Anatomy of a “last day” as I leave Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Leaving an assignment is always a whirlwind of activity: packing and cleaning, a final push at work, last sights to see in the city. In other words, leaving is a mishmash – and that’s what this post will be, too.
My friends pointed out the romance of writing from an airport terminal like archetypal travel blogger, but as I sit in Moline, IA waiting for my flight out of Quad Cities International to Atlanta, pulling up WordPress in the boarding zone is more a result of over-optimistic tendencies when it comes to time management. I meant to write this entry and post it yesterday, but as usual, time flew by and as always I’m just grateful to be at the airport on time. Travel is always a gamble when you’re on a schedule. But I’m getting off track. Back to the point.
Leaving Part One: Last Gym Visit
The BEST part of Cedar Rapids: Aspen. Aspen Athletic Club Cedar Rapids is an amazing gym, and I spent a LOT of time there on this assignment. I looked at many area gyms, but I liked the vibe in this one best – it was a place I knew I would enjoy being regularly, a sort of escape. They also had Les Mills BodyPump classes. I don’t care for lifting at all, usually spending all my gym time on the treadmill, but Les Mills’ BodyPump class puts light weights to music for an hour and it’s a great way to get my lifting in.
Aspen also had a lap pool, where I swam many miles over the course of my month-long membership. “What do you like about swimming?” asked the front desk agent curiously, and then backpedalled as he realized he sounded a little critical. It’s true that swimming is hard and pretty unglamorous. It also messes up your hair. But it is the #1 calorie burner I’ve found and makes everything else feel easy afterward. Running? Aerobics class? Lifting? Still beats struggling through water resistance, trying to make your oxygen-deprived brain count laps.
Thirty days… forty scan-ins, according to the front desk agent… I loved this gym, and I’ll miss it.
Leaving Part Two: Last Day at Work
Ah yes, one work assignment I’ll never forget. When I flew into snowy Moline in early April, I drove northwest of the Quad Cities airport with my boss, further and further away from signs of civilization. After an hour and forty-five minutes, we pulled off the highway and drove through more agricultural area. My GPS said we were approaching. And then that we had arrived. I looked around. The address was a plowed-up, snow-covered agricultural field with a few parked pieces of construction equipment parked on it. About a hundred feet from the road was a rented shipping container: my new office.
My boss and I walked with the client representative to this shipping container. By the time we got to the door, our shoes were caked with the thick, clay-like field mud. It smelled like it had been fertilized abundantly, too. The container was cold. The generator was out of fuel. The mud simply refused to scrape off my shoes.
We left there and went to lunch instead, and things improved from then on. Over the weeks, between my efforts and the client’s, we got business results in that field. With no building in sight, we sold a field of dreams to future residents, who will move in August. It wasn’t an easy assignment, but I’m proud of my work and will look back on it as a success.
Lauren, my client’s site manager at the field, was a joy to work with – a conscientious outlook and kind disposition. We shared so many laughs in that shipping container and as we went out doing marketing all around Cedar Rapids.
Leaving Part Three: Brucemore
Between an eternal winter and my work schedule, I didn’t have time to visit the most interesting historical site in Cedar Rapids until my very last day. It was the last site that I just HAD to see, the rushed visit on my last day. 26 acres tucked away in a historic Cedar Rapids neighborhood, this estate has fascinated visitors for over a century. The Sinclair family built the mansion off the industrial wealth of Cedar Rapids in the late 1800s. In the 1930s, Margaret and Howard Hall created the Tahiti Room in the basement on the servants’ side (a novel idea at the time – entertaining in the basement!). A still-functional water system pours rain onto the tin ceiling, creating an authentic sound effect. Behind this room is a warmly-lit bar area. Nearby, historian Jerry showed me, is a water closet (bathroom) that contains a prank. But I’ll leave the prank itself a secret.
Upstairs, I got to see the famous sleeping porch with its incredible designs. Fortunately, they’re preserved and no longer exposed to the elements.
Click here for the link to Brucemore’s website – photography inside the mansion is prohibited, so what’s online will have to do.
The outside gardens’ beauty drew me in… even more than I was expecting! (Many beautiful photographs have been taken of these gardens, most of them at sunrise before the museum actually opens – those photographers must have had a special appointment time – but I digress.) This day, my last day, was cloudy and cool, all gray and green. Gardeners were hard at work pruning and shaping. With the warm weather and plentiful rain to help them, their efforts were breathtaking!
Leaving Part Four: Last Lock to Turn
I’ve been resisting the temptation to talk about the house I stayed in since I arrived, being a little reluctant to share those details online while I’m traveling alone. So, as I’m leaving, here’s my mention of the house. Usually I stay in a vacant, furnished apartment, but this time was different because of the construction. They rented a long-term Air BnB for me – obviously someone’s investment property, a house in a developing neighborhood updated minimally and relying heavily on hipster appeal. It was comfortable, though – a great bed, working heat, and a park next door that has filled my Instagram feed since I arrived.
Here are some pictures from inside:
As much as I love travel, I’m something of a nester. If that statement sounds like it would create some internal tension, yes, it does. Leaving is one time I really feel it: excited to go, but always wishing somehow that special times, special places, special people could be with you forever. I guess that’s why I blog, and Tweet, and post to Instagram. Something about preserving… something about keeping.
My flight is boarding. I’ll end my last Cedar Rapids blog post here.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~
