Travelling for another gymnastics meet for Miss Greenjeans. This time…it’s Des Moines, Iowa. We don’t have a lot of free time. Likely Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday evening. I have no idea what to do for fun there. The Field of Dreams seems too far for a quick trip. TripAdvisor told me about the State Capitol and the Sculpture Park. Any other suggestion from someone who knows Des Moines? If you know of activities or restaurants, please share.
Sigh…no replies. That’s what I was afraid of. Maybe I’ll just announce my presidential campaign.
Des Moines has a well regarded zoo
Adventureland is a theme park in Altoona, outside of Des Moines
Other ideas here.
The East Village is a nice little part of downtown that has some good casual dining like Tacopocalypse and Zombie Burger+Drink Lab as well as bookstores, coffee shops, and shopping.
The entire metro are has a plethora of walking/hiking/bike trails. Downtown has Grey’s Lake and to the West side of town there’s Browns Wood nature preserve if you would like a somewhat moderate hike.
There’s the farmers market on Saturday and it’s only about 8 blocks from Hy-Vee Hall on Court Ave.
http://www.downtowndesmoines.com/events
http://eastvillagedesmoines.com/
Hope that helps a little and have fun!
Ames, Iowa (45-ish minutes north of Des Moines) is the home to Iowa State University…second largest university in Iowa. As a grad of the University of Iowa, I’m required to state that ISU sucks.
There’s Living History Farms:
I forgot to put a disclaimer on my first post. The East Village is brimming with hipsters.
I haven’t been to Des Moines in years, but I used to spend three days a week working there when my company was establishing a branch office. My favorite Italian place looks like it is still open: