What Road Will We Take?

This week we will be continuing with Round 1. Thursday begins Round 2. Saturday's post updates you with our current winners.

Don't forget, you are voting for where YOU want to go! Please consider joining us for a fun-filled Saturday in September!

Freedom Bracket:
Missouri or Tennessee? What would the be? The St. Louis Arch against Nashville? Hmm...
VOTE ------------------->>>

Independence Bracket:
Montana (That's you MT Kelly) up against South Carolina. Uh oh. A bunch of us wanted to visit Charleston and Savannah... will this be our chance?
VOTE ------------------->>>

Liberty Bracket:
Wisconsin- oh the Cheese Heads! Football season will be in full swing... would Matt be willing to give up Struble Suds for a Saturday? And it's competitor is Oklahoma- the land of Margaret.
On your mark, get set, go vote!
VOTE ------------------->>> Polls will open when I get them posted in the morning... around 6:30am CST.

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!

Show Me!

Yes, we are in the Show Me State! Welcome to Missouri! Now this is bad. I don't know if I've been to Missouri or not. I've been to Kansas City but I don't know if I was in Missouri or Kansas or both! Hmm...

Someone will have to tell me... is Missouri flooding, too? It's just south of Iowa but I haven't seen them in the news.

Let's start with the big cities. Let's Explore St. Louis! I'm going to pick a couple of things to do from the 25 Things to Do in St. Louis list but you can explore them all. The first thing I think of when I hear St. Louis is that big arch thing... no, not McDonald's...it's official name is the Gateway Arch. There are trams that get us to a certain point up in the arch but if you want to go to the top you'll need to be able to climb at least 90 stairs and endure a lot of standing. Check. Our work out is done and now we can go eat. But before we go off to eat let's stop at the Anheuser-Busch Consumer Hospitality Center. Okay- wow. I've never been carded for a website! One Saturday a month, you can pose with the Clydesdale's for a photo. I'm not sure if they give autographs or not. It doesn't say whether or not you get to taste but SURELY! But, let's skip dinner and go straight to dessert at Crown Candy Kitchen. I think I'm going to have either the Swiss Chocolate Sundae or the Chocolate Marshmallow Sundae. And don't forget you can always go and cheer for the Cardinals, Rams or Blues.

Next stop, Branson! Get ready for entertainment. Magic shows, variety shows, concerts...you name it, it's available in Branson. They have something called 57 Heaven at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater and it looks like the car-mans dream. Well, if you like cars that were built in 1957, anyway. I think it looks it cool but it may just be all the shiny colors. Another popular show is the Dixie Stampede that describe as fun-filled and action-packed including buffalo, horses and stunt riders. All that with dinner and dessert. Our next attraction in Branson is Celebration City. We'll pretend we're kids again and go on every ride, play every game, take a break at the shows and watch the fireworks light up the night. I just hope I don't throw up.

I'm a little nervous about taking you to Kansas City because I want to be sure we stay in Missouri for the day... I hope I don't get confused and wander over to Kansas. They'll have their own day. We can cheer for the Royals but can we cheer for the Chiefs?

One of the first events I found in Kansas City was Scottish Highland Games. Men in kilts. Sounds interesting. There will be bagpipes, music, dancing and lots of competitions. Oh, but darn we already missed this years event. We'll have to mark it on the calendar for 2009. The Crown Center looks like another good spot to visit in Kansas City. It is located in the heart of downtown with free summer concerts, shopping and dining. Let's also check out the Beers & Brats Festival at Westport Plaza. Beer and sausage... I see a theme developing. And what about BBQ? They say it's the best. They all look delicious! And because they all looked so good, I picked Arthur Bryant's Barbecue over the others because I liked the cartoon below.

Some other fun and big things I found in Missouri is the worlds largest Goose and the world's largest pecan and Jim the Wonder Dog. And, the town of Chillicothe claims to be the home of sliced bread.

I know there's a lot more about caves, and places to camp, and at least 100 small towns and communities that I missed in Missouri so you let us know about them.

Fun facts for Missouri are: The Floral emblem is the Hawthorn Blossom, the state bird is the Bulebird, and the state aquatic animal is the Paddlefish.

All Missourians meet on the BBQ deck on Friday, June 20th to tell us what makes Missouri the Taste of USA!