Evolution: From the Cave to the Bar

Don't worry everyone. It's been a long weekend, but one that ended with a great big exlamation point. So I decided that I am going to be a photographer and my first pictoral adventure would begin with a day trip to Iowa to see some caves in Maqoketa and some other random small town offerings. My trusty sidekick S joined me on what we will now and forever remember as the day we discovered that Baldwin is AWESOME!

First we go to to this little dot on the map of Iowa called Lost Nation. I always liked the name, thinking it sounded Kerouacesque. We drive into "town" and find a restaurant that won't serve us food and a shop call Jill's This That. I think we were Jill's only customer's that day, maybe even for the whole month of August. Her shop mostly consisted of crap left over from grandma's garage sale circa 1977. This was not a good year for crap. Jack would not approve of Jill's misdoings with said crap.

So Lost Nation was a bust, but the Maqoketa caves were cool and scary.

This is me scared -->

What I should have really been scared of is getting lost. I of course felt that I should follow my instincts, which promptly got us lost in some kind of Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Deliverance situation where we ended up in the Time Traveler's meadow, which subsequently led to an old dirt road. We are lost, but there were three other Quad Citians that took that same stupid path, so we were not alone. (Three chicks, two guys, one ominous state park full of caves that are full of dead bodies?)

Then I see this sign--> Does this shit make any sense to anyone else? This is what we were dealing with, so no wonder the path led to nowhere, as these people are obviously retarded.

On our way out of Maqoketa, S and I stop at a winery because we need a drink and free booze are the best kind. I heart you nice old lady with a heavy handed pour at Tabor Home Vineyards.

We take some pictures of some grapes and head out and S suggests that we continue our path of enlightenment at a small roadside bar. Best ideas are always random. We go in and have some beer, then some more beer, than another beer, and then we talk with the locals. We find out we are in Baldwin, population 300ish, and that these people like their cocktails. We meet this dude named Rory who buys Sarah a sorority-style drink consisting of Mountain Dew and Berry UV and I talk to Terry, a vet who saw the Steve Miller Band while stationed in Germany. Then the owners give us fried food, keep giving us more beer, and then they let us graffiti on the ceiling. Good times. Graffiti. A forgotten pastime.

our sentiments exactly.....thank you baldwin, ia