Just north of Kansas City, we spied a sign for a distillery that promised awesome Irish Cream. Of course we had to go! Turns out the distillery is in Weston, Missouri, which I recognized for its Irish festival. At the distillery we sampled the Irish Cream -- oh, my, SOOO good! -- and some "moonshine" called "White Dog." Actually, White Dog is not corn liquor at all, but rather un-aged bourbon which only looks like moonshine. It had a bite, hence the name.
We looked around for a bit, made some purchases, then headed into Weston to have lunch at Green Dirt Farm. Hoo-Boy, what great food! I had a grilled cheese with pickled green tomato and ham -- all ingredients locally-sourced -- and finished it off with locally-made Vanilla Bourbon ice cream.
Then began the mostly monotonous drive through Iowa where we saw farm ...
after farm ...
and discovered that South Dakota has more of the same, except you can pass them by much more quickly:
I did have one really notable experience in South Dakota. While in the rest room, I overheard a mother and her child conversing in a language the likes of which I had never heard before. I may not understand, but would at least recognize, any of the Romance Languages, or Germanic, Slavic, or Scandinavian tongues. I'd have known if they were speaking an Asian language like Mandarin or Japanese, or any of the Semitic languages. This speech was completely different.
I'm guessing that what I heard was a Native American language, and friends have suggested that it was most likely Lakota. I'm so thrilled to overhear parents -- of any culture -- who are committed to passing along their native tongue!
More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.
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