We crossed back into Iowa at Keokuk, and then headed back up to the campground.

It was a nice weekend….too bad we couldn’t have lingered longer!