Just in time for spring comes word that the long-awaited 25-mile High Trestle Trail (previously known as the Ankeny to Woodward trail) north of Des Moines is almost completely ready for riding. Twenty miles of the trail – along a former rail bed – from Ankeny to Sheldahl and Slater to Madrid is largely finished. But the really cool part – the 13-story half-mile trestle bridge across the Des Moines River Valley, which would be one of the country’s largest trail bridges – won’t be done until next fall. T o be honest, I’ve long been unclear about when and where to ride this trail. See if you can figure it out from: a2wtrail.org.
Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations
Art along the Iowa interstates
Inspired by the fantastic new mural we stumbled upon inside a welcome center along Interstate 35 in northern Missouri last December, I started looking into efforts by other states to spruce up their highway pit stops with art. And lo and behold, I find out from several knowledgeable sources that the great state of Iowa – where I live – has one of the more impressive programs.
Which means an estimated 17 million people who stop at an Iowa rest areas each year may be in for a treat – if they stop at the right one. Thirteen rest areas or welcome centers – most along I-80 and I-35 – have been redesigned as part of Iowa’s “art-in-transit” program to include site-specific, regionally-themed art projects during the past 10 years – the latest in 2009 and more to come. Iowa has even printed “rest area posters.” For more info see: (www.iowadot.gov/maintenance/restareaposters.html)
Filed under Iowa, On the road, rest area
A Report from: San Francisco Part. 2
Soon after it dawned on me today (apropos of nothing) that I last visited San Francisco almost exactly two years ago, I got another email from my NYC friend who recently visited the beautiful city by the bay with her teen-age son. She offered more details on her trip that are well worth sharing. I know I’ll be using them some day (soon I hope ). Here they are:
Hotel Vertigo: awesome helpful staff, lovely hip lobby, great beds with all white comforters, pillows…good bathroom with big strong shower head, big tub, yummy spa-like products, dock station, free wi-fi, flat screen TV, convenient location to union sq (our BART stop). loved this place. and for $79/nite (did I get some special online rate?) I sorta couldn’t believe the price.
Dottie’s: 522 Jones St; a tiny coffee shop located in a run down hotel in the tenderloin hood, felt like the Bowery in NYC former days. Expect to stand on line a long time, we had a one hr wait, but my cool cuz suggested it and 3 guys we met the day before said we had to have breakfast at Dottie’s!…I never would’ve have waited otherwise, but ok sooo worth it. the best cornmeal blueberry pancakes, non-stop coffee refills, great french toast with fresh fruit, cuz some big egg dish with yummy homemade corn bread…even with it being packed, never felt rushed except our waiter spoke at the fastest speed I’ve ever heard! tourists just need to be prepared for this hood.
Alcatraz, so worth it. I wasn’t into a touristy tour thing but that self guided tour with actors’ voices was really well done. the whole experience felt like theatre. it is depressing but they make it alive and real.
Slanted Door: yummy Vietnamese fusion CA food…in lovely Ferry building, overlooking water, we sat at the bar, weeks booked up for reservations, tattooed Aussie bartender talked us thru the whole menu with suggestions, all great. you can order almost any dish for half amount/$ so you try more items. busboy almost knocked over my delicious Calif. white so he gave me another free glass, B. had a jasmine tea, a flower that blooms in the hot water in a wine glass. sophisticated and grown up and not stuffy.
Cafe Tartine – another hour wait! but those pastries…
we love the BART
Cable car. they smash those tourists in. we rode on the outside. our driver was also a stand up comic, or so he thought. oh man, a long ride!
walked up Telegraph Hill then Lombard st. our legs ached by then but so worth the views.
Filed under San Francisco, Uncategorized
A report from: San Francisco
A friend who recently returned from a trip to San Francisco with her teen-age son, tried out some suggestions from me – and a few others. She gave a thumbs up to the following: Hotel Vertigo, tartine bakery, ferry building, slanted door, cafe sportte, cafe trieste….cable car, fishermans wharf, ghiradelli, alcatraz tour, lombard st, telegraph hill, union st, union sq, russian hill, univ berkeley, dotties coffeeshop.
A few are new to me – Hotel Vertigo and Dotties Coffeeshop – so I’ve done a little legwork (more accurately fingerwork on the computer). As guessed, Hotel Vertigo has a Hitchcock connection – it’s reportedly on the site of the Empire Hotel from Hitchcock’s, you guessed it, movie Vertigo. Sounds like a good location – in Nob Hill near Union Square. Dotties must be “Dotties True Blue Cafe” which gets high marks from Zagat for Best Buys, Breakfast, Diner – and there’s a virtual tour of the place ( if you don’t want any surprises when you arrive). http://www.zagat.com/Verticals/PropertyDetails.aspx?VID=8&R=47594. Dotties is at 522 Jones St. (between Geary &O’Farrell); 415-885-2767
Filed under San Francisco
Trust me: the fantastic new mural on Interstate 35 in northern Missouri
I know, I know – I should be blogging today about the thwarted terrorism attack at the airport of my youth (my native Detroit). But I’m far more excited to share my latest unlikely discovery – a beautiful new mural we chanced upon inside – of all places – the spanking new welcome center along Interstate 35 in the northern Missouri city of Eagleville.
Installed in September 2009, the mural fills a long wall inside the Eagleville Welcome Center (opened in February 2008) and is made of 600,000 pieces of multi-colored glass tile. An homage to Missouri history, culture, and topography, the mural has all kinds of scenes (the Missouri River, the Kansas City Jazz and Negro League Baseball Museums) and portraits (Jesse James, Harry Truman, Thomas Hart Benton) and cultural touchstones (from the American Bison to the Missouri River steamboat, Arabia.) Among other things, I learned that Walt Disney not only grew up on a farm near the small town of Marceline, Mo. (the Disneys’ barn is featured in the mural) but that the main streets in every Disney attraction are based on Marceline’s main street. Walt even recreated the barn on his home property in Los Angeles.
Apparently I am not the only one curious about the many images embedded in the mural, which was designed by a Washington State couple who won a competition to design the mural, funded through a federal grant. At the center, I picked up a very helpful 16-page pamphlet all about the mural – entitled “The Prairie Passage” – produced by the Missouri Department of Transportation.
I love finding art in unexpected places – and I love that someone bothered to perk up my drive through northern Missouri. This rest area is a far cry from the dreary ones I remember from the family road trips of my 1960’s youth. Which leads me to wonder – how much of this is going on at other interstate rest areas and welcome centers across the country? Is this effort on the rise or in decline? Which states or rest stops have the best public art installations? I have seen some great examples of rest area public art in Iowa along Interstate 80 (funded by the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Art-in-Transit program). Googling for more info, I chanced upon a terrific website about rest area history (www.restareahistory.org) that may answer some of my questions.
Filed under Discoveries: trust me, Iowa, Missouri, On the road, rest area
San Francisco: takemewithyou
One of the reasons I started this blog is because I frequently get calls or emails from friends asking for advice on where they should stay, eat, visit when going to one vacation spot or another. So CB, who is going to San Francisco with her teen-age son, this one’s for you. Yes, you should take a look at my 2008 Real Simple story on San Fran but here’s some other things that might be fun, especially with a young teen:
Where to eat:
The stalls inside the FERRY BUILDING (a renovated 19th century building that’s been transformed into a marketplace showcasing local cheese, produce etc. One Ferry Building; 415-693-0996; http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/ and the Saturday Farmers Market (look for satsumas.)
Pizzeria Delfina, a relatively inexpensive and casual Mission District restaurant with thin-crust pizza. The place is tiny (and not to be confused with the bigger, more expensive cafe by the same name next door) and no reservations so go early or late. 3611 18th Street; 415-437-6800; www.pizzeriadelfina.com . Nearby pastry alert – Tartine Bakery!
In North Beach, Caffe Sport on Green Street – a lively Italian place with hearty Sicilian food and crazy decor – was fun with kids, although it’s been awhile since I visited. http://caffesport.ypguides.net/page/o2c4/Why_Caffe_Sport.html
In Chinatown, one of those huge Dim Sum places where they push around carts packed with one item or another.
For other ideas see: http://www.tablehopper.com, a San Francisco dining “e-column.”
What to do:
– Rent bikes in the Marina District and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin, stopping before the bridge at the Warming Hut cafe/bookstore at Crissy Field. My brother-in-law did the ride recently with his two tween sons and reports all were happy campers (or bikers.) see: http://www.nps.gov/prsf/planyourvisit/crissy-field-marsh-and-beach.htm
– While you’re in Marin, hike Mount Tam http://www.mttam.net/ (We went on a double-stroller-friendly hike years ago when the kids were babies – I think around Homestead Valley – that led to the beach. Wish I could remember the name. Will check in my journal.)
– Tour Alcatraz. Sounds touristy I know but touristy can be fun. The audio tour is gripping – you can stand in the old cafeteria and hear what it sounded like when the prisoners revolted in there.
– Golden Gate Park – just wander. The new California Academy of Sciences sounds fantastic – designed by Renzo Piano with a 2.5 acre “living roof” covered with native plants. Strives to be the world’s “greenest museum.” http://www.calacademy.org/visit/
Across the street is the de Young Museum, opened in 2005 (after the original was damaged in the 1989 earthquake), has American art, including work by Bay Area artists. The 360-degree view of the city from the all-glass observation floor atop the museum’s tower is well worth the trip. Trust me! http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/acrobat/maps/1999/ggparkmap.pdf;
– Watch the surfers on the beach near the Sunset neighborhood. (You’re a budding surfer – don’t know how Jersey shore stacks up to Northern California shore.) Sunrise Deli (www.sunrisedeli.net/) on Irving Street is good for cheap, casual middle eastern food (falafel etc.)
– Wander around Chinatown and visit the tiny Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in a back alley (56 Ross Alley; 415-781-3956) and eat Dim Sum; then wander into nearby North Beach and the legendary bookstore City Lights ( 261 Columbus Avenue; 415-362-8193; http://www.citylights.com) which last time I visited had a photo tribute on the top floor to the beats. (I got my then-14-year-old a City Lights t-shirt adorned with snippets of Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” on it – to my surprise it became one of her favorite clothing items. It was probably the giant “HOWL” printed on it that resonated with my teen-age daughter. ) Also check out Caffé Trieste (601 Vallejo Street; 415-392-6739; http://www.caffetrieste.com) and walk up, up, up Filbert Steps to the Coit Tower.
– oh yah, ride a cable car
Some helpful websites:
- http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/acrobat/maps/1999/ggparkmap.pdf
- http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco – for maps etc.
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Filed under San Francisco
TakeBetsywithyou 