On The Road To Michigan & 70 in 70 Quest 39 - 40

Kendall and I decided to take our time getting to Michigan this trip - perhaps not as much time as the 57-day run to Michigan 15 years ago, but a leisurely trip nonetheless. This allowed us to make a couple of side trips to add to our "70 New Things In Our 70th Year" list.

70/70 Quest #39: Sweet Shoppe

The Sweet Shoppe in St. Paul, Nebraska is also known as "The Cookie Jar Place" - a well-deserved name since there are over 1600 cookie jars adorning the shelves that line every wall of the shop. You name an animal or character or whatever and they probably have a cookie jar to match it. 

 

Cookie jars as far as the eyes can see:

 

And what a variety!

They also know how to bake!

 

 70/70 Quest #40: The National Mustard Museum

This stop was suggested by Sasha. Thank you Sasha - it was a superb addition to our 70/70 quest! This museum has all the styles and flavors of mustard you could ever dream of. Barry Levenson was the original dreamer, starting his collection of mustards after his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, lost the 1986 World Series. The despondent Levenson went grocery shopping after the game and was drawn to the bottles of mustard. "It was just something about the mustards," he said. "I heard a voice coming from them, 'Collect us and they will come.'" Levenson continued his work as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin until 1991 when he left the law to become a full-time collector of mustards and mustard memorabilia. The result? The National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin now has over 5,624 mustards and hundreds of bits and pieces of mustard memorabilia from all over the world. It also offers up samples of mustards including most of the winners of the current year's mustard championship competition - some of the best mustard I've ever tasted!

One of many display cases filled with mustard pots

The 1st & only mustard vending machine in the world

...and the mustards: from around the world, every state in the U.S.A., and many from Canada which is the world's largest exporter of mustard seed!

Oh Canada! How we love your mustard seed! And mustards!

Mustards from around the world

The "Mustard Wall" with mustards from all of the states of the U.S.