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Published: August 18th 2007
After many days of driving we have hit the expected highlight according to Jule and Anita - the Corn Palace. The Corn palace is an amazing spectacle, this year adorned by pictures of rodeo heroes. Corn is their medium for art, and we all were quite stunned by the sheer work and effort that these Iowans took to make a Russian style palace so American. After the tour we got to spend a minute or so looking through the gift shop, and of course had to buy some souvenirs to support the Kernels basketball team, whose mascot was Cornelius the Corncob. Despite my skepticism, it was an amazing experience. To top it all off, we ate at Bonanza’s, the home of the 31 foot long salad bar ( including not so salad-y items such as mousse and chocolate chip cookies). It was quite a day. Sierra
Note from Jule: Since we know that Maui is not America, and we have strong suspicions that Eugene is also no main indicator of America, one of our goals was to show Sierra the real America and real Americans. To that effort we have stayed on the small meandering roads and stopped at all
America's Sweetheart
Not sure how we did this, but ....the watering holes that might hold Americans.
Bonanza’s in Mitchell, Iowa, was one of those spots, run by Lester. Everything is homemade, and done to recipes from Grandma. He was a farmer, grew up 20 miles south, but now his 4 brothers run the farm and he subsidizes them from his restaurant. Serving sizes are huge, and so are most of the diners. Food was fabulous! For $7.99 I had a perfect steak, baked potato and anything I wanted from the salad bar.
Both Anita and I had previously seen the wowsy CP, but had neglected to go inn for the tour. The palace seats 3000, and each year is rebuilt. Our friend Jill tells us that it was a highlight of her summers to resurface the palace - an architectural monument to agriculture. From their website:
The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. The third and present building was completed for it first festival at the present location in 1921. The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are
created each year designed by local artists. These murals require thousands of bushels of corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw and wheat each year.
Our tour guide had all her proms, her graduation and all her basketball games inside the CP. We wanted to stop and live in Mitchell - great salad bar and a Corn Palace - but Sierra insisted we travel on eastward to Georgetown.
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brett
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You intrepid travelers have found enough homegrown exoticism to make middle America sound like Stanley and Livingston. Congrats on making what could have been a forgettable flight into an educational family adventure that might be as valuable to Sierra as her first term at Georgetown. If you fancy a quick trip to Holland after dropping her off, we're in Utrecht till 9-3, Amsterdam till 9-5. totziens! brett + carole