Iowa Ice Cream Trip Second Stop at Hudson's Hansen Dairy

I'm so excited to update you on my family's "Iowa Ice Cream Trip" during the month of June to celebrate National Dairy Month today, by sharing about our trip to Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy outside of Hudson last week.  It is fun to set out on a new ice cream adventure each week and we thought one of our ice cream destinations had to be Hansen's Dairy, so we could have a first-hand look at the process and story behind our ice cream.

Hansen's Farm has been located outside of Hudson, Iowa for around 150 years and currently the 6th generation owns and operates the farm, with the 7th generation growing up and living on the farm.  Twelve years ago when 5th generation owners and operators, Jay and Jeanne Hansen, saw that four of their children wanted to come back to the farm they knew they needed a way to add value to their family dairy farm, so the 6th generation that wanted to come back to the farm could, and that is how the on-farm creamery began.  In November of 2002 construction began on the creamery and in February of 2004 the creamery produced its first gallon of milk.

Blake and MP became good friends during our time at the farm
Here he is telling us about the dry cows
(a phase in the lactation cycle where the cows don't produce milk)

It was a lot of fun to go on a tour of Hansen's Dairy by 6th generation farmer, Blake Hansen.  Blake primarily works with the dairy production side of the farm.  His three brothers specialize in the creamery (milk processing and delivery) and crop production.  The farm currently has around 350 heifers and cows.  Most of their herd are Black and White Holsteins, with some Red and White Holsteins.  The cows are milked every day at 4am and 4pm.

One of the kids' favorite stops on the tour was at the calf huts, where calves live from the first day of their life to a few months old.  Calf huts are used to help reduce disease, stress and injury.  LP really enjoyed petting the calves.  One neat thing about Hansen's Dairy is that they give every calf a name that is associated with their family line.  In the photo, Skittles (whose Mom is Snickers) is licking LP's hand.

The kangaroos loved giving MP kisses

Another favorite stop was seeing the farm's Kangaroos and Wallabies.  Hansen's Dairy logo is a cartoon Wallaby (a miniature kangaroo) with a Dairy Calf in its pouch.  When Blake was in college he went on an international study abroad trip to Australia and he loved the wallabies and kangaroos, so when the creamery began, they incorporated the wallaby into the logo and Blake decided to purchase three wallabies as pets.  Today, one of the original wallabies is still at the farm, along with three kangaroos.

Our other favorite stop was the tour center, where they had a lot of fun kid and educational activities, as well as products for sell.  We had some ice cream at the center and brought home some milk, cheese curds and ice cream!  It was hard to choose what ice cream to eat after the tour, as well as what to bring home, since they have over 30 flavors!  What we love about their ice cream is that it is very rich and thick.  They also sell butter and ground beef.

You can buy Hansen's Dairy products (including their delicious ice cream) at many locations across the Northeast quadrant of Iowa, or if you are ever in the Waterloo area I recommend you going to their Moo Roo ice cream store or their Dairy Outlet store, or head out to the Dairy Farm outside of Hudson.  They have products available at their tour center.

Have you ever been to a Dairy Farm?  Check out all of their ice cream flavors - what would you like to try?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Be sure to check out our First Iowa Ice Cream Trip Stop and what other fun things we have planned on our Summer Bucket List.

Iowa Ice Cream Trip First Stop at Decorah to "The Whippy Dip"

One of our family's Summer Bucket List items is to go on an "Iowa Ice Cream Trip" during the month of June to celebrate National Dairy Month by visiting an "ice cream destination" weekly.  We figured our first stop had to be at one of our all-time favorite summer ice cream stands, The Whippy Dip in Decorah.  We made our annual pilgrimage last week and I'm excited to share about this nostalgic landmark today on my blog and on Travel Iowa's blog as part of a collaborative "Favorite Summer Flavors" post.

MP and LP sitting outside of
The Whippy Dip deciding what to order

"The Whippy Dip" is a seasonal walk-up stand that serves creamy and rich soft serve ice cream, along with a lunch and snack menu.  A neat side note is that "The Whippy Dip" sources its milk form a local dairy.  You wouldn't expect anything different in Iowa's dairy country!

Cookie Dough Tornado

"The Whippy Dip" keeps its ice cream simple by offering only vanilla and chocolate flavors and then letting you make your dish unique by providing many mix-ins.  I personally always go for a Cookie Dough Tornado with chocolate ice cream (think Dairy Queen's Blizzard - but better!).  They double layer the delicious chocolate soft serve with real cookie dough (not the cookie dough balls found at other ice cream places.  I'm talking about a scoopful of real cookie dough so you can have some in every bite) and mix it up.  Then they add a little extra cookie dough on top!

If you're passing through Decorah this summer, or if you're within an hour's drive... be sure to make a stop at The Whippy Dip!  They are open daily from 10am to 10pm and are located at 131 College Drive.

LP enjoying a chocolate cone at The Whippy Dip

Have you ever been to "The Whippy Dip"?  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Check out our Week 2 stop at Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy outside of Hudson, Iowa.

Family Summer Bucket List

With Memorial Day behind us and the 1st of June a couple days away, it seems like it is time to announce my family's Summer Bucket List!

This year our family came up with a list of 10 things to do this summer that lead us to explore our backyard of North Iowa, some places across Iowa, and to travel the Midwest.  Combine this list with our Family Summer Bucket List from last year, and it looks like we have a fun summer ahead of us!

1. Go Camping at Beed's Lake or Pine Lake 
2. Host a Baconfest on our farm
3. Check out RAGBRAI Byciclist as they come through North Iowa
4. Have fun at a Surf Ballroom Rock "n" Tots lesson
5. Watch one of the Fireworks Shows during the Pyrotechnics Guild International (PGI) convention
6. Go to an Iowa Cubs Baseball Game
7. Shop the Des Moines Farmer's Market
8. Visit a Science Center or Children's Museum
9. Go on an Iowa Ice Cream Trip
10. Continue our Tradition of going on a Family Vacation

We are so excited to check these items off our list and to share our experiences on the blog!  What is on your Summer Bucket List?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Summer Bucket List - A Final Look

I think we can officially say that summer is over (or at least it feels like it!) and it is time to think fall.  Before I share my Fall Family Fun Bucket List (stay turned for it later this week) I'd like to share how we ended up on our 2013 Family Summer Fun Bucket List:

1. Go to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines (and invite my Grandma J/LP's Great-Grandma to come along)
2. Ride the Train at the Boone Scenic Valley Road (and invite my Grandpa & Grandma K/LP's Great-Grandparents to come along)
3. Go to the County Fair
4. Go to the State Fair
5. Visit a New Midwest Town/Landmark
6. Go Camping at Pine Lake with Friends
7. Go on a Family Vacation
8. Sign-up for the Summer Reading Program at our Local Library
9. Participate in the Latimer Fun Day 5K Run/2 Mile Walk
10. Go Swimming at the Swimming Pool
11. Go Golfing
12. Go on a Nature Walk at Beeds Lake
13. Have a Picnic at Clear Lake's Beach
14. Watch Fireworks for the 4th of July
15. Have Family Dates (Mom & Dad, Mom & LP, Mom & MP, Dad & LP, Dad & MP)
16. Go to a Baseball Game

To finish out the summer we went on our first family vacation to Chicago!  And we stopped in Dyersville, Iowa on the way and visited some Iowa landmarks we had never been to before.  You might be wondering with how busy our summer was how we fit in a family vacation?  Well, we went the week after Labor Day.  It was really the perfect time.  We all needed a break from the house, the farm and just needed to relax and just be the four of us.  We had a great time and can't wait to make going on a vacation a tradition and go on our 2nd Annual Family Vacation next year.  After some of our travel this year I learned that My Farmer hasn't seen very much of South Dakota, so I think we'll be traveling over to South Dakota next year!  (My Farmer always says I like planning for the future way too much, I think starting to plan your next family vacation a year in advance probably shows an example of that...)

Our family vacation was a nice four day, three night getaway.  On day one we drove about half way to Chicago and landed in Dyersville, Iowa.  We have driven by and through Dyersville countless times but had never ventured out to the "Field of Dreams" movie site.  This was a great place to stop at to not only break up our trip and let LP run around, but also so we could mark off visiting a Midwest landmark off our Summer Bucket List.

"Is this heaven?  No, it's Iowa."
The farm and baseball diamond made famous by the 1989 movie "Field of Dreams"

LP is ready to go explore the baseball diamond

My Farmer and LP ran the bases a couple of times

"If you build it, they will come."
LP and My Farmer standing in the corn
(It took awhile to get this photo because both My Farmer and LP
were more interested in scouting the corn then taking a photo...)

After touring the "Field of Dreams" movie site, we went into the town of Dyersville and went through the National Farm Toy Museum.  This was obviously a big hit with LP!

LP checking out a tractor display

My favorite tractor display, showing the different
sizes of model tractors made

Then we hit the road again and made our way to Chicago.  By the time we made it to the city we decided to just check into our hotel and eat some supper.  We stayed at the Hyatt in Deerfield, Illinois (a northern suburb of Chicago).  This was a great place to stay.  Our hotel room had a nice living room with refrigerator and separate bedroom, which was nice for the whole family.  Also, we couldn't beat the price due to the 25% off discount they had for residents of Illinois and surrounding states!  And the best part was that it had FREE parking and we could get to any Chicago attraction in a half hour or less.  (If you've been to Chicago before you know how big of a deal free parking is, and if you've never been before, believe me, paying nothing, let alone less than $25 to $50 to park anywhere is a great thing!)  During our vacation we had scouted out a few places for foods we wanted to be sure to eat while visiting.  One of them being - a Chicago style hot dog.  Our first night we went to Superdawg - a great, classic Chicago drive-in restaurant known for their hot dogs.  Now, I'm not a big hot dog fan, but their Superdawg hit the spot for me.  And their service was great!  If we go back to Chicago, we'll be stopping at Superdawg again!

Superdawg in Wheeling, Illinois

You can't even see the hot dog under all the great toppings on their
classic Superdawg!  My favorite topping was probably the pickled tomato!

Day Two was our big tourist day.  We started out the morning by going to Shedd Aquarium.  Our favorite parts of the aquarium were going to the One World aquatic show where we got to see seal lions, dolphins, beluga wales, penguins and dogs, and going to through the Caribbean Reef exhibit.

LP and My Farmer checking out the aquariums in the
Caribbean Reef exhibit

LP enjoying the Penguin Slide in the Pacific Northwest exhibit

An added bonus of going to the Shedd Aquarium is that you get a great view of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan.  We did a lot of picnicing during our vacation and enjoyed a picnic with these great views on Day Two.

View of Chicago (Shedd Aquarium is the round building to the far left)

Our family enjoying the beautiful weather with Navy Pier in the background

LP had a great time trying to catch the seagulls near Lake Michigan

Enjoying a picnic along Lake Michigan

We wrapped up our Day Two by going to Navy Pier and eating supper there.  We also went on a Chicago Architecture River Cruise.  We really enjoyed the boat tour.  It gave us an in-depth look at Chicago and we learned a lot.

Navy Pier

View of Chicago from River Cruise

View of Chicago and the Sears/Willis Tower on the River Cruise

View of Chicago on River Cruise

My Farmer and LP taking in the River Cruise

On Day Three of our vacation we went to the Chicago Botanic Garden.  This space was spactular.  It was really quite amazing how many acres of gardens there are at Botanic Gardens.  LP really enjoyed the Model Railroad Garden.  This was a neat garden for all ages.  The garden has 18 model trains, 26 bridges and 1700 feet of track. I personally really enjoyed the Landscaping and Vegetable & Fruit Gardens.  I came home with some great ideas for our acreage!

Our family taking a little photo break on one of the
garden's many trails

My Farmer and LP in the Model Railroad Garden

LP was sure to check out every train the garden

Following our trip to the Botanic Gardens we traveled to 2 Toots Train Whistle Grill.  This was a fun place for us to eat, where your food comes out to your table via a model train that runs on a track that goes around the entire restaurant.  While I wasn't a huge fan of their grass fed beef burger menu, I did enjoy their shakes and brownies, which included a souvenir train whistle on top.  An added bonus was that the town where this restaurant was located was having a carnival so we spent some time going on inflatables.  We ended Day Three by swimming at our hotel and eating some Chicago style deep-dish pizza.

On Day Four we took a different route back home, taking two-lane roads throughout Illinois and Iowa.  We crossed the Mississippi River from Savanna, Illinois to Sabula, Iowa, Iowa's only island city.  This was a fun route to take home where we got to see lots of the country-side and got to visit some good friends who live near Lost Nation, Iowa on the way home.  We had a great time on the vacation and like I said earlier, I can't wait to make this an annual tradition.

So we didn't quite accomplish our entire list but this being our first try at something like this, I think we did pretty good.  We love to go camping and I can't believe we never went camping this year!  The one time we were going to it got late and then rainy.  So next year we'll have to keep camping on the list.  As for golfing, My Farmer and I both enjoy golfing but since we got married have found it hard to make time to golf for fun besides being in a couple tournaments each summer.  This too will have to stay on next year's list.  We need to all go golfing some Sunday after church and not just go to the golf course to eat dinner...  And going on a nature walk at Beeds Lake.  This too didn't get done this summer but I'm planning on putting it on our Fall Bucket List.  Lastly, family dates: sure there were times we split up the kids between the two of us but we didn't really go on any official family dates.  This too will be on our Fall Bucket List.

What was your favorite thing you did this summer?  What are you looking forward to doing this fall?

Harvest Blogger's Tour 2012

For the 2nd year, Franklin County Tourism, Franklin County Farm Bureau and Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, hosted a Harvest Blogger's Tour.  This year's Harvest Tour took place over this past weekend and had bloggers from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and New Hampshire.  This is a great opportunity to showcase Franklin County, Iowa from agriculture, to entertainment, to great food!  There are two requirements of the bloggers that participate:

1. They must find a way to get themselves to Hampton, Iowa for the weekend.
2. They must blog about their experiences.

If they do those two things, the entire weekend (Friday-Sunday) is taken care of for them - lodging, food, entertainment, etc.  A few things the bloggers did over the weekend this year include going on a tour of the Old Stone House, toured the REA plant, went star gazing while sampling wine from a local winery (Town's End Winery), went on a tour of the Franklin County Historical Society Museum and Grandpa's Farm, went shopping in downtown Hampton, went to the Windsor Theater for a live Vaudeville show, and participated in the Harriman-Nielsen Historic Farm Fall Festival.

I was happy to be able to join the group for awhile on Saturday while they focused on agriculture.  To start with, the group traveled to Latham Hi-Tech Seeds and heard from the North Central Iowa Ag in the Classroom staff about the program, as well as went through a couple of the lessons that they do for kids in local schools.

Ag in the Classroom

Then the group went on a tour at Latham's.  Following the tour, the group went to the Roy Arend's Farm, where they got to go on tractor and combine rides.

Blogger group with the Roy Arend's Farm Family

It was great to interact with the bloggers.  They had a lot of great questions about agriculture in Iowa.  The Harvest Blogger's Tour is a great opportunity to not only promote tourism to Franklin County and Iowa, but it is a great chance to spread the messages of agriculture to new audiences through the bloggers followers.

I can't wait to see what results from this year's Harvest Blogger's Tour and I can't end this post without linking my requested Sweet & Spicy Hog Wild Baked Beans recipe!

Travel Midwest Part II

Last month I talked about the Fly In To Fly Over Country initiative in my first Travel Midwest blog post about my "Girl's Weekend" in Dubuque.  Today, I'm going to share about an Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmer day trip that My Farmer and I took to Marquette and McGregor, Iowa last weekend.

Our friends Mike and Kaylee with me and My Farmer along the Mississippi River

Last Saturday around 50 Young Farmers from Northeast Iowa (and a few from North Central Iowa!) traveled to the Mississippi River for a day in Marquette and McGregor, Iowa.  These towns are both along the river and are a couple miles from each other.

The day started by going on a tour and eating at Old Man River Brewery in McGregor.  This was a great place to meet up and visit with everyone, as well as try some beer!  My favorite beer was their Gold Coin Helles.  There top selling beer is their Slingshot Dunkel.  They are selling so much beer that they are brewing daily!

After the brewery, we all went on a two-hour river boat cruise where we learned about agriculture and shipping on the Mississippi River.  It was a lot of fun to be on the river and to see barge traffic in action.

The last tour of the day was at Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette.  It was a lot of fun to get a tour of the winery from one of the owners.  You could really sense his love and passion for agriculture, viticulture, his winery and Iowa.  My favorite wine probably was their Campfire Hootch, which also happens to be their top seller.  The neat thing about this wine is that they created it by chance by combining the bottom of their wine tanks.  No two batches of this wine will ever be the same.

My Farmer and I had a great time during our trip to the Mississippi River.  Remember to join the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page.  Also, check out the groups's Pinterest page too.  This campaign was started in May when National Geographic's Aric Queen announced he would be traveling the United States on a "Classic American Roadtrip."  The only downfall of this roadtrip was that it started on the East Coast, went down South and then over to Los Angeles - completing bi-passing the Midwest!

What are some agri-tourism trips you have went on?

Travel Midwest

I promised in my "Purple, Girls, Healthy and More" post last week that I'd explain about Girls and Healthy at a later time, well today I'm going to explain Girls, as well as talk about the Fly In To Fly Over Country initiative going on right now.

At the beginning of the month I had my annual "Girl's Weekend" with my Mom and sisters.  We do it every year as my Mom's Mother's Day gift.  The criteria for the Girl's Weekend is that it must include massages, lots of good food and drinks, be an overnight, involve at least a little shopping and be a lot of fun!  We have traveled several places in Iowa for our girl's weekend and this year was no different, we celebrated our Girl's Weekend in Dubuque!

My Mom, Sisters and I at Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque

We started out our Girl's Weekend by slowly traveling over to Dubuque.  You see my sister Amanda and I live about 100 miles away from each other and my Mom and sister Rachel live in between, so in order to get everyone in one car it takes a little time and usually means we don't take a direct path to where we are going.  So I figured on our way east to Dubuque we should visit my county's town seat, Hampton.  We started our Girl's Weekend by doing plenty of shopping in Hampton.  This town offers a wide variety of specialty shops.  Great shops to check out in Hampton include (but are not limited to) Freckled Dandelion (baby and kids clothing, books and toys boutique), Orange Possum (teen and young female adult clothing and accessories), Wood Cellar (home decor and gifts), Cornerstone Cottage (home decor, books, gifts, bath & body shop) and Cornerstone Cottage Kids (kids books, games and room decor).

After our shopping in Hampton we traveled the rest of the way to Dubuque and got settled in at the historic Hotel Julien.  After checking-in to the hotel we checked out the downtown area including Cable Car Square, went out to eat at Crust, and then drank wine and listened to live music at Stone Cliff Winery and Star Brewery.

Star Brewery and Stone Cliff Winery, Dubuque

My favorite wines at Stone Cliff were their Riesling and Red Fox.  I recommend going to Stone Cliff Winery because besides being a fun atmosphere and good wine, it is right along the Mississippi River and the River Walk.

Mississippi River Walk, Dubuque

On the second day of our Girl's Weekend the big thing we did was get massages at Potosa Spa.  The massages were great and we all loved to spa amenities and atmosphere.

My Mom, Sisters and I love traveling Iowa, and I love exploring Iowa with my family too!  And that is why I encourage all of you to join the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page.  This campaign was started last month when National Geographic's Aric Queen announced he would be traveling the United States on a "Classic American Roadtrip."  The only downfall of this roadtrip was that it started on the East Coast, went down South and then over to Los Angeles - completing bi-passing the Midwest!  As a child many of my favorite family vacations were in the Midwest including the Badlands, Deadwood and the Corn Palace in South Dakota, Hannibal, St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, and Springfield in Illinois.

If the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page gets 300 likes by next week National Geographic has agreed to talk with Deb Brown from Iowa about traveling to the Midwest.  So please help this effort to showcase why the Midwest is so great by joining the facebook page and spreading the word to your friends.  Also, check out the groups's Pinterest page too.

What do you think makes the Midwest special?  Where have been some of your favorite Midwest vacation spots?