South Dakota!!

We had some great weather for driving across some of the most uninteresting states this country has to offer..but there was certainly pretty scenery. We did, however, make one stop in Iowa at the Amana Colonies (no I didn't spell my name wrong, but it was close) where they had an indoor waterpark resort. Um ok? The place was called the Wasserbahn Waterpark Resort and this little village off the highway was desgined to look like a small town in Germany where they sold bratwurst and said Vilkommen!! Anywho, there was a winery too. So Jay and I stopped in to do some sampling. The woman was a delight...NOT!!! She just stared at us with like 10 bottles of wine sitting at a sampling counter. Here's a bit of dialogue. Iimagine her voice sounding like something out of Deliverance (creepy banjo playing in the background):

Amanda: Hi! Are you sampling today?

Lady (just staring at me): Yea

Amanda: Um ok. What's the protocol?
Lady: You tell me what you wanna taste
Amanda: Um ok. Then I'll try the rhubarb wine

Jay (noticing I'm failing at communicating with this woman): So which wine sells the most?

Lady (excited that a man is speaking to her for the first time in her life): People really like the blackberry!!
Amanda: Which one is your favorite?
Lady (angered that I spoke again): None. I don't drink.

At this point Jay and I are like this is the most amazing sales person we've ever met (and she's still better than any of them at TEI...LOL). So I push her buttons and buy a small bottle of Dandelion wine (are you picking up that this "wine" is a bit sketchy? Oh and yes, there were 2 bottles of "grape" flavored wine...I CALL BULL SHIT!! WINE IS MADE OF GRAPES! ) So she rings me up and it comes to $7.01. One penny!! Seriously??!! I told her I don't have a penny and she tosses me this shit eating grin...so I toss her my debit card and say "Run it!"

And that was my story of making nice with the locals.

After a long day of driving we made it to South Dakota where mom and Paul were there to greet us with chili and Bud Light xoxo. Oh yea and their 3 blood thirsty German Shepards that are just dying to tear out our throats in our sleep. Phinn is making nice with them..Tek will probably be on a milk carton in a "have you seen this child?" ad in Renner, SD shortly.

 Battered and fried mushrooms. There was like 12 in an order for $4.95. Awesome!

 Trying to fit in with the locals

 LOL. Have a nice day!

 Soooo many wind farms. Majestic as Jay put it.