Food, Wine, Bowling, and Norwegians

While in Iowa, I spent some time in Decorah, IA- home to Luther College, the Upper Iowa River, The Vesterheim museum, a great restaurant, a co-op, a brewery, a winery, and $1 games, rentals, and beers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Oneota Bowling Lanes.
Among the many great programs at Luther College is their music and art program. While walking through one of the art buildings, one hears operatic singing, violins, quartet practice, all coming from the rehearsal/practice rooms. I visited one of their museums on-campus, and in addition to beautiful art, there were some interactive pieces--including the one pictured here.The idea is that sound actually comes from your throat and not your mouth. Which I never realized is actually how those tiny cell phones that don’t reach your mouth pick up sound.
The upper Iowa River is really neat, in my opinion more so in the summer months when one can lay in a tube and float down. But winter at the river also produces some magnificent vistas.
There is an entire Viking ship inside of the Vesterheim museum! Pretty neat huh? The museum also houses some houses :) these are representations of the first settlers from the Nordic countries to Decorah and surrounding towns. If you didn’t notice that the area is of Nordic ancestry by all of the beautiful tall, blond, and light eyed people around, you would know because almost everything has “Viking” or “Nordic” in the title.
My favorite restaurant in Decorah is Rubaiyat. (from their website: “The name "Rubaiyat" derives from a collection of poetry written over 1000 years ago by a Persian gentleman named Omar Khayyam. The poems are a testimony of living life to its fullest with the help of good food and great wine and together, the joy that they can bring to life.”) Their food is great, their wine list is impressive, and their service is fantastic. Although I personally don’t like beer, it’s fun to see what people get on “mystery beer night.” you pay one price to pick one out of a bag and you could get anything from a domestic (and even local from the brewery up the street) to an exotic beer…luck of the draw I guess.
One would never think that is a winery in Decorah, and much less that they have wine tasting. Well, they do-even when it's snowing! Their wines are mostly desert wines or heavily fruit based.
$1 bowling…let just say that I got some pretty sweet back spin on my ball now.