I often have a free day in NYC on a Monday and want to go to a museum but not all are open that day. Just checked for this month’s trip and there’s good news and bad. Museum of Modern Art – open on Monday! New Museum in the Bowery – not so new. not open on Monday.
Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations
Old Crow Farm Antiques in Earlham, Iowa!
I have been wracking my brains (what a strange expression) trying to remember the name of this place – that sells antiques/ “rescued junk” (from country primitives to urban industrial) three times a year displayed in an old barn and the surrounding grounds of a Madison County acreage about 20 minutes west of Des Moines. And finally – I stumbled upon a mention of it in the December Issue of Midwest Living. Old Crow Farm Antiques next sale is on saturday Dec. 4 (“jolly junk vintage market”) and I’d really like to get there. For more info see oldcrowfarmantiques.com and check out the blog.
This sale will also – if I understand the blog correctly – mark the opening of the Old Crow folks’ new shop called Rescued Junk by Old Crow Farm, housed in an old building they’re fixing up in the town of Earlham. It will be the location of monthly “occasional sales” rather than only three sales a year. You can also shop online at oldcrowfarm.etsy.com. The farm is at 2125 130th street. take exit 110 of I-80 south towards Winterset to 130th street then west 1/4 mile.
More Detroit hotspots – pt. 2
I forgot to mention another NYT story in its fall 2010 T magazine about Detroit – this one about “artists in residence” in some struggling Motor City neighborhoods. It likened the city to a modern-day Rome. um, not exactly. But here are more suggestions of things to do, places to see:
Restaurants – Atlas Global Bistro, 3111 Woodward Ave!; The Cass Cafe, 4620 Cass Ave; El Barzon (Mexican-Italian?) 3710 Junction STreet; Russell Street Deli, 2465 Russell Street.
Museums/Galleries: The Butcher’s Daughter, 22747 Woodward Ave.; Detroit Institute of Arts (duh); G.R. N’Namdi Gallery; Heidelberg Project – between Mt. Elliott and Ellery streets heidelberg.org; Lemberg Gallery, 23271 Woodward Ave., Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward; Paul Kotula Projects, 23244 Woodward; Susanne Hilberry Gallery, 700 Livernois. Sad not to see my parent’s gallery, The Rubiner Gallery, in the list but it’s been closed for many years after a long run in suburban Detroit.
Hotels: The Inn on Ferry Street.
More Detroit hotspots
The NYTimes seems to be promoting Detroit as a tourist destination these days and why not. Here’s some suggestions from their latest travel piece on the Motor City:
– Roast – “Detroit’s most talked about restaurant”…..
– Rub BBQ Pub – with a sandwich named after local boy gone rocker Ted Nugent
– Detroit Beer Company – behind the Opera House beer. And my favorite beer name “People Mover Porter” – with chocolate tones.
– Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. Take off the first name and it feels like the good old days. or the bad old days. take your pick but nice to see this place open again after a $200 million renovation. What’s next – the downtown Hudson’s???
Apples in Fort Dodge Iowa and BBQ in Des Moines
I was glad to see that the Community Orchard near the airport in Fort Dodge Iowa is still looking good and doing a bustling business. Having the State Cross County Meet a stone’s throw away probably didn’t hurt business – that’s why we were in Fort Dodge for the first time, in my case, in maybe 15 years. Alas, the orchard was out on Jonathans – which I use to make applesauce in mass quantities this time of year – but they still had plenty Honeycrisps and other varieties. Also pies, carmel apples, apple crisp and a lot more fattening stuff we avoided…although we did try Smokey D’s BB ribs in Des Moines on the way home. The sauce a little too sweet for my Kansas City BBQ-oriented taste, but the service was good, tje ribs meaty and well-smoked. The sides – including homemade potato chips that came in a soon-greasy brown bag served with way-too-good-and-fattening thick ranch dressing, and smokey baked beans with just the right touch of bacon – were good too. Also turned out to be a good place to watch U of Iowa’s football team trounce Michigan State’s!
Filed under Agritourism, Des Moines, DINING, Iowa
Randonnes in the Dordogne!
My brother and his wife made it safely home from France – fortunately flying into Barcelona and out of Geneva during the strikes that crippled French airports and rail. He apparently did okay with getting gas since they did drive across the country. As expected, he loved the Dordogne region and recommends “randonnes” – walks in the french countryside that are well mapped out and marked. Other highlights – the duck confit and “all the delicious stuff with walnuts in it.” Their last two days were in Annecy which they liked too but found a little seedy in parts (that I don’t remember.) They also did a quick tour of Talloires and got a pix of the hotel we stayed at in 1989.
Filed under France
New York on the cheap
As if.
well everything’s relative and I guess that means New York’s version of cheap is Des Moines’ version of not-so-cheap but that said, the NYT had some suggestions for people visiting the Big City on a Tight Budget:
– The Jane – 113 Jane Street (a very sweet street in the West Village that my cousin used to live on)…”50-square-foot cabins” for $99 a night (that’s a single withe shared bath)…www.thejanenyc.com
– The Hotel Chelsea, studio and shared bath for $99…if it was good enough for Sid and Nancy it may be okay for you.
– MOMA is free on Friday nights. Otherwise it’s $25 as I recall painfully.
– for other free events look in the listings of Time Out NY and New York magazine also FreeNYC.net and ClubFReeTime.com
– a seven-day unlimited ride metrocard $27. soon to be $29.
Filed under cost-saving travel, LODGING, New York City
Honeymooning in France during the strikes – it can be done!
My brother and his new wife have made it to Dordogne and are, of course loving it although my brother fears he may be developing gout from all the rich food. He highly recommends the place they stayed La Tour de Cause – which judging from the website looks like heaven. Word has it it’s run by a I highly recommend it. It’s run by a really cool, fun California couple. Next stop in Annecy and Talloire – so hoping he can get there safely without encountering any blockades or major gas shortages. And I’ll be living vicariously…
MOMA at Thanksgiving
Most Thanksgivings we visit relatives in New York City and I have one or two day to explore the city, which usually involves picking one museum to visit. This year’s winner? MOMA – which I haven’t visited for several years. Several exhibits have caught my attention that I”m eager to see – CounterSpace: Design and the Modern Kitchen (through March 14) and Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photograph (through March 21).
First runner-up (and a museum I hope to visit) is the New Museum downtown on the Bowery, which has an exhibit an old newspaperwoman can’t resist entitled “The Last Newspaper.”
Filed under museum exhibit, New York City
Mason City and Frank Lloyd Wright
We went up to Mason City yesterday to check out the work being done to restore the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel there and while there’s a lot of work still to be done, it’s a great looking building and should be a gem if restored well. The hotel and adjoining bank – are scheduled to reopen on June 30, 2011 although I’m told guests probably won’t be able to stay there until later in the summer. The bank side looks far from done – and the ground floor has been completely gutted. We couldn’t see the hotel side as well (construction of the building and the streets its on restricted our access and view) but looks like it’s more intact. It will be the only remaining of six FLW-designed hotels in operation!
We also visited the FLW-designed Stockman House – took an informative tour for $5 a piece. Well worth a visit- it’s the first FLW Prairie Style house in Iowa and was saved from the brink of destruction back in 1993. We also toured the Rock Glen/Rock Crest neighborhood – with its Prairie Style homes by a FLW contemporary. And of course we had to stop at Birdsall’s, the old ice cream store on Federal Street that looks pretty much like it did decades ago (and has very good malts and sundaes.) Nearby Borealis looked like a good place too – a little cafe.
Filed under architecture, Iowa
TakeBetsywithyou 