Land of Silos

Whatever I thought of Iowa before we spent over three weeks in the state was embarrassingly based on the little understanding that comes from flying in and out of their major city airports.  As a hobbyist photographer, Iowa was not on my radar as a destination state to photograph.  That has changed!  The images below were captured in and around the area of Forest City, home of Winnebago Industries.  The city is located in the north of the state, in farm country.  Here we found mile after mile of corn and soybean crops.  In August, the corn is topped with gold tassels and the soybeans are a bright green.

Silos!  I admit to not knowing what silos are about other than that they are used for storing 'stuff'.  Oh, but a bit of research has made them very interesting indeed.  These silos were located in Forest City next to a railroad track.

Huge!!  How would you like to climb those stairs?

Iowa is the nation's largest producer of ethanol from corn.  Forty-two ethanol producing plants use more than 1.3 billion (yep, billion) bushels of corn.  Ethanol production consumes approximately 1/3 of the state's corn production.  This particular silo looked a bit different but I don't know if it was processing animal feed or ethanol.

A very common site as we drove the side roads.

The darker green field on the right is soybean.  In some years Iowa is the largest producer in the nation of soybeans.

Soybeans and corn.  US farmers account for about 46% of the world's soybean production!!

Silos and red barns next to old white houses.  I just never tired of them.

Ah, bet it was gorgeous at one time.

I asked what the quilt patterns meant when they adorned a barn.  Many barns had them.  I was told that they were just for adornment.

This is one of those images that you see driving by and pull over to get.

Wind power contributed over 15% of the state's energy needs in 2010.  Bet it is much higher now.  I was surprised to see these windmills dotting the landscape for miles.

More soybeans.  Did you know that an acre of soybean crops can be used to produce over 82,000 crayons?  Me neither.  Did you know that the elevators in the Statue of Liberty use soybean based hydraulic fluid?  Me neither.

All along the roads we also saw wildflowers and bees.  This one is for whoever need a smile today.

Virginia Military Institute

Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state-supported military college in the nation, founded in 1839.  The US News and World Repord consistently ranks it among the nation's top five public liberal arts colleges.  Located in Lexington, VA in the Shenandoah Valley, it is home to about 1,717 cadets each year.  Sixty percent of cadets come from Virginia and the rest enroll from all over the nation and even some foreign countries.  I had never heard of VMI but was interested in checking it out after learning that one of my nephews would like to attend there upon completion of high school.

The first thing that struck me is that this is a 'military' themed education.  Sure enough, each cadet must enroll in and complete a four year ROTC program in order to graduate.  Upon graduation, each cadet has the choice to accept, or not, a commission and about 50% do indeed go into their respective service as commissioned officers.  ROTC scholarships require a four year service contract upon graduation.

The whole campus looked so new, clean and orderly one would expect that it was just built!

The large grassy field was gorgeous, orderly and fit right in with these strongly geometric structures.

One of these buildings is the barracks where all cadets live together during their 4 year student career.  First year cadets are housed on the fourth floor and fourth year cadets have the honor of the first floor.  Their is some pride that the rooms are not as 'comfy' as the other academies (Air Force, Navy and Army).  For one thing, they lack refrigeration and apparently elevators are not available.  Cadets also eat together in Crozet Hall and wear cadet uniforms.

The entry to the chapel.  The museum is in the basement.

A lovely chapel.  This is looking backwards away from the alter or front.

From upstairs.  First time I have ever seen a battlefield with rather gory images as part of an alter!

This canon, called Little John II is taken to each football game and is fired after every VMI touchdown.

The museum had excellent, well organized displays of their history, including artifacts, uniforms, weapons, art, portraits of significant graduates, etc.

Portrait of Stonewall Jackson.

Painting of VMI in its early days.

Painting honoring the role played by VMI cadets and graduates during the Civil War.

This is an oil painting of Nelson T. Overton '49B as the Regimental S-3 cadet at VMI.  Cadet Overton is wearing the full regimental dress uniform, holding his shako in his right hand.  He is standing by Limit Gates and the barracks is visible in the background.  He was appointed to the Circuit Court in 1964 and served on the Commonwealth of Virginia Court of Appeals from 1995 to 1999.  Portrait by Allen Jones.

VMI is a Division I college and athletics play an important part in every cadet's experience.

Shenandoah Valley

This is one very special place to photograph.  The Valley is steeped in history, conflict and tradition.  It was known as the breadbasket of the Confederacy during the Civil War and its strategic importance made it important for both the Union and Confederate Armies to control.  It was the scene of three major war campaigns.  Battle re-enactments, museums, memorabilia, road-side signs and flags all remind us today that not too long ago this Valley was premium real estate in the Civil War.  On a lighter note, the Valley was the setting for the 1965 film titled 'Shenandoah' and if you like you can pull up the song entitled, 'Legends of Shenandoah' narrated by James Stewart.  Or, you can listen to 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' by John Denver (although it only mentions the Shenandoah River which runs almost the entire length of the Valley).  We did not even come close to covering this fabulous Valley.  We want to return for more!

Whether it was the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Skyline Drive, we were never far away from a good view of the Shenandoah Valley below us.  To better understand the Valley, we drove many narrow side roads looking at farms, small towns, interesting old buildings and farms that we had seen from above.

Oh!!!  It is foggy this morning!  Grab your camera and just 'drive around'.

The road into the RV park where we were staying along with Steve and Ken's family.

We were just driving around and happened to see out of the corner of our eye a waterfall.  Wow!  Turn around and go back.  We met the owner of the property who told us it is a popular place for weddings, senior photographs, etc.  She was happy to have us take photographs.

Hey Sweetheart, could you move over three feet?  Then please, skunk me on a better composition!  LOL

Entrance to McCormick State Park

In 1851, McCormick was awarded one of the highest honors granted by the Royal Commissioners of the Great World's Fair at London, England - the Council Medal.  The London Times, commenting editorially said that the McCormick reaper was worth the whole cost of the Exposition, and: "The reaping machine from the United States is the most valuable contribution from abroad to the stock of our previous knowledge that we have yet discovered."  Edmund Burke, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, wrote on March 4th, 1850: "It is one of those great and valuable inventions which commence a new era in the progress of improvement and whose beneficial influence is felt in all coming time."

These are treated railroad ties made by a small company in the Valley.

Mt. Joy, a Presbyterian Church.  We saw many instances where the cemetery was very close to the church.

Ha!  You thought there would be no cars in this posting!  Tom drove by a guy painting his son's car.

For Karen.

For Phyllis.

We saw these for the first time as we rounded a corner driving Mellie to Front Royal.  No place to pull over, of course.  Marked our location and drove back to get photographs the next day.  It was intermittently raining lightly and darkly overcast.  Tom thinks this is the kudzu vine.  It had completely overtaken whole swatches of the forest.

We fell in love with Virginia.  There is so much to photograph that we could have stayed a year and not felt like we captured all the beauty and interest of the place.