Hartley Days

This past weekend was the annual summer celebration up in Hartley, IA. My step-mom grew up on a farm near Hartley and my grandmother, uncle and aunt still live there. I hadn't been to Hartley Days in years and it was great because a lot of the Adams family (that's really the name) came back so we had a kind of mini-reunion. Our friend Ray from Canada came with us (I did prepare him for the small town entertainment of the weekend)

So what are Hartley Days, you ask? Let me tell you, it's a whole lot of fun. There are street dances Friday and Saturday nights where you can see the 'local flavor' let loose (sooo great for people watching), a parade, a motorcycle burn out contest and bed races! If you've never witnessed a bed race, you should. We were team Adams- our pushers were Ray, Art, Ivan and Veronica and our fearless rider was Claudia. They did a fantastic job keeping control of the bed and were quite fast, but I there was some bias on the judges part as we took 7th place. We were robbed.

The best part of going to grandma Ruth's is the food. The food is so plentiful and so very, very good. One should always pack their fat pants when going to grandma Ruth's house. I ate so much this weekend and gorged myself at every opportunity and I am so happy about it (although I find now that I'm starving if I don't get to eat every hour...)