Only five capital building in the United States feature domes. Inside, we were greeted by an astonishing view of the Interior Rotunda. Pretty interesting, if you ask me.
After a brief tour, we continued on to the Papa John's sculpture park. An unusual array of sculptures were scattered around the park. Modern art always makes me think.... sometimes about what I'm looking at. This also gave us an opportunity to grab sandwiches lovingly made by Mona, before moving onward. 
Further North, we stopped at the World's Largest Popcorn Ball. Yup - it was a ball of popcorn, large enough to fill an outdoor pool. People seem to have a penchant for doing a lot of "World's Largest <This>" out here... We also noticed that there is a LOT less traffic on many of the backroads we traveled on. When we've driven in the farming communities in Michigan and Ohio, there was still a modest number of cars on the road. This time, it was often 3-5 minutes between cars on these country two-lane roads. There were definitely times I wondered if there were other cars out there, or if we'd slipped into a vortex of some kind...
Back on the road, we left Des Moines and headed West along I-80 again. Shortly along the road, we approached the Jesse James Historical site. A roadside attraction, there was scarcely more than a placard reading, "Site of the First Train Robbery in the west, committed by the notorious Jesse James and his gang of outlaws - July 21, 1873". Not much to see, but it was a good way to breakup our drive!
Turning North, we soon found ourselves at the Museum of Danish America. A large number of Dutch immigrants came to America and found themselves settling in many cities across the US. Iowa is actually home to the largest Dutch community in the US and boasts a substantial museum. Also located at this museum is another troll! This one was called Fjord (fi-YOR-duh), and she rides in her own boat. Gotta snap a picture of this one, too!
Since we wanted to keep moving, Mona placed an online order at a Mexican restaurant along our route, in a little town called Storm Lake, Iowa. Once we got there, however, we surprised the waitress as she had not seen the order appear on the delivery display - looks like they were used to getting orders via DoorDash and they failed to check another screen. After a brief wait, we were greeted with (extremely) hot tacos! Not wanting to delay our travels, we ate in the car and continued the drive.
Our last stop for the day: the Wells Visitor Center in Le Mars, Iowa! This is the home of Blue Bunny
ice cream, the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World. The cool treats were a nice reward for a long, hot day of driving. While temperatures were well into the 90s much of the day, the Forrester stayed cool - I hope it handles the next few days as well!
ice cream, the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World. The cool treats were a nice reward for a long, hot day of driving. While temperatures were well into the 90s much of the day, the Forrester stayed cool - I hope it handles the next few days as well!
As we continued on, we finally left Iowa and entered South Dakota. Shockingly, the speed limit on the freeway was 80mph. There was very little traffic on the road near sunset, but a few cars in the opposing lanes looked like they were going at least that fast.
We arrived at our stay for the night, the Steever's Bed and Breakfast. This was a classic B&B, not an AirBnB for sure. John greeted us warmly as we pulled up, and introduced us to Gypsy, the quiet pup he was dogsitting. John showed us to our cozy rooms and we settled on a time for breakfast in the morning. With our plans set for tomorrow, there was nothing left but time to take in our belongings from the car and bleat at the sheep who stared at me from the front lawn.
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