Little Norway

Last weekend in honor of our Norwegian house guest, we traveled 45 minutes to "Little Norway". Basically it's an old family farm that was established by a Norwegian family who immigrated to Wisconsin way back when. The family now charges money for people to come get a glimpse at the old settler homes and some Norwegian artifacts. Overall it was pretty interesting. Some of the crazier things I learned were:

• people in early American history used to sleep sitting up. That meant they could make a smaller bed. It also was supposed to keep the fluids from building up in your lungs while you slept which would potentially kill you (according to tradition). Our Norwegian house guest was quick to point out that this is a very American tradition and has nothing to do with Norway.
• Garden Nomes are a good thing. For some reason I think I always thought these little guys were trouble causers...but I guess not. According to Norwegian tradition they help your garden grow. They only get pesky if you forget to thank them...and then they'll tie your shoes together while you're eating or something like that so you'll trip. So make sure to thank your nomes tonight.

The coolest building on this property was an old replica Norwegian church that had been build for the world fair in Chicago. Lots of wood carvings and things like that. The funniest part was that sometime after the world fair it was bought by some rich guy who used it as his poker house since his wife wouldn't let him gamble in the actual house. All I can say is that it would be a very sweet poker house.



For other fun pictures you can see some of the ones Matt has posted.