Where do you want to go?

Closer and closer we creep to a winner and a treat! We have some super competitors today! Let's get ready to VVVVVooooooooote!

Freedom Bracket:
Iowa or Arizona

Independence Bracket:
Florida or Illinois

Liberty Bracket:
Mississippi or New York

Vote over there------>>>>>>

I am kicking myself for not squeezing in sometime yesterday to update the brackets. I'm going off the notes in my Planner Pad. I do know that we will have a winner next Friday!!!

Just the Vote...

Hello! Happy Boring Tuesday. Time to eliminate 3 more states. Go ahead.

VOTE over there-------->>>

Freedom: New Hampshire vs. Iowa...where?

Independence: Nevada vs. Florida...what happens in Vegas or Mickey Mouse!

Liberty: Mississippi vs. Connecticut...you tell me...

VOTE over there -------->>>

Welcome to Contest Friday!

All Passengers from California, Iowa, Missouri, O-H-I-O & Vermont report to your appointed decks! It's your day to chime in and tell us what makes your state the Taste of USA!

Cassie P was born in California almost 21 years ago and loves the sun. Jayme visited the San Diego Zoo and was impressed with how close the zoo was like the animals natural habitat. She also visited Disneyland. Go Mickie. And, La Jolla beaches with their cliffs and seals.

Cassie Y dated a boy from Iowa but he and his family didn't tan well. If we build it Heather and hubby Bal will perform marching magic there. At this time I don't have any photos but hopefully Heather will be able to work that out. Her AWESOME supervisor is from Iowa and the very AWESOME Katie O. is from Iowa. Shout out Katie O!

Tera SHOWED ME her picture taken from the top of the arch!

Heather didn't make it to the top of the arch. With the car running, her and her crazy friends just ran up and touched it. I hope your professor isn't reading this Ms. Heather, or you are in trouble!

Tera confirmed that Anheuser Busch does serve beer at the end of the tour and it's the freshest, best beer you'll ever drink. And she also gave us a great tip on where to eat ice cream/custard- Ted Drewes.

We had a lot of great comments about Ohio. Too many for me to repost them all here. Thanks Tera, Treye, Katie K and Heather. We did learn that Cincinnati likes to claim parts of Kentucky though. I think that should make Kentucky feel good. I wonder will Kentucky claim parts of Ohio? Tera mentioned Ceader Point and when I came home tonight and turned on the tv there was something on about Ceader Point! Hmm... Tera also sent me a picture of a sea turtle at the Newport Aquarium. I think his name is Tommy. And, she sent me a picture of Peacock from a zoo but I'm not sure which one. I think the Peacock's name is Perry and he's all fluffed up like that because he's trying to steal Tera from Treye. I think he's out of luck. Perry, not Treye.

And sadly, none of us have been to Vermont but we HAVE to go.

Not from any of the states that we've talked about to date? Stay Tuned! Next week is Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana and Virginia. And your state will be coming up soon! Has your state already passed and you didn't play? Don't give up! A make up day will reveal itself!

If you build it...

they will come. Name that movie filmed in Dyersville, Iowa released in 1989.

Currently, residents in parts of Iowa have been evacuated from their homes due to severe flooding. As of yesterday morning, they were not allowed to return home because of dangerous gas leaks. Donate now to American Red Cross to help those affected by the floods.

Iowa is known as the Hawkeye state and if I remember this correctly, Iowa is the top producer of corn. And, being the smarty pants that they are they produced the first tractor to help harvest their crops and now have the largest tractor manufacturing plant in the country.

On our tour today we're going to stop in Des Moines, the capital and largest city in Iowa. Places we can go are the Blank Park Zoo to see the animals, to Salisbury House to take a step back in time, or the Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino to do some gambling!

But the number one place that I have to go when in Iowa is Sticks. Sticks designs what I would call whimsical furniture and accessories that are so completely fun and inspiring. It's a group of artist in Des Moines that use the woods found on their riverbanks in Iowa to create these great pieces of art. The piece they have on their main page fits quite well in what we are doing at Taste of USA. What do you think?

Do you remember the book or movie Bridges of Madison County? It was based on Madison County, Iowa and you can discover 6 of the original 19 bridges yourself.

In Mason City, we're going to stop by the Stockman House to see Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural design up close.

Famous people born in Iowa: John Wayne, Ashton Kutcher, Johnny Carson, and Herbert Hoover.

Stopping in Sioux City, we can go to ArtSplash, an annual arts festival. Or, maybe Cassie and Wendy can put on their running shoes and run in the Siouxland Lewis & Clark Marathon. I will cheer y'all on! If you can visit on July 5th, you can make it to the Saturday in the Park annual music festival.

Fun facts for Iowa are the state flower is the Wild Rose, the state bird is the Eastern Goldfinch and the state bird is the Oak tree.

All Iowan's report to the Corn deck on Friday, June 20th to tell us what makes Iowa the Taste of USA!