Zoo Time with Lottie and Some Iowa Morel Mushrooms

Keith and Beti with Keith's Mom Lottie at the Zoo

It was the first weekend in May just before our 39th wedding anniversary so Keith and I decided a road trip to Iowa was in order.  It is a six hour drive through Kansas City that we try to make a couple times a year since we both have family and friends there.  The past couple years had been very unstable for weather with flooding and heat more than usual so we had to cancel several trips.  We were very disappointed to have missed several important events during those times which included Lottie's 85th birthday (Keith's mother), my 40th high school reunion, and a visit from my niece, Amanda and her family of nine from Virginia to my brother's house in Blencoe.  So when good weather and Keith's time off work came together well, we hit the road.

We stayed at my brother Ed's home in Blencoe as we usually do when we visit Iowa.  It is a very lovely and comfortable home and we have appreciated the accommodations and hospitality for many years since we left Iowa in 1978 to move to Missouri.  This trip was five days and four nights.  Sunday was spent enjoying my brother and his time off work with a wonderful dinner grilling Omaha steaks and a quiet and restful day.  His wife, Dee, is a great cook who made a special strawberry shortcake dessert as well as delicious side dishes.   Monday was Zoo Time with Lottie.  Tuesday was a day hunting Iowa Morel Mushrooms.  I am fortunate to have two of my high school friends (Dawn and Vicki) and my Maid of Honor Jolene working in the county courthouse so stopping by while they are working is the best time to catch them for a quick visit.  I also took time this trip to have a nice dinner out with my friend Susan and her husband.  We also saw both of Keith's sisters while they were working.

The trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha was suggested by me to Keith on our way to Blencoe.  I thought it would be a great day to spend some Zoo Time with Lottie and Keith agreed but we had to see his mother and know that her health was up to the trip which is about an hour from her home.  We also had to be sure that the weather was not to hot and that we could find a wheelchair as Lottie does not like the motorized chairs available from the zoo.  It all came together and she was very excited as she had not been to the zoo since her youngest child was a teenager over 40 years ago!  Now we were all very excited for the experience!  For more information about the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska see their website:  http://www.omahazoo.com/

Here are some of the highlights of our Zoo Time with Lottie:

Our 1st stop was The Butterfly House which you can see was VERY humid but so beautiful with so many awesome butterflies, tropical plants and flowers and a few birds roaming free

The only exhibits we did not see were the giraffes and elephants which were down a big hill and it was  near closing time and they had all gone inside their homes waiting for dinnertime.  We did enjoy these penguins all waiting at the door!  Lottie sure enjoyed that!

It was a long day with perfect weather and had the best time with Lottie.  It was made even more wonderful when we didn't have to walk far to our car after a long day as Lottie let us use her handicap parking permit!  Now that's special!

On Tuesday, Keith and I wanted to see if we could find some Iowa Morel Mushrooms.  We had done very well so far this spring in Missouri as you can see from my previous blog post.  We had done well finding loads in Iowa before we moved to Missouri in 1978.  So many changes in the land uses and Missouri River changes that we were not sure we could find any of our old hunting grounds.  So we found a new place suggested by my brother near Blencoe along the river in a place known as Deer Island.  There were several other 'shroom hunters there but it is a big area with plenty of room for everyone.  We found a couple dozen fresh morels most of which were from one area in the vicinity of an uprooted tree.  We soaked them overnight and packed some for Lottie and the rest to take back to Missouri as my brother doesn't like them.  Lottie was thrilled to get some!  Later after we got home, I printed out some pictures of our zoo trip and the morel mushrooms and sent them to her to remember our special time.  I think we will try to make this time of year a regular time to visit Iowa since the weather was good and we can extend our morel mushroom hunting season.  The morel mushrooms are just starting to appear in Iowa about the time they are done in Missouri.