We were going to Mitchell to go to Cabela's, so I dragged John to the Corn Palace. It was kind of neat to see a building decorated with corn (though I think John is allergic to the whole deal), but the atmosphere was the best. There were cars in the parking lot from all over (New York, Missouri, Ohio) and big-time vacation feeling in the air. And they were playing "There's a Tear in my Beer" from one of the casinos on Main Street.
I offered to take pictures for a couple guys, and then they took one of us...somehow, acting like tourists made it feel like we were on vacation (instead of just an hour from our house)
After Cabela's, I was starving. John had heard good things about Chef Louie's Steakhouse, so we went there. I was expecting steak fries and maybe a pulled-pork sandwich...then I saw all the white tablecloths, the chandelier, the wine lists...waaaay nicer than we were expecting (thank goodness nice restaurants here aren't all that expensive). John decided it was an impromptu date and we had the best meal we've had so far (barring the meals John cooks). Definitely going back!
On the way home, John saw an SUV with Ohio plates and a buckeye sticker in the back window (Ohio State). He had me grab a piece of paper and wrote "O - H" on it (it's an Ohio State thing). I held it up in the window as we passed the Ohio car. I was too embarrassed to look, but John said the people in the car just looked a little confused.
We were talking about something else when a car pulled up next to us--the Ohio car with "I - O" written on a piece of paper held up to the window! We laughed and clapped and John gave them a thumbs up.
It was so cool to make that connection with another car driving down the road--makes the world seem small instead of so big.
