Spam Spam Spamity Spam! Museum

 Austin, MN

Spam Museum

Today we went to The Spam Museum in Austin, MN.  Donna checked out the website and it said traveling dogs are allowed in the museum as long as they are carried or in a carrier.  This is what ALL roadside attractions should do.  Most of the people visiting The Spam Museum are on a road trip and many of those people have dogs.  It's a smart move and I applaud it.  With that knowledge, we brought Francis and he had a great time, we think.  The Spam Museum is free and you get free Spamples (Spam Samples) while you walk around.  You can also buy Spam that is only sold in this store and it other countries.  

There was a Spam food truck in the parking lot but we already had lunch plans.

They had displays of cans of Spam from around the world.

They celebrated Spamalot 

They also had The Monte Python Spam skit running on loop.

I got to meet Sir Can-A-Lot

Francis is about 5 Spam Cans tall.

No snouts and hoofs

We got to sample Tocino flavored Spam from The Philippines 

I love me some Hormel Chili

I think I remember this advert.  

And they had a gift shop so we bought some stuff since admission was free.

We also got to sample Korean BBQ flavor.

I bought a shirt and 3 flavors of Spam.  The cans are meant for a family of five.  We will have to eat these over time.

We went to Tendermaid Hamburgers for lunch, a local hamburger stand.

Francis waited patiently for a taste of burger.

I got the chili cheese onion burger.  I had to eat it with a fork.

We also picked up Dodge County on this trip.  We are chipping away at the southeast corner.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Wisconsin Pizza Farm, check it out.  We went to a Pizza Farm with Francis.

Wisconsin Pizza Farm

 Nelson, WI

Stone Barn Pizza

Back when we were thinking about moving to Minneapolis, Donna was researching things and reading the local newspaper and found out about Pizza Farms.  A Pizza Farm is a normal farm that sells pizzas during the summer made from local ingredients.  These pizza farms come in all ranges from rustic where you eat pizza on your own chair or blanket with your own utensils and pack out your own trash to more fancy where it actually feels like a restaurant.  Stone Barn Pizza is on the fancier end.  You park in a grass field, walk up to a barn and place your order and then sit at one of their picnic tables, or tables in the barn or out in the field and wait for a very friendly person to bring you your pizza or pizzas and beverages.  

The entrance just off a nicely paved county road was obvious.

You can see our van and Donna getting Francis out of the car off in the distance.

This particular pizza farm will be open until late October weather permitting.

Donna and I had already decided on which pizzas we would get.

The staff was incredibly friendly and efficient.  I had some questions about the beers and they brought the bottles over for me to inspect.  There are also beers on tap.

They have merch too.

Francis loves his bed but prefers sun so we moved him to the sun shortly after this photo was taken.

We sat down with our New Glarus Beers that are only available in Wisconsin.

I got the New Glarus Octoberfest beer on tap.

We sat on their beautiful patio in the shade and waited for our pizzas.

We ordered a Greek with locally raised Lamb, sweet onions, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and olives with an olive oil base.  It was very good but not as good as...

The Supreme with Italian Sausage, pepperoni, sweet onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and green olives with a red sauce and mozzarella and provolone cheese.  This pizza was fantastic!

Somebody wanted a lot of toppings so they took a square from the center.

Francis could not contain himself.  Look at his little nails digging into my thigh.

The grounds were beautiful and everyone there seemed to be having a great time on this lovely Sunday.

We knew that each pizza was made for 2 or 3 people but we didn't drive almost 2 hours to not have leftovers.

We also saved room for ice cream from Madison WI.  Donna got the most colorful one and it was delicious.

We took our ice creams for a hike and showed them some birds and insects.  We saw some beautiful butterflies.

The farm's herb garden was looking good.

Donna found the goat feeder and had quarters on hand thanks to our pinball habit.

Ross, the white goat, got excited when he heard the goat feeder getting fed a quarter.

And went to the fence to meet Donna.

I had to stay 10 feet away because I was with Francis so this is the best I could do.  Norman, the black goat, activated as Donna approached with the goat food.

Donna ended up buying a few handfuls of goat feed so everyone could have some.

We ended up picking up 3 new counties in light purple.  We drove almost 200 miles round trip and we picked up a lot of new highway miles.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Minne Golf, check it out.  We played free mini golf downtown.