Iowa Girl on the Go

What could be more “summer” or more “Iowa” than a day at Arnolds Park and Lake Okoboji?

Arnolds Park is an amusement park in the town of the same name, adjacent to the lakes in northwest Iowa. It’s a little more than 3 hours from Ames (west on Hwy. 30 and north on Hwy. 71).  The amusement park, which features a roller coaster, log ride, Ferris wheel, and other carnival-type rides and games, was built in 1889.

I drove a long way to see this place and, in a way, I was disappointed. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Maybe I’m spoiled by Disney World and Coney Island, but I thought there would be, well, more atmosphere at this place. The website sure makes it look like fun – like a nostalgic trip back to the 1950s. For one thing, it surprised me that you can just park (for free) and walk into this place without paying a dime (not that I’m complaining). It’s just sort of there, next to the miniature golf course and the lakeshore.

I was there when it opened this morning (11 a.m.) and stood in a line to buy a ticket to ride the roller coaster (its unfortunate official name is the Northwest Bank Legend Roller Coaster). The park has way too many ticket choices (single day passes, ankle bands for toddlers, meal deals, family fun packs, punch cards) and I stood behind ONE family for like 20 minutes while the way-too-helpful woman in the ticket booth helped them choose their fun for the day. (Meanwhile, the other line was lapping mine.) Finally it was my turn and she sold me seven $1 tickets so I could ride the coaster.

Inside, the park was pretty dead when I first walked in. Lots of rides had no riders on them yet, and the teenage boys running the rides looked bored out of their minds. I figured I should ride the “Legend” (built in 1927 and billed as the 13^th oldest wooden roller coaster in the U.S.) before things started getting busy.

I was first in line for the, I think, third ride of the day – so I got the front car. Like the Cyclone at Coney Island (coincidentally built the same year), this roller coaster is a lot more fun than it looks. I thoroughly enjoyed it – but not enough to spend another $7.

After the ride, I walked around and tried to find something else fun to do at the park but, besides taking pictures, I found nothing.

I’d seen a nutty bar stand across from the ticket booth, so I went there for the famous local treat. It did not disappoint.

Okojobi looks like a fun area in the summer. It’s chock-full of summer tourists, many of whom I assume own or rent lakefront property. There’s plenty to do, with sand beaches, boat rentals, jet skis, scuba diving, glass-bottom boat excursions, and various extreme water sports. I saw plenty of good things to eat and drink. It seems like a good family-vacation spot.

Just south of the Iowa Great Lakes is the town of Spencer. I was interested in this town as I drove through, because I (like most other Iowans) know about Dewey, the famous library cat who lived in Spencer.

When I read the book about Dewey, (Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron) I envisioned Spencer as a small, very agricultural, very depressed little town. To read the book, it seemed like the town was barely breathing after a series of unfortunate incidents, including fires and the farm crisis of the 1980s. Well, I found Spencer lovely and delightful and…rich-looking. So surprising! There are flower-lined boulevards, a charming downtown, a gorgeous courthouse, and beautiful historic homes.

I hoped to visit the library, but it’s closed on Sundays. I took a picture of the outside and paid a silent tribute to Dewey, a kitty I would have liked to have known.

There’s a really cool museum in upstate New York with a really bland name — the Museum at Bethel Woods. I would definitely have called it the Woodstock Museum, because that’s basically what it is: a history and reflection of the Woodstock festival and the U.S. during the decade of the sixties.

The museum is part of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a $100 million outdoor performing arts center located 90 minutes from New York City at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY. To tell the truth, it’s in the middle of nowhere. But it’s such a thrill to drive on the same road that all those concert-goers drove on back in 1969…and got stuck in traffic and abandoned their cars. To see the acreage where that historic event took place is pretty cool.

Inside the museum, you can settle into a bean-bag chair and watch a surround-video multimedia presentation that takes you right into the crowd and makes you feel as if you actually attended Woodstock (and then struggle to get out of said bean-bag chair, because you’re not a teenager anymore). There’s a theatre where you can watch a 20-minute film featuring performers including Joe Cocker, Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and all the rest. You can watch a video inside a hippie-fied VW bus. And there are lots more photos and videos and artifacts about the 1960s, the planning of the Woodstock festival, the weather during the festival, all the people who chipped in and fed 400,000 fans, the journey to Woodstock, and lots more.

In the photo: My daughter Lauren fits right in with her tie-dye skirt!

How do I love New York? Let me count the ways. I love the sea of yellow cabs, the smell of diesel, the sidewalks so crowded you can’t possibly walk. I love that you can hop on a subway train and pop back up out of the ground in 10 minutes in a whole new place. I love Little Italy and Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Statue of Liberty.

Most of all, I love Broadway. I love that pre-theatre buzz when everyone in Times Square is rushing to a show. I love coming out of the theatre three hours later and it’s still artificially light and the streets are packed and everyone is clutching a Playbill and people are singing and dancing from whatever show they just saw. I love the Broadway high that lasts for days.

My family and I go to New York every chance we get. My daughters’ 16^th birthdays? Took ‘em to New York. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Gotta see it in New York. Thirtieth anniversary? Darn good excuse to go to New York.

I think I’ve been to New York 16 times. It seems like more. I’ve seen almost 45 shows. I shudder to think how much money I’ve spent on theatre tickets. Especially now, when “premium” seats go for $250 and up.

We flew into Laguardia last Friday and immediately headed for Carnegie Deli, home of kosher sandwiches bigger than your head and $10 slices of cheesecake. I adore this place. The wait staff is rude as hell, and you sit at tables with strangers. All part of the appeal. I’ve never eaten anywhere else where the first thing they do is bring you bowls of pickles.

CONEY ISLAND

We did something on this trip we had never done – and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: We went to Coney Island. How fun is that?

I’ve always thought of Coney Island as being just an amusement park, but it’s a beach and a neighborhood, too. In fact, we went on Saturday and the amusement park paled in comparison to the crowd on the beach. New Yorkers take their kids and their coolers and their beach balls on the N train from Manhattan to the end of the line all the way out in Brooklyn. (Note to anyone who wants to visit: It takes about 50 minutes from 49th Street.)

Most important to me was riding the Cyclone, an old wooden roller coaster built in 1927. The Cyclone and Nathan’s original hotdog stand are THE Coney Island icons. I knew I wanted to ride the coaster, but I had no idea how much fun it would be. Katie and I squeezed into one car (clearly made for people who were smaller in 1927) and took the plunge…over and over. It’s a hell of a roller coaster! Dave and Lauren opted for the Wonder Wheel (even older!), a Ferris wheel that overlooks the whole area.

Food is also a highlight in Coney Island. It reminds me a lot of the Iowa State Fair. My stomach was queasy after the train ride and the Cyclone, so I opted for an Italian ice. But you can get hotdogs, Philly cheese steaks, cotton candy…you name it.

Dave and I walked out on to the fishing pier and photographed the swimmers while Katie and Lauren went to a flea market next to the subway station. We all got sunburned. It was awesome.

THE SHOWS

I really wanted tickets to “Book of Mormon,” but I refused to pay $400 for a seat, which is what those tickets are going for right now. It’s such a popular show I figure it’ll still be there next time I go, and the tickets will be affordable. Or, it’ll tour and I can catch it in Chicago or somewhere.

So instead, we got rock-star seating for “Catch Me if You Can” and had a fantastic time. I can be cranky when I don’t like a show (just ask my family)…and we had to schlep 10 blocks to the theatre in the pouring rain, so it was a good thing this musical was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I won’t bore you with a review, but the two stars (Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale, Jr. – the Leonardo DiCaprio movie role — and Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanratty – the Tom Hanks role) were nothing short of amazing. When Butz did his Tony Award-winning “Don’t Break the Rules” number – a James Cagney-esque song and dance — I knew I was in the presence of a true Broadway legend. It gave me chills. I could NOT stop smiling.

Next night (with fewer blocks to the theatre and no rain) we saw the infamous “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” because we figured it would NEVER tour (way too dangerous) and would be a show people would be talking about for years. Not in a good way, but still. I have to say I really liked the first act. The stagecraft was gorgeous and innovative – as you’d expect from fired-director Julie Taymor.  I loved the costumes and choreography. It was a real eye-popper. The music (by U2’s Bono and The Edge) was great.

Unfortunately, there was a second act. Oh my gosh. What happened to the second act? Someone dropped the ball. The show, whose story was admittedly weak even in the first act, took a nose dive and offered neither compelling characters nor interesting special effects, but plenty of fakey chase scenes and stupid villains. It’s a real bummer when the MOST INTERESTING part of the show is when the Spider-Man character and the Green Goblin character got tangled up (or something) when they were soaring very close to our seats…well, whatever happened, they stopped the show and everyone cheered while the stage hands came out and rescued the characters from their high-wire snafu. I mean, what’s “Spider-Man” without a technical glitch?

THE REST

The girls had never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, so we did that. Katie had never been to Little Italy, nor to the knock-off-purses-and-jewelry paradise that is Canal Street, so we did both. We got hot and tired and cranky, which always happens when my family travels together. We ate Ray’s Pizza. I went to FAO Schwarz. Dave and I ate breakfast at Zabar’s on the Upper West Side like real New Yorkers (they have the best rye bread on the planet). We shopped at Macy’s, ate bagels, bought black-and-white cookies, and had a crazy taxi driver. Why not? It’s New York.

There’s an endless array of activities this holiday weekend. I decided to stay close to home and go to the Fourth of July parade in Ames this morning. I’m pretty sure every man, woman, and child in Ames was there. The closest available parking place was on 11th Street.

My daughter Katie and her dog Charley accompanied me to the parade. We definitely should have worn sunscreen and brought bottled water. We were not prepared. Charley was very excited, since this was her first parade. She loved it when all the little kids came up and played with her. Then the parade started and all the kids went to the curb to be ready for Tootsie Rolls to be thrown. So Charley decided to take a nap under a parked car.

It was a nice parade, but I’m baffled by some of the entries. A snowplow? Why?

I liked the kids and the bands the best. And, of course, Cy.

My husband bought me tickets to the Jethro Tull concert in Minneapolis last weekend. Lest you think this was one of those “I’ll buy her tickets and then I’ll get to go” kind of gifts, I should tell you that he really does not like this band. Although we grew up in the same era, when we met in college he was into Billy Joel and I was into Pink Floyd. And Led Zeppelin…and Jethro Tull.

The band toured a few years ago and actually performed in Des Moines, but I didn’t go. I didn’t want to see this band — whom I’d loved so much when I was 17 and whom I’d seen twice in concert in Kansas City – limping along, a shadow of its former self (at the way-too-civilized Civic Center). I preferred to remember the rollicking, long-haired showmen I’d seen from the field of Arrowhead Stadium with thousands of dope-smoking teenagers.

Well, then I read the review of that concert and it turned out the band was still the real thing. I was sorry I missed it. So when the 40^th (FORTIETH!!) Anniversary Tour of the groundbreaking album “Aqualung” brought the lads to the Twin Cities, well, that was close enough for a road trip to the past.

I think you have to be of a certain mindset to enjoy a band whose songs tell the stories of leering old men, uniformed schoolgirls, and the rejection of your parents’ religion. At least, those are my favorite ones. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the “Aqualung” album opened my 12-year-old eyes and dragged me headlong into puberty and a lifetime of questioning the “establishment.”  Maybe that’s why I’m so fond of it.

Many of the concert-goers Saturday night were probably going through the same thing I was in 1971 when “Aqualung” was released. Some of the people in the audience weren’t even born yet when the album came out – not by a long shot. “Aqualung” wasn’t Jethro Tull’s first album or its last, but it was certainly its best.

One good thing about attending a performance by a group of men well into their 60s is that they value starting and ending at a decent hour. I’m sure, like me, their days of reveling into the wee hours of the morning are over. Our tickets said 8 p.m. and, by crackie, Ian Anderson walked onto center stage at 8:05. No fanfare, no opening act. And, they took a 15-minute break halfway through the show, presumably to pee.

If you’re a Jethro Tull fanatic I suppose you would have already known that frontman Anderson’s voice gave out years ago. I did not know this and, honestly, I don’t really care. It’s true that during the concert Saturday night he struggled to hit the notes of songs he’s obviously sung a million times. But I figure if I want to hear “Cross-Eyed Mary” sung perfectly, I can pop in the CD and crank up the stereo in my living room. On Saturday night, Anderson’s wrecked voice was that of an old rock star who’s lived a rock star’s existence. But guess what? He can still play a mean flute. Maybe better than ever. The band played all of my favorites from “Aqualung” – and some from their lesser works – and finished the second set with a rousing rendition of the title track. As we all stood and screamed for more, I turned to Dave and shouted, “I’m not leaving until I hear ‘Locomotive Breath!’” – the band’s greatest anthem of all time.

And then…the group returned to the stage and played “Locomotive Breath.”

It was a perfect night.

It’s been way too long since I’ve been to the Des Moines Arts Festival. I hate to even admit it, but the last time I attended, the festival was still on the bridges on the east side of downtown.

Now it’s laid out all over the west end of downtown — in Western Gateway Park, which is also home to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, a fitting setting for an arts festival.

Dave and I arrived at about 6 o’clock tonight and the festivities were already in full swing: music on two stages, the beer tents buzzing, kids with free balloons. And, of course, art. I think in a way it’s good that I’ve missed a few years of the event, because the art seemed really fresh to me this year. There was some repetition by artists, of course, but there was a lot of variety and an abundance of whimsical design.

We enjoyed the emerging artists a lot. These are 22 young Iowa artists (currently in college or recently graduated) including several from Iowa State. Our favorite was Christian Vandehaar of Drake University, however. You can view his paintings of Iowa farmers at work at www.farmboystudio.com.

Between drooling over paintings I can’t afford and jewelry I can’t afford and the most amazing scissor-cut “drawings” I ever saw (and can’t afford), plus photography I wish I could do myself, I found some yummy food and good music at the arts festival. First, the food: I ordered a veggie pita at the Greek Flame Foods booth, which was technically not on the menu, but the cook layered a warm piece of pita with rice, olives, tomatoes, peppers, feta cheese, yogurt sauce, and lettuce. It dripped down my chin and off my elbows and was totally delicious.

The best music we found was Scars on 45 performing on the Aviva Main Stage. This band was fresh from Leeds, London, on a multi-city tour of the U.S. Des Moines was its first stop. They had adorable accents and were really fun to listen to. Unfortunately, we didn’t think to bring chairs, so we stood and listened to them for awhile and then went back to browsing.

It seems to me, especially this summer, that Des Moines is a great city to support these kind of events. The Arts Festival has incredible corporate sponsorship. Even the downtown parking garages offered free parking — sponsored by various companies. It’s a just fun to be in central Iowa this summer.

There is no lack of free entertainment in Des Moines during the summer. Especially on the weekends, you can hear live music all over the city.

So last night, since I figured half of the population would be attending Winefest, we decided to hit up a few of these events with some friends from Des Moines. We started at Gray’s Lake Park for Jasper Winery’s UnWINEd event featuring blues group The Soul Searchers. Gray’s Lake is a lovely place to begin your weekend, and Jasper Winery provided samples (and glasses and full bottles) of their wine as well as Madhouse beer. The audience was mostly young professionals and parents with little kids.

Moving on, we went to Rendezvous on Riverview featuring Brother Trucker. We would never have found this north-side event (it isn’t even listed in Datebook) but it’s one of our friends’ favorite places to hear live music in the summer. It’s a laid-back vibe with lots of little kids playing on the lawn in front of the stage. The organizers sell food and beverages in tents, along with T-shirts and other stuff. We ate homemade cream-cheese sandwiches and tried not to get hit with balls and Frisbees.

Our last stop was to Pappajohn Sculpture Park in downtown Des Moines for the New Belgium brewery’s Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour. Des Moines was the fifth stop on the tour, which includes 18 cities this summer. Isn’t it cool that they chose Des Moines? The event featured original short films, submitted by fans, shown on a huge outdoor screen. I expected all the films to be about beer or bicycles, but most were not. In fact, I’m not sure what some of them were about at all. My favorite one was about a group of guys who found an old picnic table and rigged it up to a couple of bicycles and drove it all over town. It was hilarious.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a New Belgium event without beer. The brewery offered their usual brews along with some I’d never heard of, like Drew’s Brew and PIPA. It was fun to be part of such an unusual event. New Belgium started out small, with an eclectic niche and high-quality products, and they’ve grown to become a mainstream brewery without ever giving up their quirky personality. I’ve visited the brewery in Ft. Collins twice now, and it’s a fun tour that has developed a cult following. If you go in the summer, be sure to get a reservation well in advance.

2015 update: The Lincoln Cafe is no longer open in Mt. Vernon.

I’ve wanted to go back to Mt. Vernon ever since I read W.E. Moranville’s Datebook Diner review of the Lincoln Café in the Des Moines Register last August in which she raves: “Can a restaurant be perfect? The Lincoln Café comes the closest to such a thing as I have ever seen.”

Pair that glowing review with my memory of a charming college town filled with brightly painted historic homes, and you’ve got yourself a road trip.

Mt. Vernon is a cultural and historic gem just east of Cedar Rapids. The downtown area features art studios, antiques shops, an organic food store, bars, and restaurants. The town offers three registered national historic districts: the downtown business area, a neighborhood of Victorian homes, and the entire campus of Cornell College.

This is a thriving community that entices visitors with frequent festivals and events. Just in the past few weeks, Mt. Vernon hosted a “Chalk the Walk” festival and a chocolate stroll. Next up is the annual 4^th of July Antiques Extravaganza featuring the Lincoln Highway Antiques Show and nine local antiques shops. It seems like there’s something happening all the time. Take a look at the community events calendar.

I can vouch for two of the antiques shops, having visited there myself yesterday. Alice’s Wonderland offered some great vintage finds as well as unique jewelry-making and scrapbooking supplies – not to mention several friendly cats. I bought some art-reproduction paper for a craft project yet to be determined.

Down the street is Polly Ann’s Antiques – a shop filled with one adorable room after another. I could have spent hours in Polly Ann’s. I especially loved the frilly, Victorian-styled bedrooms, the bright vintage kitchen, and the many other themed rooms filled with fun one-of-a-kind finds. I bought a small black-and-white tin for my bathroom.

Across the street from Polly Ann’s is a large community building that houses Schoolhouse Antiques, Room 222, and Enchanted Treasures. Also in the downtown area are Fuel, Wolf’s Antiques, and First Brick Antiques. I did not visit any of these shops, sensing that I might be overwhelmed, and I didn’t want to spend my entire day in antiques stores.

Of course, I had to eat lunch at the Lincoln Café and see what all the fuss was about. The restaurant boasts “honest food” with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. When I got there at about 1 p.m. every table was full. I nabbed the lone stool at the counter and ordered a salad made with pears, walnuts, and Maytag blue cheese tossed with fresh greens and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The Datebook Diner was right: It could not have been more perfect. The walnuts were toasted to perfection, and each ingredient came in just the right amount. Everything tasted so fresh…when I was finished, I wanted to lick the plate.

I also ordered dessert, described by the waitress as “sea-salt pecan brownies with buttermilk ice cream, chocolate sauce, and toasted macadamia nuts.” Who could resist such a thing? The fudgy brownies were cut into tiny bite-sized pieces and covered with homemade ice cream. I couldn’t finish it all.

After lunch, I definitely needed to walk, so I spent some time on the campus of Cornell College. Set on a wooded, 129-acre hilltop, it’s a lovely place to stroll. Cornell was the first college campus to be listed entirely on the National Register of Historic Places. Its student population is small – about 1200 – and the college is known for its “one course at a time” approach. The school was founded in 1853, and many of the buildings are from that era.

The residential neighborhoods surrounding the campus and downtown area are as I remembered: Many brightly painted Victorians and other well-loved historic homes with large trees and flower gardens. I took pictures of many of them, half expecting someone to run out to see what the heck I was doing. But nobody bothered me. Residents went about their business, mowing their grass and taking their children to little league games.

There’s more to see in Mt. Vernon and neighboring Lisbon, including a museum in each town, parks, art galleries, and specialty shops, but I decided I needed to head home.

Just west of Mt. Vernon is Palisades-Kepler State Park, which offers a stone lodge built in the 1930s, camping, cabins, trails, fishing, and picnic areas. I drove through the park and walked along the roadway for just a bit; I didn’t have proper footwear (nor insect repellant, nor enough time) to go on a real hike in the woods.

And right next to the park entrance, I spotted a small barn painted with a reproduction of American Gothic (and other scenes). It was painted by artist Mark Benesh in 2008. It’s really quite impressive, and a nice way to launch the scenic (if you don’t mind the road construction on Hwy. 30) two-hour drive back to Ames.

The drive to Kalona makes me laugh.

It starts out directly enough: Take I-35 to I-80 and head east. Just before you get to Iowa City, you take the 230 exit and head south onto a road called Black Hawk, then turn onto Black Diamond Ave. Then you turn on the, um, Orval Yoder Turnpike. That’s when I start to giggle. Turnpike? Really? When I think of a turnpike, I think of New Jersey. And believe me, this ain’t New Jersey.

This tiny, rural “turnpike” takes you to Frytown, at which point you connect with Hwy. 1 and head into Kalona.

Washington County in general, and Kalona in particular, are well worth exploring. The county boasts a fine collection of barn quilts, and the area is home to a large population of Amish and Mennonites. Their influence can be seen along the country roads, in the countryside businesses, and even in town.

When I arrived in Kalona early Saturday afternoon, my first order of business was to find a place to eat lunch. I found it at Kalona Bakery, a combination bakery/restaurant in downtown Kalona. The menu is small – mostly sandwiches and pre-packaged salads – but I ate my fill for a mere $5.85, including a piece of pie.

After lunch, I strolled through two of the town’s many antiques shops: the Pink Begonia and English River Antiques – both charming, clean, and filled with affordable, good-quality antiques. I also walked through the Kalona General Store, which has a little bit of everything, and the Village Shoppe – a great store for quilters.

I hesitated to spend too much time shopping downtown, because I wanted to get to the Kalona Historical Village, and it closed at 4 o’clock. For an entry fee of $7, you can tour the well-preserved historical village as well as the Quilt and Textile Museum, which is located in the Kalona Historical Village Welcome Center. The fee gets you a guided tour of the village, and I was able to join a tour already in progress.

The buildings in the historical village all originated in this area of Iowa, but all have been moved their present location, starting with the relocation of the Rock Island Depot in 1969. Now, visitors can tour not just the depot but the Grout Church, built in 1867; the Victorian Wahl House, built in 1892; Richmond Post Office; Straw College, a one-room school house; a buggy barn; log house; loom house; Amish Country Store, and “grandpa house.”

The grandpa house was especially interesting: It was built in 1890 to provide retirement living for the Old Order Amish when the younger generation took over management of the farm.

Our tour guide took us through the church, the house and its wash house, and through the Wahl Museum, which tells the story of life in early Kalona. The smaller buildings can be visited on your own. Each has a recorded description; you push a button and a mannequin “speaks.” I pushed the button in the first building, and the voice was way too creepy…so I just looked quietly around the rest of the buildings.

Back inside the visitor center (where the air conditioning felt wonderful after being outside in 90-plus-degree heat and humidity), I toured the two rooms of the quilt museum. One room features the “English” quilts – that is, quilts made by non-Amish – and the other room features the Amish quilts. Both rooms feature a large collection of spool cabinets.

By this time, the historical center was closing for the day, so I headed out of town. But first, two more stops: Stringtown Grocery and the Kalona Cheese Factory.

I had never heard of Stringtown Grocery, but when I saw a sign on the highway, I thought the name sounded intriguing. The store is run by Mennonites (or perhaps Amish — I find it hard to make the distinction when simply looking at how the individuals are dressed) and offers fresh baked goods, fresh produce, and an incredible array of bulk groceries and hard-to-find items. Some of the people shopping there appeared to be purchasing enough flour and oats to last through a coming apocalypse. (Perhaps they bake for a living?) It was indeed an eclectic mix of shoppers. One Amish man parked his horse-drawn carriage beside the store and loaded up on fresh vegetables and dairy items. A little girl in front of me was buying penny candy.

I was amazed at the variety of goods being offered in the tiny store: noodles and vegetable seeds and real vanilla extract; nuts and grains and baking supplies and dried fruits packaged into bags and plastic containers with hand-written labels; local cheese and butter; and spices galore – all priced very reasonably. I bought a cold drink, some smoked farmers cheese, and a bag of pistachios.

My next stop was the cheese factory on the outskirts of town. There you can watch cheese being made and buy local and assorted cheeses in a small shop. I purchased a chunk of locally produced gouda.

I saw a number of horse-drawn carriages during my visit to Kalona. Many of the local farms offer goods for sale. I saw signs for baked goods, fresh eggs, and garden supplies. You could easily spend the weekend just driving through the countryside. It’s a bit like stepping back in time — in a good way.

I am not the least bit ashamed to admit it: I am a Gleek.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, “Gleek” is the name given to fans of Fox’s hit TV series “Glee.” The show is about a high school show choir and its members, who constantly struggle to fit in. Characters in the show wrestle with popularity, sexual identity, teen pregnancy, alcohol, death, single-parent families, and many other “heavy” topics. In just two years, the show has been nominated for 19 Emmys and 11 Golden Globe awards.

But let’s be honest: It’s really about the music. With more than 16 million song downloads, the Glee gang has the distinction of holding the record for most titles on the Billboard Hot 100. They recently surpassed Elvis.

“Glee” is like a tiny little Broadway musical coming into your home every Tuesday night. I was really excited about the show even before Fox aired the pilot two years ago, because it stars Lea Michele, whom I’d seen not once but twice on Broadway (in “Spring Awakening”) and Matthew Morrison, whom I’d also seen on Broadway (in “Hairspray.”)

In the past two seasons, I’ve grown to love the other regular characters just as much as Rachel (Michele) and Mr. Schuester (Morrison). And other stars I’ve seen in their Broadway roles keep popping up as guest stars on Glee: Idina Menzel (“Wicked”), Kristen Chenowith (“Wicked”), Jonathan Groff (“Spring Awakening.”) It’s an absolute love-fest for those of us who can’t get enough of Broadway.

Last summer, the cast toured the country with a “Glee Live” show. This summer, it’s an even bigger tour. And when they announced that one of their 2011 dates included Minneapolis…well, my whole family Gleeked out.

My husband and two daughters and I don’t agree on very much. But we all love New York, Broadway shows, and Glee. We own every Glee CD (which seem to come out about every other week) and DVD. We’ve watched the episodes over and over. We talk about the cast like we actually know them. It’s probably a little bit strange.

We nabbed tickets not just the day they went on sale but the MINUTE they went on sale. The June 1 show was booked into the gigantic Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, so we knew we’d be seeing the show with about 50,000 of our closest friends.

So…the show was yesterday, and we were not disappointed. We sang, we danced, we screamed like we were at a freaking Beatles concert. We didn’t have great seats because the place is HUGE, but it was just so cool to be able to hear these wonderful young singers (and see them dance) in person.

Highlights for me (and, really, if you’re not a fan of the show, you should stop reading right now, because you will just get bored): Kurt and “the girls” dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” Artie getting up out of his wheelchair to do “The Safety Dance,” Brittany dancing to Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” (and Brittany dancing, in general), the whole ensemble doing Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” while wearing those awesome character-revealing black and white T-shirts, and Rachel singing Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

I may have cried just a little bit when Kurt sang his sorrowful rendition of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” from the episode where his father almost died. Oh, and not only Blaine but ALL of the Warblers were there, performing “Teenage Dream,” “Raise Your Glass,” and “Silly Love Songs.” And did I mention the stirring performance of My Chemical Romance’s anthem-like “Sing”?

I could go on but, well, the whole concert was just fantastic. As my daughter, Katie, said, as she was jumping up and down next to me, “This is the most fun I ever had!”