Day 12: A good day

Today was one of those days where everything seems to work out right - and then gets topped off with something even better. The better part is a ton of dairy :) As many of you know, dairy is one of my favorite foods; it's my comfort food. I haven't eaten much of it on this trip (really just a couple of yogurts and the other day a quart of chocolate milk in Minneapolis - I drank half of it on the drive home from the store and the other half an hour later with dinner :) But today, I got a pound of cheese curds AND a huge milkshake (about half of the cheese curds are already gone!) Add to that the fact that I didn't get lost (this time, the road construction all worked out to my benefit... crazy) and got all my pictures (and then some) and I'll sleep well tonight. So here goes today's fun...

First stop was Iowa's largest frying pan. It was made to promote a community Cowboy Breakfast. Sadly, it's not the "world's largest" but it's still big weighing 1020 lbs and it could hold 88 lbs of bacon (a 10" pan would hold 1 lb).

Fire up the stove!

Next I was headed to strawberry point, but at 6.1 miles from my turn there was a sign saying the road was closed 6 miles ahead. Dang. A quick stop at a gas station confirmed that my route was blocked. I had two options - a dirt road or a winding road through Backbone State Park - the state park it was... which made for a nice, unplanned morning hike. And, based on how flat Iowa is, I think this may be the only hills in the state! (and I use "hill" lightly; I'm guessing no more than 300 feet of elevation).

Walking along the trail

The directions to strawberry point were perfect, and we found the world's largest strawberry. The town is named for the wild strawberries that grew there when settlers arrived. I stopped into a cafe hoping to get some local berries, but it turns out the town is now a diary processing town, so guess where the berries were from??? You guessed it, California (side note for those that don't know, Watsonville, CA, where I grew up claims to be the Strawberry capital of the world and they actually grow them).

That's a big berry! Where's the shortcake?

Then on the way out of town, I was checking out the corn signs. The seem to note the seed choice used (I see a lot of Pioneer, AgriGold, and Crows Yields). Eventually, I want to look those up and see what they're all about. But There was also another crop that I didn't recognize. I stopped at a little rest stop (surprisingly they have some on the little county roads!) that had access to a field and I took a picture. Looking around the web, I'm pretty sure that's a soybean plant (seems to make sense... if it's grown in America and it's not corn or wheat, it's probably soy). Seems silly that I don't recognize soy, but anyone want to confirm that for me?

I'm guessing this is soy???

Back on the road, heading toward Wisconsin, I finally got a shot of Hailey asleep with her face on my center console. I think she does this to get a bit more cool air from the A/C.


Into Wisconsin, I was here for two things: beer and cheese (what else is there in Wisconsin?) For the beer, I went to the Potosi Brewing Company where there is the largest cone top beer can. Again, I lucked out with road construction - there was another road closed, but it was a few miles past the brewery. That's just how today went...

On the side, it says "Contents 2,319,241 fl. oz." Give me one for the road :)

But Potosi also claims to have the "World's longest main street". I don't know about that, but I got a picture of the sign anyway.

On the way out of town, I found the Dickeyville Grotto, which I guess is just rocks and junk made into religious trinkets (yes, you can buy some; I however just took a picture and left).

Then onto the highlight of the day: Cheese Curds. I went to a cheese place in Cuba City, WI. The lady working there was stereotypical WI right down to the hair-do (there must be a name for it). I got the curds and some colby cheese and headed out again. The squeek of the curds is fun :) I can't say they are the best thing ever, but they are good and I did eat about a half pound of them throughout the day (cheese curds and cherries make for a good driving snack :) Hailey loves them, too and even snuck her nose into the bag one time when I was letting her out of the car. Brat. I guess that's what I get for sharing in the first place!

You can't eat just one

Next time you're in Cuba City, stop by for cheese

Crossing back into IA, we stopped for a break on the Mississippi for a snack (more cheese curds) and a walk.

And so, tonight I'm in Davenport, IA getting ready for tomorrow. I've only put in half of my stops into the GPS and it already says 6 hours of drive time. Maybe I've got too much! Who knew Peoria was so cool (actually, the biggest part is that they have a scale solar system model that takes me all over the place, even several citys away to find all the planets; it'll be tough, but we'll see how many I can get.)

And then just some few random thoughts from the drive:

• Iowa rush hour is so cute :) It's about like driving at 11 am on Sunday in Seattle.
• With all the pro-life billboards around this part of the country, they must really be trying hard to change minds, or else they have way too many unplanned pregnancies.
• Best business sign: (at a car wash) "Wash as long as you want! (up to 20 minutes)". I would have stopped, but I wanted to take 21 minutes.
• Beef sign: "there's no such thing as a chicken knife" huh... well first of all, what about a chicken deboning knife, and second of all, why is it a good thing that steak is less tender? Ah, the joys of marketing.