The 14-Hour Homecoming...

After 4 years of college and a couple years of living and working there, I can unabashedly claim that Iowa City falls high on my list of  favorite places.  I know what they say about "never going home", that things would be totally different if I ever tried to live there again, but it is a liberal bastion in the mostly conservative Iowa, and with the University of Iowa there are always movies, functions and speakers that anyone would find of interest.  It has been a couple years, my niece's wedding three years ago, since we've been there, so after bidding adieu to our RAGBRAI buddies, we headed down for an overnight there.

On the half-hour trip down, with no reservations for a place to stay, Melinda called down to the Iowa House, a small hotel at the Student Union for a room.  It is usually a nice, central place to stay on campus, and luckily we snagged a room even though incoming freshman orientation was ongoing.  But when we got there, it was like a war zone with construction going on around the periphery of the building.  We finally figured out where we could get in, but it sort of put a damper on our home-away-from-home for the night.  The first order of business was dinner, since it was already after 8pm.  We passed several new eating spots, but I had to return to one of my favorites from decades ago - the Sanctuary.  It was busy but not packed for a Summer Friday night, so ordered the standard microbrew beer and pizza.  I'm not sure the place has changed a whit in the nearly 40 years I've been frequenting the place.  I think they've extended into next door, but otherwise I suspect the same uncomfortable bench seats are still there, though the menu is a little too frou-frou for this farm boy!  But at least pizza was still allowed, though not as cheesy as I remember from decades past.  It was still good and tasty, and the 12" stuffed the two of us.

"Globe of Death" by Burford

The next morning we checked out after sleeping through the continental breakfast they offer - 10am comes and goes so fast! We wandered over to the downtown area and made the obligatory pilgrimage to Prairie Lights Bookstore - a wonderful place that has been in Iowa City almost as long as I've been going! I've mentioned it in a post before - it is a great place to spend a few minutes or hours, and rare is the stop where I can leave without spending $100.  Even the outside sign is interesting - resembling a pair of hands holding open a book that acts as an awning.  It seems standard that I always get proof how small a world it is in Iowa City, and it was proven again this trip...  One of the books I was interested in seeing was an anthology of letters by Kurt Vonnegut.  I had heard of it on NPR or the New York Times, and read an excerpt about his time at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  It had seemed interesting, so asked the woman who prompted me if she could help me find anything.  After typing into the computer for a few seconds, she called an assistant asking about the book, "You know the one with your father in it!"  Well I walked upstairs to her and she had it waiting for me - I asked, "Your father is in it?"  Yes, she said, her dad, Byron Burford had befriended Vonnegut as a painter in the art department, and was on page 132...  Walking back down the stairs, I noticed a painting by Burford on the landing - it really is a smaller world at the University of Iowa...

We had a few minutes until our parking meter ran out, so we ambled down Iowa Avenue towards the Old Capitol building on the Pentacrest.  We had noticed driving around that like the Cows On Parade in Chicago 15 years ago, there seemed to be a number of painted Herky Hawk (the Iowa mascot). Turns out they are revising the "Herkys on Parade" from 10 years ago with 83 (!) new figures decorated by new artists.  In front of Old Cap was "Graduation Herky", which was a natural to have my photo taken near!  Walking down the other side of the street, I marveled at a number of literary brass inscriptions on the sidewalk.  I've noticed these in years past, they've been done since my graduation.  Standing out to me was one of semi-astronomical theme shown at right - the representation of the night sky with a decidedly not-currently-recognized constellation front and center (the  Bicycle is NOT a constellation!)...  Doing a little research on the quote, it is taken from a short story from Ethan Canin, interestingly currently a faculty member of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, mentioned above...

It is always great to swing by campus and Iowa City.  I don't know if doing it more frequently or for longer periods would diminish the impact, but a few hours every couple years certainly always wants me to come back for more!