Corn Fest 2018

Typically, we go to Iowa for two weeks in the summer. And usually, Grandpa Fawcett is an enthusiastic member of our expedition. But as 2018 has hardly been a typical year, it shouldn't be that surprising that this years trip deviated significantly.

First, because of our trip to the National Parks in June, Allen and I were a bit bereft of annual leave. Moreover, given the All-Star Game was the week before we left and our beach trip the week after we returned, we had to cut the trip down to a scant week. This was mourned by all, but particularly by Owen who considers Iowa to be his favorite vacation spot (which I feel we should be able to spin into some sort of endorsement deal from the Iowa Tourism Board) and argued we should instead shorten our National Parks trip (which was nixed by the rest of the family).

Second, and counter to every trip to Iowa we've ever had, Grandpa Fawcett couldn't go. You see, Grandpa hadn't been feeling great the past few months to the point where even he thought he needed to see his doctor. And while his original cardiologist proved to be a bit elusive, we eventually got him assessed and scheduled for what we thought would be an outpatient procedure. Unfortunately, it turned out he needed double bypass surgery as soon as possible.

At that point we considered foregoing the trip entirely. But John and Katherine encouraged us to go, arguing that since John's friend Jacqui was flying out for the surgery and Mom Mom was nearby, Katherine would have plenty of help while he was in the hospital, and we could do the heavy lifting in his recovery when we returned. Given we weren't sure what Owen would do if we cancelled the trip entirely, we went ahead.

It all felt a little weird to be in Iowa without John -- there was a glut of Coors Light at the pond and quite frankly, the corn shucking and cooking was far less organized without our fearless patriarch. Even the actual pond seemed to miss him -- manifesting its sense of loss through algae overproduction and some serial carp-icide (though Uncle Ken thinks that may be more directly the result of a broken pump). But Katherine kept us updated on the procedure and his recovery and they even got to watch the corn eating contest remotely (thanks to Logan live-streaming it).

And so while it was a very different trip to Iowa, it was still a great time. We got to see Cousin Blaine and Uncle Pete and Aunt Jeannine on the Grady/Zimmerman side, and the Fawcett's were out in full force. Allen successfully defended his corn-eating championship (and even took a few seconds off his last winning time, which he needed to do to just beat out Thomas for the win). Despite all the algae, the kids got in tons of swimming time, we got to go to West Branch Meeting and visit the Young Friends Cabin. And we even got to help take apart a tractor and paint rocks.

While we had a really good time, we were pretty relieved to return home to a recently discharged John. And now we can't wait until summer 2019 when hopefully we return to our regularly programmed trip with a two week stay and Grandpa in tow.

(To see all the pictures, please click here.)