Top Ten Midwestern Favorites!

     I have now lived in New Mexico for four months.  It many ways, it has become home.  I am originally from California, and this is somewhat similar.  However, my years living in the Midwest had an effect on me.  It touched me in a special way.  I'm not quite the same person I was before moving there.  We technically lived in South Dakota, but were in a tri-state area with Nebraska and Iowa.  From our front door, it was about five minutes to Nebraska, and twenty minutes to Iowa.  Many of our experiences occurred in Iowa and Nebraska.  All three states held fun and blessings. 
Below are the State Capitol Buildings in Pierre, South Dakota (left) and Lincoln, Nebraska (right). I was in Des Moines, Iowa many times, and Walter and I even visited the Capitol building there.  I could kick myself for not taking a picture of it!

                       

   
     A lot of my friends in CA and now here in NM mistakenly consider the Midwest to be the Bible belt, but it really isn't.  The Deep South is more the Bible belt.  The Midwest is a culture unto itself, perhaps the most "all-American" of all US regions.  I was thinking about it today, and I have come up with the top ten things I miss about the Midwest!
     So...

Number 10) I miss having bragging rights on the freezing winters (note, I don't necessarily miss the freezing winters themselves, just the bragging rights!).  Yes, California and New Mexico both get colder than you'd think, but their winters are nothing compared to the Midwest.  On New Year's Day this past year in South Dakota, it was  -30 degrees Fahrenheit!  Much of the rest of the winter was also below zero.  40 degrees above zero in the Southwest might not impress a Midwesterner, but it must be admitted that 40 degrees here is usually windy, overcast, rainy, possibly even a few snow flurries.  By contrast, if it is 40 degrees in the Midwest, it is usually springtime, sunny, and still.  Much more comfortable than Southwestern 40 degrees.  Anyway, though, below is a photo of our car last winter.

Number 9) I miss two of my favorite restaurants ever: Donna's Diner, in Wynot, Nebraska, and The Fryin' Pan, in Yankton, South Dakota.  The Midwest has excellent meats and fresh vegetables.  American food is at its best there (their international food isn't as good as CA or NM, but the American food more than makes up for that). Also, side-note: if you do want Mexican or Chinese food in the Midwest, get it in Iowa.  It's pretty good there.
Below: Donna's Diner, Wynot, Nebraska.  Excellent food, service and prices--plus the owner, Donna, is a Christian.  Walter and I could get dinner and leave a tip for under $20.

Number 8) I miss the excellent prices.  Our auto insurances was one-tenth of California or New Mexico. Our rent was about two-thirds of what I would pay in CA or NM.  And don't get me started on how cheap gasoline was!  Also, South Dakota doesn't even have state income tax!  On the other hand, they do tax groceries, which made it advantageous at times to buy groceries on the Iowa or Nebraska side (if I happened to be down there already).  The photo below was taken in 2017 at the Casey's gas station in Vermillion, South Dakota.

Number 7) No traffic!  I have always hated heavy traffic.  Being from the Los Angeles area, I can attest to the fact that rush-hour traffic never rushes, and lasts a lot longer than an hour.  It can be a source of great stress.  One has to plan on leaving early for things, factoring in possible traffic jams.  I loved that the Midwest has very few of those.  In the larger cities, such as Des Moines and Omaha, there was some level of traffic, but it still moved pretty smoothly.  Lots better than LA, and Albuquerque.
Below: traffic in San Francisco, CA...taken with my own camera in 2010 while visiting.  This isn't even bad for San Francisco, but you would never see it this congested in our little tri-state area.  

Number 6) Distinct season changes.  Above, I said I don't miss freezing winters...and I don't!  But I do miss the more distinct season changes.  Growing up in California, I learned to recognize season changes more subtly, like the light in the sky, the direction of the wind, or other slight variations.  In the Midwest, I didn't need to be as astute to it.  It was much more obvious, and could be very beautiful, as evidenced by photos below...

Number 5) My family heritage.  On my mom's side of the family, I am a first-generation Californian (on my dad's I'm a second-generation Californian).  My mother grew up in the Midwest, mostly Iowa.  She vehemently hated cold winters, and swore all her life she would live in California one day...and she achieved her dream!  But I have always been curious about Iowa, the place my mother was from, and where my parents married (the wedding was there, but their honeymoon was traveling out to CA where they would live...where my dad already lived).  My cousins and relatives on my mom's side mostly still live in Iowa.  While I lived in the Midwest, I enjoyed the chance to spend more time with my cousins, and getting to know my mom's home state.  Another highlight was visiting my mother's Alma Mater, Central College in Pella, Iowa.  I had always felt Iowa was a part of who I am.  On the other hand, my dad's family originated in Alabama, and my paternal grandmother instilled Southern values in me, so I feel as if that is part of me as well.  Below, Walter and I are pictured with my Iowa cousins in Des Moines.

Number 4) Beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  I got to drive to work every day at dawn, and was blessed to get to watch the sunrise.  The sunrise pictured blow was photographed at a park where I loved to hike before work, right on the South Dakota/Iowa state line.  The promise of a new day.

Number 3) Scenic country drives and walks.  This was especially true on the Nebraska side.  There was some beautiful scenery.  I did miss mountains while we lived there, but it was still beautiful.  

  

Number 2) Small town charm and fun.  There are some priceless things to see.  It is true that there are some very nice good-sized cities in the Midwest, even in our area (such as Sioux City, Iowa).  But the really small towns had a lot of fun things to see and do.  Maskell, Nebraska (very close to us) has the smallest city hall in the US!  Directly below is the village of Maskell sign, advertising the city hall.  The photo underneath is of the Maskell City Hall itself.  Maskell has a popular of 76.  Below that are some other small town pictures

Here are some other small town Midwest photos!

  

And the NUMBER ONE THING I MISS ABOUT THE MIDWEST IS (drum roll!)...

the wonderful people we are blessed to still call friends!  This includes our church family at Hillside Community Church, coworkers at Head Start, ministry partners with Child Evangelism Fellowship of Iowa, and of course, our next-door neighbor Russell!  Incidentally, the people are the number one thing I miss about CA as well, and would be the number one thing I would miss about New Mexico if we left.  Below are some of the precious people I miss very much in SD, IA, and NE. Walter and I are pictured with them, and most are photos of people we did ministry with.