Finest Sunsets

Mark Twain spent the summer of 1855 here in Muscatine writing for the newspaper which was partly owned by his brother. He was impressed by the sunsets and his statements about them (found in his book Life on the Mississippi) are still a matter of pride for Muscatine natives.

"And I remember Muscatine—still more pleasantly—for its summer sunsets. I have never seen any, on either side of the ocean, that equaled them. They used the broad smooth river as a canvas, and painted on it every imaginable dream of color, from the mottled daintinesses and delicacies of the opal, all the way up, through cumulative intensities, to blinding purple and crimson conflagrations which were enchanting to the eye, but sharply tried it at the same time."

Well, they are pretty nice. So tonight I decided it would be a perfect time to take the kids on a walk down by the river so we could all see a sunset. Number one, the sun sets around 7:00 these days, so the kids wouldn't be up too late, and two, it isn't freezing cold yet.

We got there just as the colors were beginning to fill the sky. Everett was excited.

After a few minutes, the colors were even more vivid.

They started to fade pretty fast. I was a little disappointed; this is one of the plainer sunsets I've seen here. It would have been nice to have something spectacular since we were all out there with the camera, but it was fun to see it anyway.

Ashley was heartbroken that we made her walk with us along the river rather than playing on the playground, so she was thrilled when we told her on our way back that we could play for a few minutes. It was dark by then, but she didn't mind. She and Everett ran almost the whole way back, hand in hand.

William had a good time too. He was happy to have graduated to the stroller, although I think he still loves being close to me in the wrap. We didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time we were out.

It was nice to get out and see it. I think we should do it again before the weather gets nasty.