Happy Mustard Day

Pretty big weekend last week. It all started with a short trip to Mt. Horeb, WI., current home of the Mustard Museum.

After witnessing the ceremonial Mustard Bottle toss to start the day's festivities, and listening to the Poupon U Accordion Band, we had a chance to hook up with Colonel Mustard's favorite cousin, French's Yellow.

Watched the kids doing Mustard Bowling and playing Hoops for Koops, we got in line for the best part: Free Hot Dogs!

The line moved quickly, I was handed my hot dog and I headed for the mustard table. What? No French's Yellow? I knew I should have squeezed the big guy when I had a chance. But what wonderful surprised they had on the table. I'd never tried wasabi mustard, or Jack Daniel's Mustard. I ended up putting 4 different mustards, separated by about an eighth of an inch, on my little dog. Tasted great.

Walked around a little (Mt. Horeb is really a great little town. The only town I know of with 4, count them, 4 roundabouts to go through to get into town.) and went over to the museum. Thousands of different mustards from around the country. Names I had forgotten (of course, they still might be made, just not sold in our area) like Gulden's.

After watching a short video on the history of mustard and how it's made, it was time to get in line again. The second one was even better than the first!

Finally it was time to take off for the next stop, Belmont, Wisconsin, the site of the first capitol.
I had seen photos of the historic buildings in the past and thought how cool it was that they were preserved rather than torn down for redevelopment. But was I in for a shock. After being declared the capitol, it was quickly decided to move it to Madison. So the town started to die.

The railroad coming through a few miles away became the end of the town. But rather than just close down, they moved the buildings, stores, homes, etc., to the railroad. They probably never thought that a town could grow that big to be over 2 miles wide! (Guess that didn't happen in Milwaukee, Chicago, Denver or Los Angeles.

So here sat these two buildings, one the capitol and the other the boarding house where those early legislators slept and ate. In the middle of corn fields, right across the road from a working farm. Weird.

Coming up next: A Taste of Dubuque. See you then.