Some good old Midwestern hospitality... and thunderstorms.

Once we finally made it through South Dakota, we headed into Minnesota and then north towards the Twin Cities and Wisconsin.

One of the better state signs of the trip if you ask me...

As we headed into the Twin Cities area we started noticing some ominous thunder clouds. I wasn't too worried until we started seeing lightning in the distance... And then some raindrops here and there... And then all the sudden it was a torrential downpour and there was lightning all over the place. Of course by this point I was driving. Just my luck! As if it wasn't terrifying enough, a HUGE lightning bolt came straight down on the highway about a mile or two ahead of us. In retrospect, it was really cool. But at the time it most definitely was not.

After a while the rain stopped and we headed into Wisconsin. The rest of the drive was cake after that and we rolled into Eau Claire around midnight local time. We stayed at my friend Nikki's house (from school in Seattle), who treated us to some good old Midwestern hospitality. Grilled chicken skewers, asparagus, and peaches were waiting for us when we got there! It was a very relaxing stay.

The next morning she showed us around the little city of Eau Claire. It was very cute. So cute, in fact, that they had music playing in the streets of the downtown area. It was very dramatic classical music. I felt like I was in the middle of an emotional ballet.

We also walked down near the waterfront where there was the most delicious looking farmers market going on. Dare I say it looked even more delicious than the farmers market in Seattle?

A cool bridge in Eau Claire.

Thanks again Nikki! We had a great little stay. I only wish we could have hung out longer!

Until next time....