Sioux Falls, SD -- Rochester, MN, July 4

First stop today was the Spam museum--yes you read that right! First, though, we had to wait for the parade to pause so we could cross the street. The museum was fun and funny as well as interesting. I didn't know the origin was an entrepreneur's intention to find a safe way to can meat, serving a need initially for cheap meat during the depression and becoming even more useful during WWII. It's also got a better ingredients list than you'd think: the original had pork (shoulder and ham), salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite. No high fructose corn syrup or unpronounceable chemicals.

Second stop was the National Eagle Center, which is right on the banks of the Mississippi River. They have three balds eagles in residence. They can't be returned to the wild: one is blind and the other two have broken wings that didn't heal properly so they can't fly. Things I didn't know: bald eagles aren't exactly noble. They're opportunists who will happily steal food another animal has caught. Carrion is fine with them, and they like fish but are really bad at fishing. Osprey, for example, are much better at catching fish, so the eagles just steal fish from the osprey. Ben Franklin didn't want them to be our national symbol because, although they look the part, their nature isn't what we want to be emulating.