tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-593970477444543007.post-19571483113709320222009-07-14T21:07:00.001-05:002009-07-14T21:07:27.449-05:00<span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One of our bestest friends in the whole wide world, the "J", arrived Monday for a week long visit. Monday, Day 0, was occupied with catching up and boy, can the Wife and the "J" catch up. Of course I held my own at times.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Day 1, Tuesday, we left the state and went over the river to Iowa. After a lunch at the Duncan Diner, we visited the weirdly fascinating </span></span><a href="http://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/Jail.htm"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Squirrel Cage Jail</span></span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (Our third time this year). The "J" was fascinated by it and enjoyed being locked up in solitary.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Next we went to the General Dodge House. </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenville_M._Dodge"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Gen. Dodge</span></span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, one of the youngest civil war generals, was instrumental in completing the intercontinental railroad and consulted on railroad projects in France, Mexico, Cuba, and Russia (The Trans-Siberian Railway). The place is pretty impressive and reeks of wealth.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The last stop of the day was the "</span></span><a href="http://www.iowabeautiful.com/southwest-iowa-tourism/342-ruth-anne-dodge-memorial-black-angel-council-bluffs-iowa.html"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Black Angel</span></span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">". The angel, carved by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Daniel Chester French, the same guy who carved the statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial, was based on a dream that Gen. Dodge's wife, Ruth Anne had. Supernatural events have been attributed to the statue. While it took us a while to find it, nothing supernatural happened to us.</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Tomorrow, downtown Omaha and the Old market.</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/593970477444543007-1957148311370932022?l=homerstravels.com' alt='' /></div>Homer-Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00180515178920053080noreply@blogger.com4