I took a walk this morning before the sun came up and I'm remembering just how much I love fall. If it weren't for the whole SAD thing, it'd easily be my favorite season. And I guess it still is. The fall is turning out pretty good for the most part. It's hard to believe that we're already half way through October.

I think we're gonna go to Carroll/Ames next weekend. My dad's birthday is the 24th and it'll be fun to go home and see my folks. The plan is to get to Carroll in time for supper on Friday and then leave Anna with Mom & Dad on Saturday while we go to Ames and spend some time together--and apart. Heidi's really wanting to spend some time writing and I really love walking around the campus and revisiting old haunts. So she's taking her AlphaSmart and is going to find a place to write and I'm gonna just walk around. The Iowa State campus is just beautiful. And chock full of memories to boot, so it'll be a fun time.

We'll also plan to eat at Hickory Park which is mandatory eating whenever you're in Ames. It's a barbeque place with awesome food and even better ice cream desserts. It was always the place where you had to take your folks when they came to visit. The funny thing is that the first time I took Heidi there, we went on a January evening and there was just fog as thick as soup. I hadn't been to Ames in a while, and Jeff had told me that the restaurant had been remodeled. So here I am driving up and down the street where it is and it is just plain and simple NOT THERE! Well, what Jeff neglected to tell me was that they had demolished the old building and built a new one at a different location. Eventually, we found it, and although the atmosphere is not quite the same as the old one, it's still good food and you get seated a heck of a lot faster than you did at the old building.