Tulip Time

Several weekends ago I went on probably my strangest midwestern adventure yet - and it was a blast! Let me introduce you to the little town of Pella. It's a small Dutch town about an hour east of Des Moines. People warned me that it is a little creepy, and indeed I've never seen anything like it. We visited this charming city for the pinnacle of it's year - Tulip Time. It is basically a celebration of how the Dutch are the greatest people on earth and Pella is a haven from the outside world. At least that it how it appeared to me. 

When I say this is a Dutch town I mean that even the movie theater and the gas station have to meet standards of Dutch architecture. I've never been to Holland, but I have a feeling it would look a lot like this place. 

We sat through the parade that is apparently one of the highlights of Tulip Time. It was filled with half the town wearing traditional Dutch clothes. Even the band of Pella Christian School (which I hear is bigger than the public school) wore the traditional wooden shoes and echoed as they marched down the street. There was a girl who came over the loud speaker to explain each new part of the parade. Her speech was full of phrases like "the Dutch are known for their superior …. " or "… reminds us of back in the Netherlands." Let's just pause for a moment and remember that my parade upbringing was Mardi Gras - where you scream your head off and wave your hands in hope that your classmate's drunk dad will recognize you and your friends and dump a case of moon pies on you. This was a little different from the Calvin Scouts that rode buy and smiled and waved politely. (I am serious, they have Calvinist boy scouts in this place!)

One of the cutest parts was the tulip queens of yesteryear. I guess these ladies come back year after year to relive their time in the spotlight. 

Apparently this is the largest functioning Dutch windmill in the United States. Pretty cool. 

After the parade we walked around town looking at the tulips. This is my friend Joy. Shout out to her sweet friend from Florida, Rachel, who took the picture! I think Rachel pretty much summed up the reason Tulip Time weirded me out a little bit when she commented that she has never seen such a high celebration of white culture as they have in the midwest. I realized how true that is! Everyone is very much aware of and very proud of their European heritage. After thinking about it and talking about it with several people, I have a few theories about why it is this way. 

For starters - we aren't allowed to be proud of being white in the South. If we were to have a Dutch festival or a English festival or something where we explicitly praised the Fatherland we would be immediately labeled racists and it would not go over well. There is too much fresh pain in people of color - even today - for us to consider this. 

Also, as I talk to people who have grown up here I realize that distinctively ethnic communities are much more common. The midwest was settled so much later and in such tight knit (and geographically disconnected) communities that they were able to hold on to their European traditions and culture with a little more ease. My ancestors came across the pond when we were still a grouping of colonies, and married whoever was around - across lines of nationality. That being said - I'm a big part English, a part Scottish, a little part German, a little part French, a decent sized part Native American, some sprinkles of who knows what else, and 100% Southern. Indeed, our culture has taken on so many of its own unique characteristics that we celebrate those instead! 

Side note: I am still trying to figure out what those things are that define midwestern culture outside of a specific European one. So if you have any ideas let me know!

All that being said, living here has motivated me to learn a little bit more about my ancestry and to think a little bit more deeply about culture and heritage in general. I am thankful for these people who are proud of where they come from! And the tulips - let me tell you. They were gorgeous. 

Here's another view of the giant windmill as we walked to wait in a really long line for these delicious little buttery pancake bites that I'm not even going to try to spell. 

There were so many different variations of tulips. These were some of my favorites. 

Public Service Announcement: Let me just remind you that my motivation in starting this blog was to keep my family and friends down South updated on a few little parts of my life in the midwest! In other words, if you happen to be from here, please just see my thoughts for what they are - the friendly observations of someone who is most definitely not from here. I'm sure that you would think Dogwood Trail Maids are the weirdest things ever, and that's ok! That is part of the fun of this big, beautiful, and diverse country! 

Where the Wild Things Are

So I'm WAY behind on blogging, but we've gotten to do so many fun things these past few months that I can't wait to catch up. For starters, we couldn't come up with anything we wanted to give each other for Christmas. In college we would usually go on a special date as our "gift" to each other. So this year, we decided to do something similar and head down the road a few hours to Omaha, Nebraska and see the zoo. However, no one wants to go to the zoo with snow on the ground, so our Christmas present was a little delayed. It was worth the wait! This zoo has been ranked best in the country by several magazines or people, or whoever it is that gives out those arbitrary titles. Regardless, it won my stamp of approval, that's for sure.

 A scene from our very midwestern drive through western Iowa. 

 They have a huge desert dome that is pretty impressive. 

 There is also an indoor jungle that was incredible. It was definitely my favorite part. We almost skipped it because at this point we had walked who knows how many miles over the last four hours, but I'm glad we didn't. 

 Selfie on the jungle path right before I got pooped on by a bat. 

We ate at M's Pub in Old Market, which I highly recommend. The food was wonderful, the waitress was great, and the sitting on the patio was a perfect way to wrap up the night!

Well, I take that back. Ted and Wally's was the real best way to wrap up the night. This is homemade ice cream at it's finest. I don't even know how to describe it, you'll just have to go get some yourself! 

We are thankful to check Nebraska off the bucket list!