(I did just accidently delete the post to look up the correct spelling of the word "pedophile"--just a note, we are in AMERICA. We do not use the "ae").

So, after a delicious breakfast pizza, we were back on the road, heading off on another one of Mel's brilliant field trips (see our journey to the grotto). In the aptly named Rockford, IA, there is a very free fossil gorge. If ever there is a time to be afraid of Iowa's laws, this was one of them. There were no liability waivers to be signed before we found ourselves standing above a 20 ft. gorge without so much as a stairwell (Monika speaking: Rockwell uses God's natural stairwell: Cliffs). We found many little shells and coral pieces, and I would have been perfectly happy to stay above the gorge, but Monika couldn't accept that. She lept into the gorge without abandon (She needed a nap before she would be able to think logically), but I was afraid. It looked like the Badlands of South Dakota, and those were steep cliffs. But, after some little boy jumped down with her, I preserved my dignity and jumped down, too.

We never found any Devonian era fish (though we did consider buying one at the Prairie Information Center, had it actually had a gift shop. I mean, seriously, this is consumer America--this was a prime opportunity for the Fossil Gorge to capitalize on the laziness of the American people, and they neglected it. Fat old George can't be bothered to go down into the gorge, so he just bought a few fossilized fish and shells at the giftshop...) After ending up locked out on the information center's deck, we panicked that we would never see Waterloo. However, we made it out alive and escaped to the car (Poor Mel, as up until this point, it truly did seem like the perfect plan to lead me to my untimely death).