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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Weekend in Des Moines


Friday after work, John and I hit the road for a weekend away.  Since we prefer a short drive, our destination of choice was Des Moines, IA!  My most difficult task - trying really really really hard to not sing "You really ought to give Iowa a try!" all weekend.  (Where my Music Man fans at??)

We rolled into our hotel around 9:30, and there just happened to be a Sister Hazel concert on the green space right next to it.  We listened to them for a bit, and then went looking for a coffee shop, or (let's be honest) dessert.

I highly suggest Java Joes, if you are ever in downtown Des Moines.  They have ice cream AND board games.  We played Scrabble, because that's what we do.  It was an epic game, with FIVE seven-letter plays.  It was crazy.  At the end, we realized that the set was missing the J and X, so that really changed the dynamic.  Okay, I'm talking about Scrabble too much.  Moving on...



On Saturday, we went to check out the Farmer's Market and then walked down to the sculpture park.  It was a little warm out, but the park was really cool.  And I did cliche poses, because that's what bloggers do!






After hiding inside for a little while in the afternoon, we got cleaned up and went to dinner here.  (We tried to go here, but the line to even put your name in was out the door, so we abandoned that plan pretty quickly.)  Then we were on a mission to find some live music.  The internet wasn't helpful, but we noticed some guys setting up sound equipment and went to check it out.  Success!  They were a cover band, and played an assortment of stuff, but mostly 90s alt-rock, which we were happy with.  Then we may have gone back to Java Joe's.  Because what's a Saturday evening without board games? 


Sunday was my favorite.  A little backstory - I can't ride a bike (Or really do anything that requires balance, like skating, or you know, walking without frequently tripping).  But I really love the idea of going on a bike ride.  During our walk around the lake last week, we saw a guy on a recumbent trike, and I decided that would be the perfect solution!  I've heard of the Trestle Trail, and wanted to try it out.  So we rented trikes and had the best time!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so that helped.  And now I want a trike!  So if anyone is looking to get me a very expensive birthday present, there's a hint.   






After that, we were starving, and ended up at Jethro's BBQ.  Amazing!  I would eat smoked turkey every day.  Then we thought a movie would be fun.  Lucy started out cool, and then just got really weird and boring.  So, I don't recommend it.

Then we drove home.  It was a really fun weekend!  Des Moines gets my stamp of approval for an easy weekend away.   

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like such a fun weekend! We went to see Lucy over the weekend too and I kind of thought the same thing. I felt like I expected it to get weird, but maybe not that weird.

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  2. It looks like you two had a great time! That trike ride looks really cool and that sculpture park is awesome!

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  3. This looks like such a fun weekend! The sculpture garden looks awesome!

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  4. I love my dogs, but sometimes life would be so much more fun without them-- weekend trips like this would be possible! I'm so jealous of your trip. Also, Q, X, J, K, and Z are my least favorite letters in Scrabble. I find myself constantly playing the same words with them: quiz, jig, exam, cake. Hooray for a fun weekend!

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  5. I really love that you ate ice cream and played Scrabble two nights in a row! That sounds so fun!

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  6. Hooray for Scrabble! Kevin doesn't like to play word games with me because I kick his butt most of the time...but he did play Bananagrams with me and his parents while we were at family camp this past week. I'm pretty competitive (especially with myself), and so I refuse to play "easy" words in Bananagrams, and I will go to great lengths to get the most obscure words I can, haha. Nerd. It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend in Des Moines!!

    PS. I was in Music Man when I was in 8th grade, and I still break out into that song on a regular basis, haha. It was really helpful when we moved to Iowa after we got married to learn about some other cities in the state (Hawkeye, Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown, Mason City, Keokuk, Ames, Clear Lake...all listed at the end of "Iowa Stubborn" - ha!) :)

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  7. That is really cool. My family is from Oelwein. I was born in California but everybody else was born in Oelwein, Iowa.

    I really need to visit it.

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