When we go to – or more often through – Kansas City, we tend to stop at the same place: Gates BBQ. Every once in awhile, we diversify and go to: Arthur Bryant’s BBQ. Or a handful of other restaurants like Lidia’s (Italian). Last weekend, having just had very good bbq in Eureka Springs, we decided to try something different. (Plus both Gates and Lidia’s were closed on Memorial Day.) So we drove along Southwest Boulevard, an quasi-industrial area on the west side that has long had eclectic restaurants and more recently Mexican restaurants and finally settled on El Patron, which turned out to be a terrific choice. We had very good fajitas – the best I’ve had in ages – that included chorizo and grilled shrimp (plus chicken and steak and lots of grilled vegetables) and sat on the outdoor deck upstairs at the rear of the building. We’ll be back! (The margaritas and mojitos looked great – we didn’t try because we had a 3 hour drive ahead, back to Des Moines.)
Dining options in Kansas City – branching out to Mexican food!
Filed under Kansas City
Conflicted Thoughts about Wal-Mart’s largesse in Bentonville
We drove some backroads home from Eureka Spring, Arkansas yesterday – starting about 10 miles east in the town of Berryville, which turned out to be more down-on-its-luck than my guidebook suggested. Couldn’t help notice the huge and bustling Wal-Mart on the edge of town – a distinct contrast to the struggling town square business district. And couldn’t help but remember that Bentonville, which we visited Saturday, is the unusual small town that has clearly benefited economically from Wal-Mart – and that’s because it’s not a typical small town but a company town, Wal-Mart’s company town no less. I can’t fault Wal-Mart for wanting to make its company town look like the perfect American small town, squeaky clean with landscaped gardens and well-kept businesses, but it’s a tad ironic considering the company’s reported disastrous effect on so many other small rural communities, where it has been accused of helping to shutter local businesses and suck the life out of many a downtown. (For details on the “Wal-Mart Effect” see: advocate.nyc.gov/news/2011-01-11/new-study-wal-mart-means-fewer-jobs-less-small-businesses-more-burden-taxpayers)
I don’t recall seeing this issue addressed at the Wal-Mart Visitor Center in Bentonville – although the center’s displays were more interesting than I expected. (I was impressed and moved by the display recalling Wal-Mart’s aid to the Gulf Coast post-Hurricane Katrina.) One more question came to mind in downtown Bentonville – why so many law offices? Granted the town square is dominated by the county courthouse but still…Are they all fighting the good fight for Wal-Mart?
As for the Crystal Bridges Museum, while there, I couldn’t help but feel grateful to the Wal-Mart heiress who opened it for sharing her stunning American art collection and vision, free of charge, with us little people. But again, later, I did start to think a bit about the irony of this high-brow, high-culture palace being funded by the profits of a company whose stores are anything but high-brow, high culture; a company that has not always treated or paid its employees well, and whose overall contribution to our economy, culture, and society is debatable. High-culture largesse is nothing new for corporate titans but sometimes its hard to decide whether what they give outweighs what they take, or have taken.
Filed under Arkansas, museum exhibit
Greetings from eureka springs Arkansas
I hardly recognized Eureka Springs. It was so packed with tourists on this holiday weekend that it was hard to detect its charm. The last time I was here, about 24 years ago, it was in december and the place was deserted. Fortunately we were reminded why we like this place after we left downtown with it’s touristy shops and loud motorcycles . Walking along upper spring street past the lovely Victorian cottages with their long porches and gardens full of hydrangea, hollyhocks,roses and lilies; past stone grottos, steep curving lanes, dense woods; past the strange old 1886 crescent hotel, where we relaxed in white rocking chairs on the balcony overlooking the wooded mountains, I remembered the strange charm of this old town in northwest Arkansas. We are staying in an old motor court in a residential neighborhood. We have our very own one room cottage covered with small jagged rocks. Hence the name — rock garden cabins. Our neighbors are 90 year old newlyweds. No joke. We had a good lunch at the mud street cafe and excellent BBQ ribs at bubba’s and also enjoyed a visit to thorn crown chapel. A stunning glass-walled chapel deep in the woods that was part of the inspiration for the architecture at crystal bridges.
Filed under Arkansas
Greetings from bentonville,ar–crystal Bridges museum. Wow!
We were not disappointed by Crystal Bridges museum here. We were bowled over. It is not like any museum I have been to. The museum is a series of dramatic copper,stone, wood and glass buildings built over a ravine deep in the woods.Everything about it is impressive. The architecture, modern American art collection, the stunning landscaped trails adorned with sculpture and gardens, the gorgeous museum restaurant with sophisticated but affordable food, the innovative children’s area (which we adults learned from too). Did I mention it’s all free, including the shuttle that took us from a nearby park to the museum’s dramatic entrance –a tower with a wide view of the museum’s spread out grounds. The collection is varied, impressive and beautifully displayed in well laid out spaces. I saw both familiar and unfamiliar artists work.
We also poked around the very spiffy town square, including the Walmart visitors center, disguised as an old five and dime. It’s where Sam Walton’s first store was and we were surprised to find the displays interesting. Dinner was at aq chicken in Springdale, full of photos of bill Clinton from his chicken eating days. We are staying at a refreshingly nice microtel, a major step up from the awful days inn we stayed at last night in butler,mo. Also had good frozen custard at Andy’s down the road in Rogers,Ark. Oddly, there is another one in Evanston,Illinois where our son goes to college. Anyway, this is my first post via iPad. Cool. And we had a really nice 22nd anniversary today.
Filed under Arkansas, museum exhibit
Off to Arkansas for the weekend
Arkansas? Yes. Arkansas. I’m surprised by how surprised my fellow Iowans seem that we’re going to Arkansas for Memorial Day weekend (and to mark our 22nd wedding anniversary). True, it is a long drive for a three day weekend – about 6.5 hours to Bentonville. (Bentonville? Yes. Bentonville). But we like road trips and stopping along the way at whatever grabs our attention. And we like Arkansas. We haven’t been there in over, um, 22 years, come to think of it, but Eureka Springs (where we’ll be staying on Sunday night) is a pretty old Ozarks resort town with old hippies and avid Christians, as I recall.
We’re staying overnight at bare bones motel in Butler, Mo; then driving to Bentonville on Saturday, where we’ll visit the new Crystal Springs, a new American art museum created by a Wal-Mart heiress that’s designed by Moshe Safdie. (The museum showcases a reportedly impressive art collection and also has a sculpture garden and nature trails that wind through 120 acres of forests, gardens and ponds.) We’ll eat at AQ (“Arkansas Quality”) Chicken in nearby Springdale/
On Sunday we’ll explore Eureka Springs and splurge on non-motel accommodations, staying at Rock Cottage Gardens, a spruced up former motor court. Dinner options include Gaskins Cabin (for steak) or Ermillios or DeVito’s (Italian.) Several restaurants aren’t open on Sunday including Bubba’s which looks like it has good bbq. Not sure if Mud Street Cafe is open.
We may also stop in Joplin, Mo. en route to see how the city is recovering from the horrendous tornado that leveled a large part of the city a year ago. (We’ve been driving for several years through Greensburg, Ks. and watching it rebuild after a tornado several years ago.)
Filed under Arkansas
Trying some new Des Moines restaurants – Host, Tartine, Zombie Burger
Sitting inside Host, a new restaurant in downtown Des Moines near the public library, is a bit like being inside a Meredith magazine shoot – as the friend I was eating with, a former Meredith employee, remarked. Clean, open, space, cute mismatched white shabby chic wooden chairs at metal tables, pretty little mural of birds and the phrase “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” (a lyric to the Jimi Hendrix song Purple Haze, that’s been misheard by many a listener as “excuse me while I kiss this guy”). It’s a nice addition to the downtown dining scene, albeit a bit pricey (even if it offers locally-sourced fresh ingredients) – $10 for sandwich and a side. I had the excellent KPLT Rye Panini with (Iowa producer) La Quercia’s Tamworth prosciutto, leeks, tomatoes & Gruyere on excellent hearty wheat bread toast. My friend had a very tasty curried-chicken salad made with big chunks of real chicken, yellow raisins and nuts served on a brioche which she was pleased to find wasn’t sweet.
I finally tried Zombie Burger, eating on the carry-out side of the outdoor patio and I thought the place was fun and the food okay. I had the Zombie Burger – just a basic cheeseburger with the American cheese (not my fav) and zombie sauce (spruced-up Russian Dressing from what I could tell.) My husband had a double patty burger with blue cheese and carmelized onion. Even better. It’s basically a fast food burger in a less fast-food setting. (For a great burger – and one that’s prepared to my specifications, i.e. rare – I’ll still go to Star Bar on Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines.) I had heard some rumblings about the bad fries at Zombie Burger. Not true – in my view. The fries were great – too great, actually.
I also tried Tartine in Clive again – was impressed again but still wish it was in a different location, with less of a suburban strip-mall vibe, and was open past 8 p.m. for dinner (so I could try the burgers and frites, which look really good). I had a very rich spinach and bacon quiche (which I could eat only half of) and my friend had what looked like a light fluffy “Garden omelet” with arugula, portobello mushrooms and chevre. Both entrees came with a choice of side for $8. A small selection of elegant baked goods for dessert looked delicious.
Filed under Des Moines
Trying a new (new to us) trail in Des Moines
One effect of the new signs posted along the many miles of trails in Des Moines, for us, is that it has tempted us to go in new directions. So yesterday, we rode along the Waveland Trail from the Franklin Library south toward the Walnut Creek Trail (Am I the only one who can’t keep track of the names of theses trails?) to a point just south of 63rd Street and Grand, where we decided to go west instead of our usual east and see if we could connect to the Jordan Creek Trail we’ve tried off and on in the past.
We were able to go further than we remembered on a trail, crossing busy 63rd Street just north of the river and riding on a levee. But not too scenic. Very industrial with a gravel pit. After awhile we ended up coasting along E.P. True Parkway – a little too suburban and close to traffic for our tastes. We ended up in a pleasant pocket park near Fairmeadows School where we had a picnic, then wound our way back east through Valley Junction (stopping briefly at an art fair there) then got back on the trail at 63rd and Grand and headed our usual direction – East. Which we enjoyed even more after our ride west. We also stopped for the first time at Mullet’s – just south of Principal Park where we had a drink on the top deck with a superb view to the north of the big city.
I did find a map today of Jordan Creek Trail http://www.wdm-ia.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=297 and next time, it looks like we should head west from Fairmeadows School. And we should check out the new trail extension circles the 230-acre lake in Raccoon River Park.
Filed under bike trails, Des Moines
Grab that pitchfork for an “American Gothic” photo op in Eldon, Iowa
Grant Wood, American Gothic (1930), Art Institute of Chicago
A long time ago, I visited the sweet little house in Eldon, Iowa that Grant Wood based his iconic “American Gothic” portrait on – but now apparently you can borrow a pitchfork, overalls and glasses when you pose in front of the house, as we all tend to do there. The house is now owned by the Iowa State Historical Society. Other Grant Wood sight-seeing options, according to Iowa Farm Bureau’s Family Living (full disclosure: my husband edits it) include:
– The Grant Wood Studio and Armstrong Visitor Center in Cedar Rapids, open for tours on weekend afternoons.
– The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art which has the world’s largest collection of Grant Wood paintings (but if you want to see “American Gothic” you’ll have to visit the Chicago Art Institute.)
– I didn’t know that Wood designed a sun porch at the Brucemore estate in Cedar Rapids.
– Anamosa has the Grant Wood Art Gallery and Riverside Cemetery where Grant is buried. The 40th Annual Grant Wood Art Festival will be held there on Sunday, June 10, 2012 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. (I thought it was held in Stone City, where Wood ran a summer art school in the early 1930s.)
– For more info on the Grant Wood Trail, which includes 19 sites across Iowa, most free, see: http://www.crma.org (and click on the “Grant Wood” tab.)
Filed under Iowa
Can-u Canoe? A free canoe float down the Des Moines River
Free 30-minute canoe floats are being offered to Des Moines residents (don’t know if non-Des Moines residents can join the fun) on June 17, July 15 and August 19 from 12-4 p.m., starting at Prospect Park and ending in Birdland Marina. I don’t get exactly how this works but sounds promising, especially for novices and families with little kids. For more info: call 515-248-6314 or email tasmith@dmgov.org
Also available are basic canoeing classes (maybe I should sign my husband up….ha!) at Gray’s Lake that cost $25 as well as River Canoeing classes at “an undetermined river area.” hmmm….for more info, see www. dmced.org
Filed under Des Moines
Notes for Peru
Before I return my Peru travel guides to the library, time to jot down a few notes:
From Fodor’s: (other good book: Cusco and Machu Picchu from Moon Handbooks)
– ESSENTIAL PERU ITINERARY: Day 1: Lima; Day 2: cusco; Day 3: sacred Valley; Days 4 and 5: machu Picchu; Day 6: cusco to Lima (my aunt has recommended day 2 in Sacred valley (to get used to the altitude) then days 3-4 in Cusco and day 5 in Machu Picchu; with Amazon River extension: Day 6: cusco; Day 7-10 Iquitos and Amazon Cruise. (We’ll also spend more time in Lima because our son will be living there.)
– Lima where to stay: Barranco neighborhood vibe “bohemain, historic atmosphere, appeas to younger people; pros: neighborhood vibe; cons plenty of fbars, restaurants, lovely architecture (methinks this was a tongue-in-cheek “con”). Second Home Peru!!
– Cusco, where to stay: Ninos Hotel – i.e. children’s hotel. Not only sounds like a lovely place but proceeds donated to are of local disadvantaged children. Sounds too good to be true. “immensely popular” so must book way ahead.
– Sacred Valley – Pisac market! (tuesday, thursday, Sunday) and town of Ollantaytambo and salt pans at Salineras (below)
which remind me of the calcium-deposit waterfalls in Turkey’s Pamukkale (below).
 |
|
| Country | Turkey |
|---|---|
– When to go: Sundays are free for locals so busier in Cusco then. “for near-ideal weather and manageable crowds, fall trip!”
– for altitude sickness: prescription drug acetazolamide/diamox; don’t drink alcohol or caffeine; mate de coca (team made from coca plant)drink lots of water. (bottled, even when brushing your teeth and order drinks with NO ICE – traveler’s diarrhea sounds like no fun. One folk remedy is chamomile (manaznilla) tea))
Filed under Peru
TakeBetsywithyou 