Fashion!
Spoiler alert: Women wear pants.
They were surprisingly accurate.
Deep Thoughts
Flood Pictures!
There are bike trails around the (currently flooded) Cedar River that I am very familiar with. They also happen to be close to the power plant.So I went and took some pictures!
When I use the bike trails, I usually park in this parking lot:

The bike trail is just in front of the trees in the center of the photo. There is a pretty steep drop off just behind those trees to get to the river when it is running normally.
The road to the parking lot runs to the right (the parking lot is on the left). There are several homes farther down this road and I'm sure that boat belongs to someone who lives down there.

The bike trail bridge over the Cedar River wasn't closed. Obviously, those trees are not typically under water. Those trees are very tall old trees and the water is so high it is up to the bottom branches on the trees!

Somewhere back there is a bike trail...

This is the view of the power plant from the bike trail bridge.

This house is on the same side of the river that we live on. There are very, very high hills on the south side of the river. This house didn't flood even though it is right on the river because it was built on the hill. For our house to flood, the river would have to go over that hill.

Here is a map of the area where I took pictures of the power plant.

The pink box is the power plant. The blue dashed line is the bike trail and the black dot is where I stood when I took pictures of the power plant and Waterloo Road. Waterloo Road is a very major street. The river marked on the right side of the map is the Cedar River and the water has come over the banks far enough to surround the power plant.
Here is the power plant:

That was as close as I could get to the power plant because...
Waterloo Road was flooded and closed so there was no way I was getting any closer!

The power plant is just to the right of this picture.
Here is a picture of the highway supports that also are not typically under water.

The flood is subsiding for right now. Hopefully the rain north of us won't push the river back up.
Iowa Flooding
Parts of Iowa are flooding right now. Kris and I live in Cedar Falls which is currently in bad shape (I heard that the Today Show was in Cedar Falls this morning reporting on the flooding). This is the worst flood on record. Luckily, where we live it is unlikely that the flood waters will reach our house. Parts of Cedar Falls are under mandatory evacuation. If you have ever been to The Reverb or The Hub in downtown Cedar Falls, that part of town is in the evacuation area (along with the Library, the Post Office, city hall, and most of our local historical landmarks including the Ice House Museum).
Water is coming over the levees and streets are closed all over town. A railroad bridge in Waterloo collapsed this afternoon.
The Cedar Falls Power Plant/Utilites is located right on the very flooded Cedar River and is currently under water. I feel extremely lucky to have power at my house right now. Let's hope it lasts.
Cedar Falls has just been declared a national disaster area.
Two weeks ago Parkersburg, IA was hit with a tornado that destroyed half the town. They are under water now too.
The weather lately has been crazy. So much so that it doesn't seem real.
Badass
I do believe the most badass thing I have ever seen is the reaction that occurs when a volcano errupts under a thunderstorm.


