Garrison Keillor, the creator and host of the popular syndicated radio show "A Prairie Home Companion", spoke at Drake University for the 27th installment of the Bucksbaum Lecture Series.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Project365: Day 296 - Katydid
I stepped outside to start the grill for dinner and this guy was waiting to greet me on top of the grill.
Project365: Day 295 - World Food Prize
The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates was once the home of the Des Moines Public Library. The renovation of the building and riverfront is nearly complete. As you can see, the beautiful gardens on the west side of the building are now open to the public.
Project365: Day 294 - Flock
An enormous flock of seagulls (no, not the bad 80s band) has decided to congregate on the sandy point of Grey's Lake in Des Moines.
Project365: Day 293 - Need a Jump?
Portable emergency power unit. This would have been handy to have with me a few weeks ago when I drained the car battery by having the radio on all day while tailgating at the NDSU vs U of M football game.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Project365: Day 292 - Mies van der Rohe
The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines building (originally Home Federal Savings and Loan) by Mies van der Rohe. This is the second building by Mies in Des Moines. I photographed his other one, Meredith Hall, back on Day 187.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Project365: Day 282 - Wilting
The trees in front our apartment are getting very noticeably lighter on leaves each day, which means winter will be here all too soon.
Project365: Day 281 - John Ruan, Sr.
Outside the nearly-completed World Food Prize Hall of Laureates stands a statue of one of the award's creators, John Ruan, Sr. The World Food Prize building's grand opening is scheduled for this week.
Project365: Day 280 - Zombies!
This is one of the fantastic custom murals inside Zombie Burger, an excellent new restaurant in Des Moines. The restaurant's design, decor, and menu are all wonderfully zombie themed, playing off of some of the best (and worst) zombie uprising movies.
And yes, that is indeed a Winchester hanging on the wall as well.
(Go watch Shaun of the Dead if you don't get it.)
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Project365: Day 277 - National Taco Day
Brittany and I biked 16 miles round trip to go get tacos made by Tacopocalypse at the Cumming Tap for National Taco Day. So very worth the ride.
Project365: Day 275 - Red Bridge
This is the pedestrian bridge on the south end of Downtown Des Moines on the Principal River Walk. The trail loops on both river banks back up to the Center Street Bridge, which I photographed a few days earlier.
Project365: Day 271 - Center Street Bridge
Center Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Iowa State Capitol as seen from the River's Edge Restaurant at Wells Fargo Arena.
Project365: Day 269 - Punkins
One more sign that summer is indeed ending: the giant pumpkins have appeared in our office in anticipation of our annual carving contest.
Project365: Day 267 - TCF (Twin Cities Fargodome)
The NDSU Bison drove south to Minneapolis on September 24 to teach the University of Minnesota Goofers how to play football.
Final score: Bison 37, Gophers 24
GO BISON!
Project365: Day 266 - The New Sabin Hall
The Renovation of Sabin Hall at the University of Northern Iowa is completed. I took this photo while at UNI for the building's re-dedication ceremony.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Project365: Day 265 - First Autumn Colors
I swear it was still summertime when I left for Washington DC. I come home and the leaves are already changing?!
Project365: Day 264 - Washington DC - Day 5
Day 5 in DC was my last day there. I had to head back to Des Moines for work, and Brittany was staying one more day to finish out the conference. Because she was working, I had my last day of the trip to myself to explore the city, find some virtual geocaches, and see some things that I had missed the first few days.
The Old Post Office Pavilion.
Smithsonian Castle in the morning fog.
The National Archives. I was in line right before opening time, which meant there was no waiting to go see our nation's founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As with all of the other sensitive preservation exhibits in DC, no photography was allowed in the Archives.
I made my way back to the WWII memorial for some photos and to find a virtual cache nearby.
After stopping at the WWII Memorial, it was almost time for me to get ready to leave DC so I began to head back to the hotel. On the way, I passed by the South Lawn of the White House for one last photo opportunity in DC.
The Old Post Office Pavilion.
Smithsonian Castle in the morning fog.
The National Archives. I was in line right before opening time, which meant there was no waiting to go see our nation's founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As with all of the other sensitive preservation exhibits in DC, no photography was allowed in the Archives.
I made my way back to the WWII memorial for some photos and to find a virtual cache nearby.
After stopping at the WWII Memorial, it was almost time for me to get ready to leave DC so I began to head back to the hotel. On the way, I passed by the South Lawn of the White House for one last photo opportunity in DC.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Project365: Day 263 - Washington DC - Day 4
The second very excellent tour that we were able to take, courtesy of Senator Charles Grassley's office, was our rainy morning tour of the White House. After stopping by a convenience store to buy a couple of umbrellas (not sure how we forget to pack them), we went to our designated entry point for our tour. Yet again, no cameras were permitted inside the White House premises.
Once cleared through two security checkpoints, our tour entered the White House through the lower level of the East Wing. The hallways and rooms were full of famous paintings, Presidential portraits, and some non-presidential portraits. Many of the presidents were painted posing with some relevant, important object--a copy of the constitution to demonstrate their commitment to upholding the law, a globe to symbolize their international policy strength. The most prominent non-presidential portrait on display is that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She, too, is posing with an object, though not one of any symbolic nature. In her portrait, her hand is resting on a copy of the book she wrote. Hanging in the same hallway as the previous portraits, it reads like a really terrible billboard advertisement. Interesting to note, however, was that her portrait was far more prominently displayed than her husband--the guy who was actually the President.
The most exciting part of the tour for me was that as we exited we passed through the front hall and right out the front door. I was tempted to step out and wave to the throng of tourists gathered a hundred yards away at the fence line as if I were someone they should be excited to see emerge from that doorway...
The Secret Service agent outside the front door let us know that we were permitted to use our cell phone cameras to take a photo now that we were outside the building. We asked one of the other ladies on our tour to snap a photo of us--right outside the door of the White House!
That evening, we returned to the Newseum once again. Though this time it was not to see the exhibits. Brittany's conference had scheduled a reception for all of their members at the Newseum for the evening.
One of the other conference attendees from Iowa was kind enough to use my camera and take a photo of Brittany and I on the Newseum's wonderful roof deck.
The view from up there is good during the daytime, but is nothing short of stunning late in the evening with the sun setting.
Once cleared through two security checkpoints, our tour entered the White House through the lower level of the East Wing. The hallways and rooms were full of famous paintings, Presidential portraits, and some non-presidential portraits. Many of the presidents were painted posing with some relevant, important object--a copy of the constitution to demonstrate their commitment to upholding the law, a globe to symbolize their international policy strength. The most prominent non-presidential portrait on display is that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She, too, is posing with an object, though not one of any symbolic nature. In her portrait, her hand is resting on a copy of the book she wrote. Hanging in the same hallway as the previous portraits, it reads like a really terrible billboard advertisement. Interesting to note, however, was that her portrait was far more prominently displayed than her husband--the guy who was actually the President.
The most exciting part of the tour for me was that as we exited we passed through the front hall and right out the front door. I was tempted to step out and wave to the throng of tourists gathered a hundred yards away at the fence line as if I were someone they should be excited to see emerge from that doorway...
The Secret Service agent outside the front door let us know that we were permitted to use our cell phone cameras to take a photo now that we were outside the building. We asked one of the other ladies on our tour to snap a photo of us--right outside the door of the White House!
That evening, we returned to the Newseum once again. Though this time it was not to see the exhibits. Brittany's conference had scheduled a reception for all of their members at the Newseum for the evening.
One of the other conference attendees from Iowa was kind enough to use my camera and take a photo of Brittany and I on the Newseum's wonderful roof deck.
The view from up there is good during the daytime, but is nothing short of stunning late in the evening with the sun setting.
Project365: Day 262 - Washington DC - Day 3
Brittany's office helped us contact the office of Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who in turn was wonderfully helpful in arranging for Brittany and I to take two very excellent tours while in DC. The first of these tours was of the United States Capitol Building. Tours of the building are open to the general public, but when you arrange for a tour through your state legislators you get a much more personal (read: not in a group of 25 other tourists) tour led by one of their office interns.
Both houses of the legislature were in a lunch recess when we were on our tour, but we were still able to go see the House of Representatives chambers from the viewing gallery. Apparently the Senate gallery is only open to the public when the Senate is actually in session, but the House gallery is almost always open for viewing. Only members of the press are permitted to bring cell phones, cameras, and other media devices into the chambers so, sadly, I was not able to get any photos of the House gallery.
After our Capitol tour, we wanted to go see the Library of Congress as well. On our way we passed in front of the Supreme Court Building, designed by another of my favorite architects: Mr. Cass Gilbert. If you're a Minnesotan, he designed your State Capitol building as well.
The Library of Congress Jefferson Building was spectacular. Though, once again, the most impressive spaces (the actual library collection and the exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's personal library collection) do not permit photography. Nevertheless, I was able to make a few photographs of the amazing, ornate detail in the public lobby.
Continuing with the architectural theme of the day, we spent the afternoon at the National Building Museum. The building was impressive, the museum was not. Many of the exhibit spaces were "in transition" for new displays, so there was not a lot to see there. Except for this enormously awesome atrium.
After the Building Museum, we went back to the hotel and rested for a few hours before heading to dinner and our evening plans: the Monuments at night.
The strongest memories I have of visiting DC almost a decade ago were of visiting the monuments and memorials at the west end of the National Mall at night. Now seeing them again as an adult, I realized why those memories stayed with me. This time, however, I had a camera.
Vietnam War Memorial
Washington Monument, from the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Jefferson Monument
And for those of you, like Brittany, who think I don't take enough photos of people, here is a photo of Brittany and I on the steps of the Jefferson Monument at the end of our night tour.
Both houses of the legislature were in a lunch recess when we were on our tour, but we were still able to go see the House of Representatives chambers from the viewing gallery. Apparently the Senate gallery is only open to the public when the Senate is actually in session, but the House gallery is almost always open for viewing. Only members of the press are permitted to bring cell phones, cameras, and other media devices into the chambers so, sadly, I was not able to get any photos of the House gallery.
After our Capitol tour, we wanted to go see the Library of Congress as well. On our way we passed in front of the Supreme Court Building, designed by another of my favorite architects: Mr. Cass Gilbert. If you're a Minnesotan, he designed your State Capitol building as well.
The Library of Congress Jefferson Building was spectacular. Though, once again, the most impressive spaces (the actual library collection and the exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's personal library collection) do not permit photography. Nevertheless, I was able to make a few photographs of the amazing, ornate detail in the public lobby.
Continuing with the architectural theme of the day, we spent the afternoon at the National Building Museum. The building was impressive, the museum was not. Many of the exhibit spaces were "in transition" for new displays, so there was not a lot to see there. Except for this enormously awesome atrium.
After the Building Museum, we went back to the hotel and rested for a few hours before heading to dinner and our evening plans: the Monuments at night.
The strongest memories I have of visiting DC almost a decade ago were of visiting the monuments and memorials at the west end of the National Mall at night. Now seeing them again as an adult, I realized why those memories stayed with me. This time, however, I had a camera.
Vietnam War Memorial
Washington Monument, from the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Jefferson Monument
And for those of you, like Brittany, who think I don't take enough photos of people, here is a photo of Brittany and I on the steps of the Jefferson Monument at the end of our night tour.
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