Music, music, music

I absolutely must add a few photos from yesterday in Sioux Falls.  At the nice hotel, Dennis was sitting on the outside patio and called me to come and see - it was a hot air balloon floating nearby.  I dashed out to take a picture and a few minutes later he called me to see another one!  I love hot air balloons.  They always look like they are from another world.  We took a balloon ride many years ago, and despite my normal fear of flying, I loved it.  Being in a balloon is like being the wind.  You do not feel the motion because you are moving with the air.  It was just lovely, peaceful, and exciting all at once.

 
Since the balloons did not stop to pick me up, so we got up this morning and worked out in the awesome workout room at the hotel.  I have been feeling fat, so I really threw myself into it.  We ate breakfast and hit the road because we had a one hour drive to Vermillion. 

This turned out to be a lovely little town on the banks of the Missouri River.  Vermillion is the home of the University of South Dakota and the university seems to be the biggest thing going in town.  The National Music Museum (NMM) was not hard to find - they provide excellent directions on their website.  What is hard to find is a parking place!  We finally parked in front of a dorm that was one block away.  The dorm had metered parking so we thought we would be okay (we checked with museum staff just to be sure).

This was a great museum visit.  Dennis plays guitar and trombone and sings and loves musical instruments.  I know it is hard to imagine that someone like me who can only sing and does not play a single instrument can be fascinated by all of the instruments, but it is true, I am.  There were hundreds to look at - many were beautiful beyond belief.  I'm afraid that our photos do not do justice to these fine artistic wonders.  The museum had little wireless devices that were loaded with multimedia displays that gave historical and aural information about several of the collection pieces.  I especially loved hearing the instruments that we could not touch.  The museum is transferring all of the multimedia info onto an app for iphones!  So, when you visit you will be able to use your phone to take the tour.

One gallery was all guitars - I called it Guitar Heaven, but it was really named for a significant donor.  Here are some of the examples we saw.

 Dennis' dream workshop

 Entrance to guitar heaven

 Gibson harp-guitar (see, I told you it was guitar heaven)

 Original Dobro - so beautiful!

Original Fender

I took some pictures of the curious and unusual instruments that we found.  I was dying to touch and play some of these, but my grown up girl asserted herself and I followed the do-not-touch directions.  Here are some of my favorites - and these don't even include the many ancient and beautiful pianos!

 Devil's Fiddle - old homemade instrument

 Dr. Seuss inspired drum

 Lyre mandolin

 Serpent (I bought a CD of a serpent concert - fascinating!)

 Hurdy gurdy - I think I could play this one

Glass armonica - I love the sound of this instrument and have a CD that uses it well

We spent a couple of hours looking, admiring, and listening at this museum and we loved it.  After we left the museum in Vermillion, we returned to I-29 and headed south and east into Iowa.  We stopped for the night in Des Moines, a large but not ugly city.

We felt welcomed into Iowa.  As we have driven across states, we have commented on the differences in ecology, population, poverty level, and industry.  All of these things contribute to the uniqueness of each state and to their value to the US as a whole.  In these fractious political times, it is helpful to gain this insight.