Lomography

Bayliss Park, Council Bluffs, Iowa - Summer Road Trip 2009 - Lomostop #8
written by dirklancer on October 26th, 2009 , 2 comments (3 votes)

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By now you know my story: July 2009, 8000 km road trip, 3 generations, 1 van. Crazy? Yes. Lomographically limited? In no way whatsoever! I took along 10 cameras and 40 rolls of film. We passed through 10 American states and 3 Canadian provinces, and we only stopped at McDonalds twice…

At this point in the trip we had been putting a lot of distance between home and ourselves for nearly four solid days. Today we needed a nice refreshing break, and I could tell from the level of ants-in-their-pants that the kids were demonstrating, a run-of-the-mill highway rest stop was not going to cut it. Council Bluffs sounded like a fun city, so we pulled in to look for a spot to get out and stretch. The place we happened upon was Bayliss Park.

While I was drawn to the huge fountain at the centre of the square, my kids were first to notice the giant squirrel sculptures scattered around the park. Both the fountain and squirrels were created by an artist named Brower Hatcher – the 6 six squirrels were designed to be touched, climbed on, and generally appreciated by children. My kids ‘appreciated’ them enough for all of us. ;)

It was a few minutes after playing on the first squirrels we found and admiring the main fountain that we discovered the true gem of this public space; the ground-level, interactive fountain. Let me explain it with some simple math: Four days of long hot drives in the van + a whole bunch of water shooting out of the sidewalk = two completely ecstatic children.

If you’re ever in Council Bluffs, be sure to seek out this wonderfully designed community oriented gathering place. Besides the fountains and sculptures, there are also meditative meandering paths, many plaques and monuments, and a historic jail just across the street.

We stayed a little longer than we expected, and then joyfully continued our road trip a little wetter than we thought we needed to be. Who knew?

http://www.cbparksandrec.org/bayliss.asp