Usually when someone says "It feels like we've been gone forever" it indicates they are finished with the trip and are eager to have it done with. On the contrary, it feels like we've been gone forever, but in a good way.
Today started with a FREE hotel breakfast. Not the breakfast of champions, but sufficient to get us out the door and on our way.
First up was the Living History Farms. We chose to visit just one of the three farms on the site, the prairie town of Walnut Hill, not to be mistaken for Walnut Grove where Ma and Pa settled with Laura and the gang.
It's not surprising at all that prairie folk suffered from a shorter life span. The heat baked us until Reese was melting in front of us. We toughed it out and learned quite a bit about hat making and early pharmaceutical practices.
The "druggist" had us captivated with the description and demonstration of the early manufacturing process of pills. We stopped asking questions after he showed us the suppository shaper and sizer. Way too much information.
After departing from the dry and dusty prairie town we headed off on our way across Iowa. We decided to skip Rube's Steak House because it was too early to eat and we all decided we weren't hungry enough for lunch. An odd decision since the minute we got in the car everyone grabbed a snack!
In typical Lydon fashion, by the time we were hungry there was no proper place to be found. This resulted in driving longer and farther than we intended until we finally came upon a old style diner called "Penny's" The food was great and I got a nice picture of our Waitress Wilma and Reese. Funny that Tom joked before we entered that our waitress would be named Flo. He was close in principle.
When we left we discovered that President Clinton was a recent patron of Penny's too, another brush with fame.
Also in typical Reese fashion, her cuteness got her free stuff at Penny's. Suckers!
The majority rule decided that being so close to the State of Nebraska it would be a crime not to stop in for a visit. Suffice to say that the corn industry supports the majority of the Midwest.
We found ourselves traveling through two Indian reservations, the Omaha and the Winnebago. This brought up the discussion of which tribes Reese had studied in class this year. Not surprisingly, all that information has already departed her knowledge base.
I will say though that it put the spotlight once again on the fact that some within our little band of travelers can't stop pronouncing the silent 's' sounds in the following words: Illinois, Des Moines and Iroquois.
It also brought to light the fact that Indian tribes don't pay property tax and therefore in comparison how high taxes are that we pay in Geneva. You know who I'm talking about. I think Tom wants to be adopted by an Indian Tribe.
Heading back into the safety of Iowa corn country we headed for Le Mars for our just desserts...literally! The Ice Cream Capital of the World lived up to most of it's hype and offered a much deserved break. After trying out a few new flavors Reese settled on Mint Chocolate Chip and Cotton Candy. The cotton Candy was very impressive and yummy. Tom and Doris settled on Bunny Tracks and I made short order of Butter Pecan and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
With full bellies we waddled back to the car and headed for our final destination, Mitchell, South Dakota.
It was a lofty goal as it was getting very late in the day but true to form we traveled on, looking again for a place for dinner. We stumbled upon the Hartford Steak Company in Hartford, SD where the menu consisted of your choice of two cuts of steak, a fillet and a chopped steak. That's all. Nothing else.
You get to choose your portion size, and choose form a list of 5 sides, but basically it was meat, potato, bread and a salad.
It was a fantastic meal! I highly recommend it. We all left absolutely stuffed and pleasantly surprised with a pledge to return on the trip back.
We headed to Mitchell after 8 p.m. and arrived shortly before 9 because the speed limit was 75 mph. Tom was given instructions to obey the limit. I'll leave it at that.
Exhausted, we dragged ourselves to the pool immediately after checking in since Reese's sole purpose on this vacation is to swim. We got a little time in at the pool and came up to retire for the night.
It's late and I left the cord to upload my pictures in the car so you'll all have to sit on the edge of your seats until tomorrow to live vicariously through us.
Corn Palace here we come!
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