Ah love mair ca

This was America Day, Museum Day, and Bridal Day.
America:
We began the day with breakfast at the Village Inn (the word on the street is that IHOPs are disappointing, so we opted to skip it) where, if they don't offer you a slie of pie at the end of your meal, then it's free. That's any meal, no matter what time of day. Naturally, then, a couple of us indulged in breakfast pie. God bless America.

Museum:
While Jo finished up some Palmery things, H and I decided adventurously to check out the Museum of Chiropractic History, which is a temple to the bizarre. It's housed in an old Masonic lodge:


And yes, it does say "Let there be light" above the door. Humble folks, the Palmers.

The exhibits ranged from the silly to the thought-provoking. My favourites:

Hilarious ads from the '20s:


The spine segment parade:


The very scientific posture queen contest:


The names of chiropractors who went to jail for practising medicine without a license. (Some states took until the '60s (?) to recognize chiropractic as a legitimate form of health care):


I'm glad we went, and I particularly appreciated the air conditioning.

Museum/America:
Then we hit Moline's biggest tourist attraction: the John Deere museum! We learned about combines:


We saw a statue of a, uh, Deere:


And though we didn't ride it, we saw their cute little tourist transportation wagon:


At the immense and fabulous gift shop, I picked up a John Deere cowbell for James, which, incidentally, he took to the Riders game this afternoon.

...part 2 to follow