May 23, 2013 · 2:07 pm

Two places to fix your flat along the bike trail in Des Moines!

The tire fixing station near Mullet's in Downtown Des Moines

The tire fixing station near Mullet’s in Downtown Des Moines

We have come across two flat-tire repair stations along the bike trails in Des Moines – how great! Each station has a number of tools you need to fix a flat (all attached to cords that attach to the station so someone can’t walk off with them) and even a hook so you can hoist your tire up to fix it. How cool is that? (It would be even cooler if I knew HOW to fix a flat but that’ s my issue.) I found one at the start of the trailhead south of Ashworth Pool in DSM  (en route to the Great Western Trail ) and another downtown by Mullet’s along the Principal Riverwalk by the baseball stadium.

Both were gifts from some charitable soul whom I need to mention here (when I collect her name.)  Thank you!!

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May 21, 2013 · 1:54 am

Dark stormy night in Iowa/memories of Moore, Oklahoma and twister

Another dark and stormy night in Iowa after a surprisingly sunny day. The same weather as yesterday when a storm suddenly darkened the sky and tornados touched down near Des Moines. Fortunately no loss of life or serious damage reported. Unlike Moore Oklahoma where a tornado struck yesterday, killing 10 people. We stayed at a hotel in Moore in 2007 when we were attending my stepdaughter’s graduation from the u of Oklahoma in Norman. Even back then Moore was recovering from a 1999 tornado.

The weather was clear that day. But not four years earlier in Oklahoma City when we attended my stepdaughter’s high school graduation during a a tornado warning. And we were sitting outside on metal bleachers in a football stadium. The tornados had technically passed by graduation time but we still got rained on.

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May 19, 2013 · 3:40 pm

How good bread and coffee revived Des Moines’ food scene!!

Des Moines restaurateur/entrepreneur George Formaro samples a challah loaf as he displays the many types of artisan breads that are made at his South Union Bakery, which is located in the basement of the Gateway Market, 2002 Woodland Ave.

Interesting story today by Jennifer Miller, who has been doing a terrific job of covering the burgeoning food and dining scene in Des Moines and Iowa, about the advent and progress of artisanal bread making in Des Moines since the 1990’s.

My theory – – not yet substantiated but that hasn’t stopped me from sharing it with many a visitor and newcomer to DSM  — is  that finally getting excellent bread and coffee ushered good food/dining into Des Moines. The restaurant/grocery store scene was pretty dismal when my husband (then boyfriend, I guess)  arrived here in 1990 but the emergence of not only decent bread (Pain Pane) but later terrific bread (South Union), as well as good coffee/coffee houses (even before Starbucks) gradually led to better places to eat and shop and finally find things like a good cheese selection.

George Formaro (the South Union guy)  first made sandwiches and soup to sell with his bread at little shop behind the Register (that I visited almost daily when I was a Register reporter during the 1990s) and then onto pizza and one restaurant after another and, of course, Gateway Market. It was interesting to learn from Jennifer’s story that George’s quest to perfect the burger bun  led to George’s latest successful restaurant, Zombie Burger in Des Moines’s East Village. (I rest my case.)  I’ve watched the Logsdons’ progress (most recently with the terrific La Mie Restaurant in the Roosevelt Shopping Center) in a somewhat similar fashion.

Of course, work remains – DSM still needs a decent bagel!

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May 16, 2013 · 9:23 pm

Lessons learning while buying train tickets for Eastern Europe

Deutsche Bahn AG
Db-schild.svg

Who would have thought it would be easier to buy train tickets online for  Peru than for Germany  and  Eastern Europe? Okay, I’m not willing to say that’s true yet. But buying tickets online for train trips this summer through Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic was harder than expected. I managed to find some of the train schedules on the DB Deutsche Bahn website (a German company http://www.bahn.com) but the site didn’t always list  the fares – or indicate when or if the tickets could be purchased online. (In some cases, it looked like I’d have to buy them by making a phone call to Europe.)

Rail Europe Logo

Meanwhile, on the site that I could buy at least some tickets online – Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com) – I couldn’t always find schedules or fares. I finally had to call Rail Europe and pay a $15 fee for phone assistance – which turned out to be worth it, even if I had to leave my name on an answering machine and wait for  an hour for Rail Europe to call me back (better than lingering on hold I guess.) Here are some things I learned through this process:

– If you can find a train schedule but NOT the price or when/if the tickets can be purchased via DB Bahn, email their help line (Sales@bahn.co.uk) and you will get some if not all the information. (This is helpful especially if you’re trying to see if it costs more to take the train or fly.)

– If you can’t figure out how to buy the tix online via Rail Europe, call and pay the additional fee ($33 all toll when you add the processing fee, which includes the cost of mailing the ticket – which are paper and not available for online printout.)  I was told that it would have been very hard  to do-it-myself online because the three train trips I needed to book are unusually complicated. They’re not the typical Yank tourist routes (Berlin-Gdansk anyone? Not to mention Gdansk-Krakow and Krakow-Prague). And they involve three different countries with varying ways of selling train tickets. (The Poles, for example, won’t let you buy your ticket more than a month in advance but I could buy the tickets involving Berlin and Prague about two months in advance.) I also found help by emailing service@raileurope.com.

– Figuring out the price and booking a sleeper for an overnight train is tricky because the countries we’re visiting – unlike some others, apparently – require that you buy two separate items for each journey (a ticket, which  gets you on the train, and a reservation, which specifies a seat or compartment on the train, – as I understand it.)

– A Eurail  pass, which   we’ve used in the past, didn’t work for this trip because of our particular schedule and because we’re taking two overnight trains. Oh well. I liked the ease of the Eurail pass – but then I was traveling for months, not weeks, when I used one on several occasions.

– Read the fine print – especially to see how many stops the train makes! There’s also various classes/speeds of train. I never really figured this all out.

– The Polish Rail website wasn’t much help.

– Rick Steves’ website also has some good information on train travel http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/

– Trains vs. Planes: Sometimes flying is comparable in price to riding the train (ex: Gdansk-Krakow) but not always (example Krakow-Prague where flying was much more expensive.)  Planes of course are a lot faster – for Gdansk-Krakow flying takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours (direct vs. connecting flight) while the direct overnight train takes  11 hours. But we went with the train 1) because we so seldom get to ride a train, especially an overnight train and still find this romantic (that may change.) 2) the times of the direct planes didn’t work well with our schedule  – one was 6:30 a.m. and the other 5:30 p.m.   3) It’s often a hassle to get to the airport vs. the train station. 4) we  do save money by taking an overnight train and not paying for a hotel that night, for what that’s worth.

– I did opt to fly (EasyJet) from London to Berlin rather than take trains. (way too complicated…)

– Paper tickets. Apparently I can’t print tickets out online. And the paper tickets won’t be mailed out until a few weeks before our departure date (even though I bought them two months in advance) because the Polish ticket can’t be issued until a month before we travel. Grrr… Here’s hoping it all works out.

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May 13, 2013 · 3:14 pm

Zumba by Gray’s Lake in June in Des Moines!

First there was Yoga in the Park at Gray’s Lake in Des Moines – now there’s Zumba by the Lake (same location on the southeast lawn) this summer on Saturday mornings in June for 45 minutes starting at 8:15 a.m. (followed by Yoga from 9-10 which runs May 25 through Sept. 28). This might get me to return to Zumba, for a month at least.  Although I love the 9 a.m. Saturday morning Body Jam class (another dance-based cardio workout class) the Walnut Creek Y, it kind of conflicts with our Saturday morning trips to the farmers market in downtown Des Moines because the market is really crowded when we get there at about 10:30-11 a.m.

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May 12, 2013 · 4:05 pm

Highlights of County Cork (Ireland)…Ballydehob, Schull, Mizen Head and beyond!

Happy Birthday Myra! This  is for you! (But others are welcome to enjoy!)

My friend Myra and her family are traveling to County Cork, Ireland (and beyond) this summer so, as promised, here are highlights from our 2004 trip there, culled from entries hastily scribbled in my journal (journal #44 to be precise.) Please excuse any misspellings – chalk it up to tricky Gaelic spelling and my hard-to-decipher handwriting!

Another good resource: http://www.schull.ie/index.html, (complete with a sound track of fiddlely-dee music – as our English friend Francine refers to Irish music).

COUNTY CORK
  • We rented a 200-year-old stone house in the countryside with a tiny pond, outside the small village of Ballydehob. (I wish I knew exactly where.  Below are some family photos. We shared the house with friends from London.)
The kids (Morgan, Lily, emma, Noah) and Russ after a run, outside "our house" in Ballydehob, 2004

The kids (Morgan, Lily, Kate, Noah) and Russ after a run, outside “our house” in Ballydehob, 2004

Noah and Morgan outside "our house" in Ballydehob. 2004

Noah and Morgan outside “our house” in Ballydehob. 2004

  • We spent much of our time in the larger village of Schull (pronounced “Skull”) where we visited the Sunday morning farmers market. (Of course!)  We bought some  locally-made Gubbeen cheese (my favorite on this trip; the mature, non-smoked version is best!),  sausages and bread for a picnic by the water; visited the ruins of a church with a famine (?) graveyard; and had a drink at The Courtyard, which we ended up visiting several times. We watched local musicians play during a traditional sing-along. We also ate one of our better meals at the pub – which, oddly, was Thai food. At the Sunday market,  I also bought  a hand-knit sweater (which I still wear). Here’s a photo of the kids exploring the ruins by the water in Schull.

The kids exploring the ruins along the bay in Schull

In Scull, we also went to a ceilidh (pronounced kaylee) at the village hall – which is not to be missed. It was a cross between a square dance and a talent show, where locals and visitors (from all over including Germany, France and, oddly, the Canary Islands) danced reels and line dances to live accordion music, as well as performed ad hoc. (Francine got up and sang a song. So did a weather-beaten  old man sitting beside us who didn’t say a word otherwise. He sang beautifully; Some young girls did Irish stepdancing, a la Riverdance.  A little boy played a tin whistle. ) Then we all broke for tea and biscuits (of course!

In Schull the kids also went sea kayaking. One of our best meals was home-cooked – we brought back fresh mussels and salmon that we bought along the water in Schull.

DAY TRIPS FROM SCHULL:

#1) We drove about 45 minutes southwest to Mizen Head, a very dramatic slab of sculpted rock jutting out into the ocean (or so I wrote). We toured the lighthouse station, stood on a suspension bridge above a deep slash in the rock   (shades of Ithaca!) and saw several seals. From there we drove to the small fishing village of Crookhaven (see photo at top), where we ate  crab sandwiches and seafood chowder at O’Sullivans Bar, sitting at an outdoor  picnic table overlooking a narrow channel full of sailboats.  A few brave souls (not me among them) tried swimming in the ice cold sea (or “paddling” as the Brits call taking a dip.)

Mizen Head: the most south-westerly point of Ireland.

#2) We took a day trip via ferry to “Clear Island”  (see photo below; AKA Cape Clear or Cléire), a wild, largely uninhabited small slab of craggy land which we will forever refer to as “UnClear Island” since the little isle was shrouded in dense fog. But it was a fun trip. During a long hike in the fog, mist and “soft rain,”  I completely lost sight of Emma – who I was pretty sure was ahead of me – but when I called out to her, she answered back. Phew!Clear Island.jpg  I also had my first ever Irish coffee in the pub by North Harbor, where we caught the ferry back. (see photo below). It really hit the spot since we were chilled from our long slog  in the fog. The ferry ride aboard the Karycraft took about 45 minutes and was very amusing, thanks to our skipper, Kiernan Malley, who not only told stories about the area but sang a song or two while playing the accordion and ,presumably, steering the boat (We later spotted him working in a car garage in Schull. A man of many talents!)

Betsy drinking her first Irish Coffee in a pub with Noah on "Unclear Island" outside Schull

Church at Gougane Barra – built on island near monastery/well site at end of 19th century.

#3) Another great day trip:  Bantry Bay to the seaside villages of Glengarriff and Castletownbarre (where we ate seafood chowder at MacCarthy’s Pub), around the Beara Peninsula and stunning Cod’s Head cape.

File:Maccarthysbar.jpg

The junction of Main Street, North Road and the pier in Castletownbere

OTHER PLACES WE VISITED IN IRELAND:

Picture for category Romantic Gifts

COUNTY KILKENNY

We stayed in the pretty and welcoming  Oldtown Farmhouse b&b  in the village of Stoneyford, outside Thomastown.  We really liked the city of Kilkenny, with its medieval castle and cool Kilkenny Design Centre with great crafts (where I bought celtic-design earrings that I also continue to wear!) The Centre has a collection of work by the now world-famous Dublin-born designer Orla Kiely (who has had a recent gig in the U.S. with Target stores). We also visited an amazing 12th century monastic ruin outside Stoneyford (where we stayed at a farm b&b).
By the water in Schull
Emma in Co. Kilkenny at a monastic ruin

Mountain view from Oldtown Farmhouse

DUBLIN

We stayed in Howth, a small village outside Dublin (we commuted into the city) with a cool cliff walk over looking the ocean. We stayed at a very low-key  b&B called Gleann-na-smol B&B (where we found some other visitors from….Iowa). Very nice host family.

  		•
    Gleann-na-Smol B&B
  •  In Dublin we did the typical stuff – walked around Trinity College, St. Stephen’s Green, Grafton Street, at pizza at the Badass Cafe at Temple Bar, walked over the Ha’Penny bridge.Image

HalfPennyBridge.jpg
the Ha’penny Bridge

 

Go dté tú slán (which means safe journey in gaelic – but who knows how to pronounce it!)

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May 10, 2013 · 11:22 pm

Beautiful Adair County (Iowa) in Greenfield and beyond

The Iowa Aviation Museum celebrates Iowa’s

Never realized how gorgeous Adair County, about 55 miles west of Des Moines is, especially on a perfect spring day. Classic Iowa farm country, driving along a rollercoaster two-lane highway past lush green pastures with grazing cows and shadows from the clouds moving across the land; a hawk soaring high above a tidy farmstead; the kind of drive where you seriously contemplate what would be better to have – a red or a white barn? (I’m still torn.)

En route to Greenfield just off Interstate 80, I not only stopped at the famous Freedom Rock but there was the artist painting his annual ode to veterans – just in time for Memorial Day. This year the huge boulder is home to a graveyard with fallen soldiers, white stones on a green lawn, a soldier kneeling beside one stone, a woman laying down in front of the stone. Interesting to read the names of all the people driving by from all over the country who have signed the guestbook in a little overhang nearby.

From there onto the incredibly lovely recently restored Hotel Greenfield – gorgeous early 1900’s structure with lots of original fixtures and moldings, vintage photos, nice combination of antique furnishings and contemporary art. Well done. Equally well done is the newly restored opera house, now known as the Warren Cultural Center, a red brick corner building with a turret at the edge of the tidy public square surrounding a red brick Romanesque courthouse. All very pristine. Enjoyed the crafts by Iowa artisans inside Ed and Eva’s, a shop on the ground floor of the cultural center and a nice woman took me on a tour upstairs of the pretty little opera house, which begins with a contemporary blond wood and glass stair case leading to a surprisingly light and airy concert hall with light pink walls with the original stencils restored. Must return for a concert sometime – word has it the acoustics are amazing. So nice to see these buildings restored to their former glory.

Also stopped at the Iowa Aviation Museum – a little hanger off a dirt road by Greenfield’s tiny airport that has a mighty impressive collection of vintage aircraft collected and then donated by a local couple. Old gliders and two seaters (one with wicker seats) and word has it, you can go flying in one of the two seaters once the one little pup plane to do this is back in action. A very nice woman kindly took me around the hanger, inviting me to sit in the planes (I was afraid I wouldn’t get out once in – kinda cramped quarters) and proudly showed off all kinds of aviation legends with Iowa roots (who knew) from the Wright Brothers, whose father had land in the Adair County area, to a woman who taught Amelia Earhart how to fly (Amelia spent time in Des Moines.) Well worth a visit!

I had a light sophisticated  lunch at the beautiful Henry A. Wallace Country Life Center – the farm house/home of the former Vice President under FDR. I’d eaten Friday dinner at the Gathering Table, the center’s restaurant (see photo of barn below), but not lunch – it was equally good. Salad of greens, a vegetable tart made with fresh asparagus from the center’s garden (as well as mushrooms, carrots, all top a thin crisp but buttery wedge of baked pastry dough). And the perfect dessert: homemade ginger yoghurt with chocolate curry truffles. Yum.wallace.jpg

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May 8, 2013 · 5:31 pm

Afghani food in Skokie (illinois)

Lunch Specials - Special Plates - Murgh Koubideh Murgh Koubideh

 

Lunch Specials - Special Plates - KoubidehSpeaking of exotic food in unlikely places, I’ve had Algerian Food in Elkader ( Iowa ) so why not Afghani food in Skokie (Illinois)? This place comes well recommended by my stepdaughter! http://kabulhouse.com/

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May 7, 2013 · 2:52 pm

Cabins to stay at in Decorah Iowa

We were hoping to stay in Decorah at what looks like the lovely Fern Hollow Cabin but alas it was booked the dates we wanted. Here are some other options!

1. Trout River Log Cabin
2336 Trout River Rd., Decorah, IA [map »] (see photos below)

2. Pepperfield Project, 

next door to Fern Hollow Cabin, run by  the original gardener and orchardist for Seed Saver’s Exchange, and is a teacher on all things garden. Guests stay in home with him and share the kitchen.

1575 Manawa Trail

(563)382-8833

http://www.pepperfieldproject.org/

3. Loyal Rue

563)382-2593

Loyal has a restored log cabin 11 miles N of Decorah.

Trout River Valley

welcome to Trout River Log Cabin, a 19th century Norwegian-built log house nestled in the rolling hills of Northeast Iowa.

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May 6, 2013 · 10:03 pm

Air B&B options and the newTrout Run Trail in Decorah Iowa

I finally got around to joining Air B&B and found two good options in Decorah, including Fern Hollow Cabin, (they’re both in old log cabins), where we hope to go this weekend to ride bikes on the new Trout Run Trail which looks incredibly cool. Opened in September 2011, the trail is  an 11-mile loop around this outdoorsy northeast Iowa city, snaking along the Upper Iowa River (our favorite canoeing river in Iowa) and adorned with public art/sculptures. It runs past Luther College, the Decorah Trout Fishery (home of the famous Decorah eagles, whose nesting via webcam captivated a worldwide audience last year…word has it the eagles have moved on. We saw a spectacular eagle in flight near a nest in Gray’s Lake Park in Des Moines yesterday!)

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