Madison, WI

Tunneling in Madison!

Man, do I love Wisconsin! We met Hillary today and it was a lot of fun! Madison is a very neat place! It think that it would a great place to go to school!

We also Met Big Jim and he told us about working the ore boats on the great lakes! We watched some great movies about the boats and the Soo Locks! What a day!!

What an awesome city!! Man would this be a great place to go to college. Part of its beauty is that it is built on an isthmus! State street is a fun place to visit. We learned all about the U of W and their rivalry with the U of M. We also learned that the Gophers have not had the Paul Bunyan's Axe for quite some time.

Madison also has a rich cycling history with the Heidens' and the Phinney's.

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and the 82nd largest in the United States. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Dane County and neighboring Iowa and Columbia counties. The Madison MSA had a 2006 estimated population of 543,022, and is one of the fastest-growing in Wisconsin.

Duluth, MN

Kera showed us around Duluth!

Mr. E. sang about and we read about the Edmund Fitzgerald




We mined ore with Miner Mike while practicing conservation and protecting the earth!

Teacher of the Week

Minneapolis, MN

We had a great time in Minneapolis! We met Popcorn Paul! He works at the new Target Field!!

Minneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities, these two form the core of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the 13th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 3.5 million residents. The Metropolitan Council estimated the city's population was 390,131 in 2009.

The city is abundantly rich in water with over twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi river, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway. Minneapolis was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber, and today is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle. Named America's most literate city, Minneapolis has cultural organizations that draw creative people and audiences to the city for theater, visual art, writing, and music. The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and through private and corporate philanthropy.

The name Minneapolis is attributed to the city's first schoolmaster, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city. Minneapolis is nicknamed the "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City".
We are excited to be home!

Des Moines, IA

Every town has a surprise and the surprise in Des Moines is that it is a major center for the arts! What a neat place! Thanks Sammy for showing us around! We had French food in the city with a French name!!

Mitchell, SD

Alexander showed us around Mitchell today and gave us a tour of the Corn Palace, "The World's Largest Bird Feeder." It was a-maize-ing! It was incredible ear-catecture! We even learned about Stickly and what it is like to go to school in a town of 400 people.

Mitchell is home of the Corn Palace. The Corn Palace is decorated with several colors of dried corn and grains creating murals. The theme of the external murals is changed yearly at fall harvest; internal murals are changed approximately every ten years. The building itself is used for several purposes including a basketball arena, the local high school prom, trade shows, staged entertainment, and the Shriner's Circus.

Mitchell is the home to the Dakota Discovery Museum, whose mission is the history of the prairie and the people who settled it. Covering a time period from 1600 when the Native Americans were undiscovered to 1939 at the end of the Great Depression. The museum is a caliber not often found in small mid-western towns, and holds one of the most complete and pristine collections of American Indian quill and bead-works. Dakota Discovery Museum also features famous artists such as Harvey Dunn, James Earle Fraser, Charles Hargens and Oscar Howe. In the village area behind the main building are four authentic historical buildings including an 1885 one-room school house and the fully furnished 1886 Victorian-Italianate home of the co-founder of the Corn Palace, Louis Beckwith. Two new features of the museum are Discovery Land, a hands-on activity area for children ages 5 to 10, and the Heritage Gardens Project bringing indigenous plants to the gardens surrounding the museum and historical buildings.

Mitchell is home to the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, an archaeological site where scientists are excavating a Native American village, believed to have been occupied by ancestors of the present Mandan residing in North Dakota, that is buried near Lake Mitchell. The excavation site is unique in that it is enclosed by an Archeodome, a climate-controlled building built over the excavation, that allows scientists to continue their excavation year round.

McCook, NE

We met Karen today and she showed us around her Grandpa Ely's farm and boy was it interesting. We learned about agriculture in the Midwest and how many time industries work together to bring jobs to a community. In this case McCook is the home of Valmont Irrigation Systems. We saw how manufacturing was tied to agriculture. It was fascinating. We also noticed that the rural experience is one that encourages self-discipline and problem solving. Sometimes I think that the rural life has some hard learned benefits that we in the burbs lack. It made for very interesting discussion!

Even the smells were authentic. We had a great time!!