First day of voting.... where do you want to go?

Voting will be from 7:00 am to 6:00 am (CST) the next day. Unless I oversleep. Or forget. Then it will be later.

So, where do you want to go?
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Freedom: Pennsylvania vs. Nebraska
How will reigning champ do against the cowboys of Nebraska? Last year we visited a rainy Philadelphia. If Pennsylvania was to win again would we try Pittsburgh? Or, could we be having our meeting collecting wildflowers in an open field of Nebraska while hunting windmills?
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Independence: Kentucky vs. Maine
We have a lot of readers in Kentucky while I think Maine has very few to none. Will we hit the home state of Heather and Katie or will be dipping into Maine's lobster feast?
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Liberty: Texas vs. Delaware
The big Lone Star State battles Delaware. Heck, we could probably visit a bunch of state if Delaware wins. If Texas wins we could host in here in our hometown of the DFW metroplex or we could head south to Austin and visit Chaotic. Don't forget about Woodside Farm Creamery that we learned about last year... it's in Delaware and you know how Claudia loves ice cream. I mean... who doesn't?
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Week 7 Contest day on Thursday

On Monday we went to Kentucky where Katie K. grew up. We're thinking that parts of northern Kentucky should just be annexed into Ohio since Ohio is claiming them as their own anyway.

On Tuesday we stopped in Washington, Oregon and Nebraska. Cassie P. lived in Oregon for a while and though she has a soft spot for Oregon, she wouldn't want to move back there.

On Wednesday we went to Connecticut and I have added Mystic, Connecticut to my vision board list as a place I would like to visit.

Today is Thursday, July 3rd and it's contest day! All residents from the above mentioned states report to your appointed decks and tell us what makes your state the Taste of USA!

I am taking July 4th off. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. I will see you on Monday when we visit Delaware. Tuesday we will be in Pennsylvania. Wednesday will be hitting Nevada. And, Thursday we have Louisiana, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Evergreens, Beavers & Cornhuskers

We have a lot of ground to cover today on the Taste of USA cruise starting in Washington. I'm just going to get us started... you chime in any time!

Welcome to the Evergreen State.

I would think that hiking Mt. Rainier is probably on some of the more adventurous types. But I will have to just view it from afar.

Ocean Shores might be more my pace with whale watching and horse back riding. This shark pictured below was caught out of its normal territory in 2007 off of Damon Point where they usually fly kites.

And there's no way we can leave Washington without stopping in Seattle... birthplace of Starbucks! One of the Top 10 Must See & Do things in Seattle is Pikes Place Market and that would be one of my favorites. We know Treye and Tera are headed to the Zoo. Check out there list. Where would you go?

Next stop, the Beaver State. Welcome to Oregon.

We bloggers can appreciate this... they blog at the Oregon State site. There are a lot of great tips on there.

As we recently celebrated all things 100 and then Claudia went even further to celebrate 101 Dalmatian cookies... Florence, Oregon just celebrated their 101st Annual Rhododendron Festival in May. Maybe we can make the 102nd!

One of my favorite childhood memories is of crabbing in Texas. I wonder what it's like to go crabbing in Oregon. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! It sounds like a great adventure.

Mt. Hood Territory is in the midst of celebrating festivals galore but when winter hits, pull out your ski gear and hit the slopes!

Last stop for the day, Nebraska. Welcome to the Cornhuskers State.

I was starting to type about how Chimney Rock was the geographical center of the US... does that sound familiar to anyone else? Yes? Well, because we talked about the geographical center already in Kansas! Chimney Rock was one of the many stops of my moms tour this summer with my aunts and uncles. Chimney Rock is a landmark on the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail and others. Can you imagine the maps and descriptions? Go past the Rock with a Chimney...

I am being so completely random in Nebraska but this picture of windmills caught my eye. I like the thought of windmills. They seem stoic and strong to me. They quietly do their work and in their own quiet way are completely beautiful. So, let's go to the Windmill Festival in Comstock! We must have missed 2008's because I can't find a date but let's keep an eye out for 2009's. Or we can just head over to the Musicfest they're having in July.

The last random place I'm going to take you today is Alliance and Carhenge because I think it's funny! Jim Reinders, with the help of family and friends, created a replica of Stonehenge using 38 cars to be a sort of memorial to Jim's dad, Herman. It's kind or wacky... I wish it was Wednesday. :)

Fun facts for all three states on today's tour are:

State Flowers: WA- Rhododendron, OR- Oregon Grape, NE- Goldenrod

State Birds: WA- American Goldfinch, OR & NE - Western Meadowlark

State Animal: WA- Orca, OR- Beaver, NE- Whitetail Deer

All Washingtonians report to the Rhododendron deck, all Oregonians report to the Beaver deck and all Cornhuskers report to the Windmill deck on THURSDAY, July 3rd to tell us what makes Washington, Oregon or Nebraska the Taste of USA!

(HC! I put the Whitetail Deer in Washington and the Orca in Nebraska! The Whitetail Deer might be okay in Washington but the Orca in Nebraska- no way!)