Iowa City Was An Icy Blast!

I don't normally post on Thursdays, but as promised earlier in the week, I am posting to share pictures from my trip to Iowa City where I attended the Iowa City Book Fair. To say I had a blast would be an understatement. To say I had an icy blast would be chillingly accurate since the wind was blowing about fifteen miles an hour. Despite the frigid temperatures, I met a wonderful table mate and fellow author named Heather Young. She has written an interesting memoir called Ezra and Hadassah all about her and her brother's journey through the foster care system, and it looks like it would be an excellent non fiction read for the young adult crowd.

I also wiled away the cold hours chatting and admiring the bagpipe music by a local musician.

The next day at a much warmer event held downtown at the quirky women's shop called Dulcinea, I met a fantastic young man named Ayden, who at the age of seven, shared with me his love of chickens, cooking with eggs, and his grandfather's farm. Now I don't know about you, but just like Ayden, I love a good hard boiled egg or an egg sandwich.

After the festivities were wrapped up, we managed to do a little sight seeing. One of my favorite moments was when we found the largest wooden nickel I have ever seen. I think we could all use a little common sense!

I also enjoyed the unusual architecture,

 The World's Largest Truck Stop,

 

And a history lesson on the underground railroad found at an Iowa rest stop.

 

 

Iowa turned out to be a very interesting place to visit and if you every have a chance, I suggest you swing out that way. And don't forget to check out Heather's book!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.