July 11th
Mile 1606- Mall of America- We set out semi-early for the
Mall of America. This was slated early
on as the “girly” portion of our tour of the Midwest. The highlight of the trip was going to be the
acquisition of Mae’s first American Girl Doll for her 6th birthday.
Her birthday is a couple of weeks away, so we celebrated a little early. The pictures tell the story. Pure joy! And, there was an amusement park!
Love at first sight! I love the Sales girl's face!
Saige, meet McKenna.
Where's the line for the horse drawn tilt-a-whirl?
3 out of 4 Bullingtons prefer the log jam
Hola, Mall of America!
We had to say see you soon to our Nana Curtis as she headed
back to Eau Claire and we set out for Des Moines by way of Riceville, IA.
Mile 1737- We wanted to check out Riceville because John's sweet step-dad (Mr. Ed) grew up there. We were looking for his childhood home. Riceville is a nice little town off the beaten path. There is a wide spot in the road with a gas station and a tavern and some businesses set up in old houses. John pulls into the gas station/pizzeria and goes in to investigate. We had some spotty information such as, It's close to a tavern. While the children and I sit in the gas station parking lot, John rounds a corner and disappears from sight. I wait patiently for about 15 minutes. I call his phone and he doesn't answer. I started to worry because I have seen the movies. There are red-headed, demonic children in that thar corn and they will take you down with a scythe. Finally, he answers his phone and says, I'm at the bar, I'll call you right back. Click. Oh no you didn't. As steam begins to emerge from my ears, he calls back and we get the story straight. He went into the tavern, started talking to the bartender, and lo and behold if she didn't remember "Eddie" and where he lived. John caught them up on "Eddie" and what he had been up to for the last 50 years and that took awhile. All is well in Riceville in case you were wondering.
Mile 1803- Why corn,
what big corn you have?! Better to corn you with! Ah, corn. There is no shortage
of beautiful corn footage on this trip!
A haiku:
Corn is everywhere
I cannot escape your stalks
High fructose syrup
Mile 1875- Ames, Iowa
So my book club read this great book a couple of years ago, The Girls from Ames. It really resonated with me. When I saw that we would be getting pretty close to Ames, Iowa, I scheduled our dinner stop. We graced the folks of Hickory Park Restaurant with our car crazy kids at 9:45. Sorry, Hickory Park. Your BBQ with a side of psychotic toddler was tasty and good.
Everybody knows you go into the bar to find out where somebody lives/lived. I actually had to do it when I went to see my parents after they retired and moved back to the "big town" (800 people) next to my hometown (200 people). Kim
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