Leaf Peeping in the Midwest

And I looked it up, it is so too a phrase. Although I'll admit it is a silly one. I have been leaf peeping for two weeks now and am just amazed at the Autumn we are sharing this year. Maybe it was the drought or the late cold snap in the spring, but the colors this year are more of an earthy, warm, welcome than a cacophonous inferno.

The autumn colors are coming slowly, leaving many trees a half and half event.

I took The Mother home from the hospital on Sunday traveling the long way around so that she could see some of the changes she missed while she was confined this last week. I tried to talk CaDiva into coming with me on Monday but she was busy baking the thank-you cookies and such. This is when I discovered leaf peeping is definitely not a solitary activity.

I tooled around in the old Bonneville from Windsor Heights to River Bend and saw some magnificent sights but pulling over in traffic at a high enough elevation to snag the pictures I wanted was not easy. Texting and Driving is bad, Drinking and Driving is worst, but Peeping and Driving is definitely difficult.

After delivering the aforementioned thank-you baked goods, CaDiva suggested we make our semi-annual ice cream run to the south. The air was sweet and warm. the sun was shining and even though the kitten hadn't been fed we took off.


Now before you go all PETA-nuts on me, there was food in the house and it was in her dish. But this particular feline does not consider food in her dish to mean she has been fed. She believes, and doesn't know why we can't understand, food in her dish has previously been rejected and is beneath her consideration. But she is also species-confused, given that she will beg like a Labrador for salmon and brie shortly after flopping on her back and demanding a tummy rub. So I tend to disregard many of her more persnickety traits. OK  yes, I see the irony in the comparison to a canine when she never begs for anything that costs less than $12.00 a pound.  But I digress.



Even the reds are more of a burgundy this year. In every meaning of the word, they are warming and rich without being overly sweet.


This particular shot was from the "lake" at Lakeside Casino. You should know in Iowa we can have casinos on land owned by the Native American's or bodies of water. No one said how long the body of water had to be there before you can put a Casino on top of it.










In case you didn't read the blogs about Ragbrai and still thought Iowa was flat I wanted to share this gently rolling hill for your consideration.



Autumn in Iowa is also not just trees changing colors.

And just one or two parting pictures that made my vacation worth the time and energy.

The Raccoon River - yes the same one that was party to the flood of '93. So when we say we are having a drought...we ain't just whistling 76 Trombones.


OK, yes, sometimes we are showy even in Iowa.