Today we have lots of ‘drive-by’ pictures of things we liked. The planned ‘drive-bys’ are on our map. Others came up along the road. We didn’t eat breakfast at the Heidelberg Haus Cafe but we enjoyed seeing their whimsical murals. You’ll see pictures of the Big Cow and the Big Rabbit. The caboose was extra as was the pink elephant drinking a martini. The Big Rooster was taller than the children’s swing set! Across the street from the Smiley Face Water Tower we stopped at a gas station for a refreshing powder break. TMI?

The mailman doesn’t always deliver mail to a house. We saw people crossing the road (with care) to retrieve their mail box. It’s convenient for the mailman to go in one direction. And then we got to Ellen’s visit of a second mountain dulcimer workshop; Folkcraft Instruments.

Richard, the owner, takes Saturdays and Sundays off but was kind enough to come in today to give Ellen a special tour of the shop. She has played the mountain dulcimer for years now and has gotten pretty good at that old Appalachian instrument. She and Richard have hillbilly blood in them. You can tell they love the instrument. From the outside the shop looks like a hole in the wall but when you go in you find a large show room, a large concert hall, and a few work rooms where everything relating to the dulcimer is created. Wow!

Next we hit an elementary school where wooden statues of famous locals are elected by the fourth grade class and then commissioned by them to be made. You’ll see the carvings in our pictures.

Big Uncle Sam was facing the wrong way for a good photo but we did our best from the speeding car window. The tree carved into a totem pole reminded us of the Superman Tree we passed by on day 7 of our trip. Which do you like best? Finally, we drove by the Three Large Dancing Rabbits. We didn’t expect to see all those people enjoying themselves. It was getting late so we headed toward our hotel.