The Other Paris

Okay, so Charles City, Iowa is not the same as visiting Paris. One of these days soon....I'll have an opportunity to visit Paris. In the meantime, it's off to Iowa to spend July 4th with my sister Annie and her family. We've been getting together over this holiday for about twenty years now. Sometimes we meet around Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas, too.

The best thing about traveling to Iowa is the very nice and welcoming cool weather compared to the ovens of Oklahoma! It's so refreshing. And the second great thing is that we travel through Kansas City and I get a chance to see one of my favorite brothers, Paul and his amazing wife and family. The visit will be too short!

One of the big attractions that my husband and I always look forward to is the small town parade. It is an absolutely "must" see experience. It always makes me cry because everyone knows everyone and the whole spirit is terrific. Charles City is known as American's hometown. There will be antique tractors, new farm equipment, the local fire department, and the local horse club. Then there are many surprises of floats and advertising of small businesses.

I also want to mention that the fireworks display is beyond Tulsa. First, everyone all year long donate to the fireworks in the donation jars set in all the businesses for the whole year. They raise a ton of money.....so look north...you'll see incredible fireworks!

So I am off to see I O W A ! ! !

(The recent floods have really created hardships for the farmers and city folks. I pray their recovery from this disaster is speedy!)

2 comments:

CathWren said...

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Regina said...

I had to come back to check out more of your blog. I grew up about 25 miles NE of Charles City and we shopped there often when I was growing up. I still do sometimes with my Mom when I go home to visit! It was so sad that they lost their swinging bridge in the flood last year.
You can email me directly if you want. rg.rooks at gmail dot com
BTW, the Rooks Paper Scissors link on my blog goes to our niece's blog. It's a play on the family name - Rooks - and her paper art.