I love the nostalgia of European hertiage

So I began the journey last week. While at home for a while, mostly just laying around and harassing my youngest sister into hanging out with me, I took Kaitlyn with me one day to the glorious cities of Orange City and LeMars.

Orange City

I like Orange City. Actually, I like any city that has a very specific ethnic heritage. I feel like they're little parts of the "old country" cut out and transported to America for me to enjoy. And while Orange City was founded well over 100 years ago and I've never been to Holland to accurately compare the two, I still like to think they're basically replicas of one another. Minus the dikes. I know they're not, and you know they're not, but this does not stop Orange City from trying it's hardest to be a remake of Holland.

The town is actually adorable. It's clean, organized, and every single store front-even Radio Shack-is made to look like something whimsical from Holland. It's fantastic. They have a welcome center in the shape of a windmill. That's dedication. Orange City also has a a town square, complete with miniature replicas of different windmill types, all named for the the craftsman of said windmills and his family members. Adorable.

Kaitlyn and I walked around and read about each windmill then went across the street to a dutch bakery. Dutch people know how to bake. I got some almond pastry thing sold to me by a disgruntled teenager and Kaitlyn got an apple pastry. Both were delicious. We also went to an old wooden shoe factory and learned all about how wooden shoes are made. I'm not completely sure if the old factory was really an old factory or not, but I did learn that to make a shoe they start with a solid block of wood, and really that was enough for me to be satisfied with the experience.

After driving around and seeing more disgruntled teenagers prepare the grounds around town for the annual tulip festival (Orange City's lifeblood, aside from Diamond Vogel paint and eccentric souvenir shop owners), Kaitlyn and I continued on our way to LeMars.

LeMars

Fact: Iowa is home to the Ice Cream Capital of the World. That capital is LeMars. I like LeMars. It's an adorable town, the kind of place where kids can ride their bikes everywhere, yet it's big enough that there's more than one option of where to buy your groceries. Growing up I went to LeMars a lot, partly because my Catholic school played their Catholic school is sports and partly because I have relatives up there. As I grew older, I went for the ice cream.

I love ice cream. It's my favorite food. I know ice cream sounds like the type of favorite food a second grader would list, but it's true, it's my favorite food. I just like it a lot. I even eat ice cream for breakfast every year on my birthday and I used to work for the company that makes the plastic containers for Blue Bunny ice cream. So when visiting LeMars with Kaitlyn, ice cream was naturally part of the equation.

LeMars and Wells Blue Bunny have strategically played up their ice cream history by building an ice cream parlor and visitors center celebrating my favorite food. And I have to say, the parlor is fantastic. It's clean, and well decorated, and really a fun place to visit, no matter how far away you live. The woman in the gift shop told me that on weekends the place is packed the entire day with people from all over the country. While Kaitlyn and I were there we saw people from Pennsylvania. For ice cream! Smart people. It's good ice cream. Kaitlyn and I enjoyed our treats, complete with sugar cookies in the shape of a bunny, and then went on our way.