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Day 1, Saturday, April 24, 2010 - Winters gone? Spring is
here and our hearts and thoughts turn to gardening (or slash)
farming. What is it about the mid-west people who like to get out
and dig in the dirt! Rustads have put a 2 day tour together to NE
Iowa area to get your green thumb itching. Along our way to Decorah,
we stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Burr Oak, Iowa.
None of the books told of the Ingalls life in Burr Oak. When they
were living along Plum Creek the grasshoppers put them in a
financial situation. Their friends had bought a hotel in Burr Oak
and asked them to help manage it; so they lived in Burr Oak for a
year. Grace was born in a small house close to the hotel. Our second
attraction is partners with Northeast Iowa Community College and
Iowa State University known as the Dairy Center. Here we’ll
learn about modern dairy farming. They milk about 200 cows and we’re
there in time to see the milking operation. You’ll also tour the
calf pens and see the feed area. What is neat is after our tour we
get to make homemade ice cream. After checking into our hotel and
freshening up we go downtown Decorah, for dinner at Rubaiyats.
This is an Italian restaurant housed in a building that was built in
the 1890’s. The upstairs was a speakeasy during prohibition. It
housed many different businesses over the years and was even a Ben
Franklin variety store before it was a restaurant. It was restored
to its original design in 2007 complete with the original tin
ceiling and brick walls. Even the name Rubaiyat is unique. It comes
from a collection of poetry over 1000 years old. The poems are a
testimony to good food and wine, and together the joy they bring to
life. These poems were translated in 1859 from Persian to English.
(L) (D)
Day 2, Sunday, April 25, 2010 – A short drive north of
Decorah is the Seed Savers Heritage Farm. Heritage seed has
been brought to the US by immigrants and saved for generations.
Today they permanently maintain more than 25,000 endangered
vegetable varieties. Most brought to North America by ancestors who
came from all over the world. After buying our flower and vegetable
seed, we’ll drive to the Winneshiek Wild Berry Winery. There
is a tour and wine tasting, then later a light lunch will be served
on the patio if the weather is nice or inside if it is cool. Before
we leave for home, we visit the Vesterheim Norwegian-American
Museum. Artifacts and displays chronicle the vesterheim or
western home of Norwegian immigrants. The main building, a
three-story 1877 hotel, houses such exhibits as a 25-foot boat
sailed from Norway to Chicago by two brothers. Leaving here it is a
relaxing ride back to Kerkhoven, with a rest area stop and a quick
early evening meal break. (B) (L)
TOUR COST PER
PERSON
Single $269 - Double $219
- Triple
$209 - Quad $199
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