Happy 2025!

 

Here are Travalon's photos of the Holy Family Shrine in Nebraska. First, the Hobbit-looking entrance to the Visitors' Center.

Here I am in front of the shrine.

Here is the inside:

This is the entrance to the Visitors' Center from the shrine, not the parking lot.

There is a little grotto outside of the shrine.

Two views of the shrine.

And here are some photos Travalon took of the lights as we walked around downtown Des Moines last night. First, their stadium.

This is the Lebanese restaurant we ate at last night.

We could see the lights of the New Year's Eve party on the top floor of our swanky hotel.

This is what they looked like from inside.

The views of the colorful lights of the city were amazing from that room, but it was too crowded to get near a window and take a photo. We sat on a couch in another room, still overlooking the city but not as photogenic of an area, and we had some goat cheese and some drinks; Travalon had a couple of cocktails, and I had a flight of three different champagnes. We had heard they would charge $25 to get into the party after 9:00, so we showed up about 8:30... and later we heard nobody got charged a cover charge. Several groups sat across from us on another couch, and eventually a group of young Latinos, two girls and three guys, joined us and stayed put most of the night. They were so much fun! They even shared food and drinks with us. We ordered a flight of creme brûlée.

From left to right: raspberry, elderberry, and chocolate. A DJ was spinning discs, and I liked most of them. At first nobody was dancing, just sitting around eating, drinking, and talking. Travalon got some wings and said they were amazing; I had a bite, and they really were good. As midnight drew closer, some of the Latinos pulled out bags of grapes, and the most outgoing one asked me if I knew about eating grapes on New Year's, and I said, "Yes, but don't you have to do it under the table?" She laughed and said she wasn't going to do it under the table. I said I wasn't wearing yellow underwear either, and she said you are supposed to wear either yellow or red underwear, depending on what you are hoping for. How she knew that I know any Latino New Year's traditions is beyond me, but people are always guessing that I know some Spanish, like our housekeeper in Denver. I have no idea if I give off "Latina" vibes, since I am the most gringo-looking person imaginable. It seems that somehow I have a very non-white soul to contrast with my extremely white exterior, since I've also been told that I'm the blackest white girl they've ever met. Maybe it's just that white-bread tastes are so boring, but I'm loud and love bright colors, syncopated music, and spicy food, so I don't seem very white.

Just before midnight, our new friends all disappeared into the crowd that was suddenly dancing in front of the DJ. Someone told us to go to the front of the restaurant for our free flute of (I'm sure very cheap) champagne, and if there was anything I needed more of after a whole flight of it, it was more champagne, so I did grab one, and so did Travalon. There was a countdown, but they exploded some sort of something at Five! so whoops. Outside there were fireworks. Travalon and I kissed and said, "Happy New Year!" then we paid our bill and went to bed. We would have liked to say goodbye to our new buddies, but who knows where they went?

This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and took a long, cold walk downtown to the Cathedral of St. Ambrose. Both the clergy and the congregation were surprisingly diverse for a place like Iowa, with African and Vietnamese people as well as white ones. The church is really beautiful.

Here are a couple of sights from our long, cold walk back to the hotel.

Apparently the United States of America was closed today.

Then we drove and drove, stopping at New Melleray Abby just west of Dubuque. We didn't see a soul there, but when we went into the gift shop, four other people had purchased things today. We were supposed to log everything we bought, and then I wrote a check and put it in a box. We got a book for Travalon about meeting our pets in Heaven, a rosary bracelet for me, an Irish... bracelet? anklet? for me, and soap for us. After that we sat in the beautiful, peaceful chapel.

Now we are home and very tired. Tomorrow I have to work, but fortunately from home, so it shouldn't be too taxing. I don't think I ever did post photos from our first day of the trip, so look for those soon.

Famous Hat