I confess: I’m a bagel snob. But the new 5 Borough Bagels in Clive is the real deal (“New York-style” although I’ve never seen a “French Toast” bagel in NYC. It’s not bad.)
Just hoping Iowans appreciate and keep these young bagel entrepreneurs in business! They even offer onion bialys, which are heavier than I’m used to but delicious.
Filed under Des Moines, DINING
The weather didn’t cooperate on Labor Day — it rained in the morning in Lanesboro – so we scrapped our original plan to ride a third leg of the Root River Trail (from Lanesboro to Fountain , or another option – Lanesboro to Preston or Harmony) and drove south to sunnier skies and another bike trail in Iowa. We found both – sort of (there was sun but also thunder, lightening and clouds in the distance that fortunately didn’t result in rain) – in Riceville, Ia, where we hopped on the very pleasant Wapsi-Great Western Line Trail, riding through forested corridors lining corn fields and then through open cornfields, past Amish farms. There was scenery to delight both me as a Michigan native (a rare, for Iowa, strand of Birch trees) and Dirck, as a native Kansan (prairie, with yellow and purple flowers.)
prairie grass!
To do a loop, we did have to ride on a country road but noticed that some Amish cyclists we passed were taking the same approach as us – riding in the oncoming traffic lane so we could see the rare car coming our way and get out of the way. It seemed safer than having the traffic to our back, even if it may have taken the oncoming driver by surprise.
Birch trees!
Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa
The eastern section of The Root River Trail was also well worth riding and less traveled. The trail asphalt is rougher, especially the five miles between Peterson and Rushford but Minnesota is on it…the section is slated for replacing this month. There also is a steep uphill and downhill between Miles 37 and 38, as forwarned, but it wasn’t too bad and we are used to more ups and downs on other trails. For families with little kids, Houston has a neat nature playground and near Whalan is a low key miniature golf course. We did backtrack to Whalan to stop at Aroma Pie Shoppe, which come much recommended. At 4 pm there was little left so we tried two kinds of pies we have never had before, both very good: sourcream raisen and Vermont maple (as sweet as pecan pie, with coconut). Dinner was good at Old Village Hall Restaurant where we ate on the patio on a perfect summer night. I was glad we stayed one night in town (at the lovely old Habberstad b&b, in the Orchid Room) especially so we could get a feel for the place once it has quieted down. IT was nice to walk back to the inn along quiet residential streets at night after dinner.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Minnesota
We made a quick stop in Decorah during our Lanesboro, MN trip. Not long enough unfortunately to visit the Agora Arts gallery. BUt we did find a good Airbnb just south of town that was very easy Ina no out, clean and affordable $56. And we found one coffee house (among several) open on Sunday morning — thank you Java John’s. The Oneota Co-op also was open at 10 am so we lingered long enough to get picnic supplies there.
Filed under Iowa
Peterson, MN
WE finally made it to southeast Minnesota to ride our bikes along the much-touted Root River Trail and it was as lovely (and easy to ride) as advertised– at least the 15 mile stretch from Lanesboro east through the tiny town of Whalan (with its famous pie shop) and the slightly less tiny town of Peterson, where we had excellent pie at Burdy’s Cafe, an unassuming little place with cheerful teenage girls as our servers. The trail was largely flat but not dull. It follows the wide,often fast moving river for the most part, through woods and fields, past picture perfect old farmsteads, tidy towns and wooded stone bluffs. We also lucked out with the weather, low 70s, sun but cloud cover.
Lanesboro’s main drag was packed with people, cars and bikes but not awful. It’s lined with wellkept old brick storefronts. It’s not as well heeled as, say, Stockholm, Wisconsin or ticky tacky as, say, places I won’t mention.It has a nice local art gallery, a popular ice cream shop and the Pedal Pusher’s cafe, which has a hearty Minnesota vibe (the Norwegian meatballs were already sold out when we arrived at 6 pm). We picnicked for lunch in the city park, overlooking a little pond where people were fishing and families pitched tents. We particularly appreciated the public bathrooms there, at the library, with pay showers (who knew?), where we changed into our biking gear.
TOnight we are 45 miles south in Decorah, one of our favorite places in Iowa, staying at a pleasant and affordable Airbnb ($53) on a rural highway outside town. We stopped in town for ice cream and beer at Topping Goliath, an award winning local brewery. or so Dirck tells me.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa, Minnesota
So glad I didn’t spend this gorgeous day in the car driving home to Des Moines. Instead I got a long awaited swim in a lake, which I have been longing to do all summer. Better late than never and had a great swim in Lake Michigan at Hollywood Beach, a pleasant stretch of sand a short walk from where Emma and Rocket live in Edgewater — another great thing about their neighborhood!
Later we went to a funky place called the Rodgers park social club and made our own at the excellent Bloody Mary bar, which came with a chaser of beer or cider. Explored the neighborhood a little- a food store with lots of Midwestern products (and a shopkeeper from royal oak, Michigan …my hometown area; a little sculpture garden. Tonight we had a great dinner at Shaw’s where I tried a new dish that was as good as my aunt said it was – fresh grilled tuna in a soy ginger sauce with crispy thin sliced potatoes and chives.
Great to see our longtime family friend from Pennsylvania, Marjorie V., after so long.
Filed under Chicago, Uncategorized
We began the morning with the world’s best bagels (sorry NYC)…Detroit bagels, which are smaller and chewier than New York’s,and the onion bagel has the onion bits baked mixed into the batter, not burnt bits on the outside. The egg bagels are superb too. But irony of ironies, the bagel store on Woodward Near Ferndale has the unfortunate name, New York Bagels.
We took Noah for his first viewing of the famous Diego Rivera mural at the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA), which was even better than I remembered from years ago. A knowledgeable docent was conveniently stationed in the courtyard and provided all kinds of interesting information, including where to find Diego himself among the workers and the comic book character Dick Tracy. We also saw a really fun photography show on American Road trips.
Dinner was at Chartreuse, a charming place on Woodward near the DIA, with a rustic earthy decor (and lots of chartreuse) and inventive food, using fresh produce and local products. We had delicious ribs (with” togarashi, soy mirin glaze, raw potato and seaweed salad”) and pork (Niman ranch tenderloin, clover fed pork shoulder, salsa verde, cheddar jalapeño grits, black beans, radish), good appetizers and dessert. And I bumped into my high school choral director who I hadn’t seen in years. Another treat!
Well at least we got Leo’s done right away. (Below) My son and dad are fans, especially of the Coney Island. En route to Detroit from Chicago we stopped for a good breakfast at schoopp’s (way below) 
in Michigan City Indiana, off I 94. (We went there years ago and have never been clear on the right exit.)
Filed under Michigan
We had some good meals at two restaurants on Chicago’s Gold Coast, off of Division, earlier this week:
Nearby Eduardo’s
Touring Yamanashi’s fruit production
Nice to have a story I wrote about our trip to Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture in today’s Des Moines check it out there
Or below:
Iowa farmers’ highlights from trip to sister state Yamanashi
Betsy Rubiner, Special to the Register11:50 a.m. CDT August 2, 2016
(Photo: Betsy Rubiner/Special to the Register)
After jumping at an invitation from Iowa farmers to tag along on a July trip to Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture, I got even more excited when my guidebook had no mention of Yamanashi. I love traveling off the beaten path.
But Iowans – farmers, students, business leaders, governors – have beaten a path to Yamanashi since the 1960 “Iowa hog lift,” when Iowa donated breeding hogs and feed corn to help the region about 80 miles west of Tokyo recover from a typhoon.
So began the Iowa/Yamanashi sister-state relationship, the first between the United States and Japan. Exchanges of people, agriculture products and kindness have followed. (On the State Capitol grounds in Des Moines, check out the monument sent by Yamanashi residents in 1962.)
Our group from the Iowa Farm Bureau (where my husband works, hence the invite) was warmly welcomed with unusual opportunities, including an agriculture tour through a fertile valley surrounded by mountains, with stops at a peach orchard, rice paddy and grape greenhouse (rebuilt with some Iowa aid after a 2014 snowstorm).
But here are activities available to all:
Experience Mt. Fuji: Catching sight of Japan’s highest peak (12,388 feet) is thrilling – and not guaranteed, we soon learned. Among Japan’s most iconic images, the snow-capped, cone-shaped volcano can be found on everything from famous woodblock prints to hand towels and cookies. The real Mt. Fuji greeted us full frontal, with only a wispy cloud drifting across its mid-section, when we arrived at the Highland Resort Hotel, in the small city of Fujiyoshida, about a 33-mile drive north of the mountain. The next day, Fuji was gone, gobbled up by clouds. “She’s very shy,” explained our charming Japanese guide.
July and August are peak Fuji hiking season, including popular overnight climbs. Although I wasn’t among the Iowa farmers who went on a short, well-reviewed day hike, I joined a mid-mountain visit, arriving by tour bus after an hour’s drive south. Although the “fifth station” parking area was packed with visitors and buses (private cars weren’t allowed), being on Fuji and peering down into its spooky, dense green forest from the visitor area decks was a kick.
Japanese bathing: Yamanashi is a good place to try Japan’s famed communal bath houses, many with water from natural hot springs or onsens, thanks to the area’s volcanic activity. (Fuji hasn’t erupted since the early 1700s.) Yes, this is nude bathing. But there’s one area for women, another for men. (Some onsens offer private rentals for coed bathing.)
A typically American, solo shower gal, I discovered that lounging around in shallow pools of water (indoor, outdoor, hot, tepid, cold, rosemary-infused) is a relaxing way to end a day as a Yamanashi tourist, especially in hot-and-humid July. It’s also a very Japanese experience, with well-defined and obeyed rules that newcomers pick up, sometimes after a mishap or two. (Word to the wise: Wash yourself before entering the pools. And no people with tattoos allowed.)
Peach picking time in Yamanashi: One of Japan’s top fruit-producing regions, Yamanashi’s famous softball-sized, white-fleshed peaches are sold at roadside stands, indoor markets and pick-your-own orchards. (Look, too, for delicious peach ice cream.) We also spotted peaches hanging low from trees, each wrapped in paper. The result: pricey peaches pampered to perfection, rosy and blemish-free on the outside, sweet and juicy inside, sold in expensive Tokyo department store food halls.
Visit a traditional farming village, sort of: To Iowa eyes, Saiko Iyashi no Sato – a recreation of a farming village destroyed by a 1966 typhoon – brings to mind the Des Moines area’s Living History Farms. But this open-air museum/crafts showcase in the woods above one of the Fuji Five Lakes is distinctly Japanese, with traditional thatched roofed houses along winding paths dotted with purple hydrangea. Inside many are shops selling artwork and food, from Mt. Fuji depictions to green tea ice cream. (Yamanashi’s Fujiyama Museum specializes in Fuji art.)
Roller Coaster Riding: I hate roller coasters. But plenty of farmers were game to try the coasters – billed as among the world’s steepest – at Fuji-Q Highland, an amusement park well-known in Japan and located right behind our hotel.
Japanese dining – or not: Familiar restaurants near our hotel include a Big Boy, KFC and McDonald’s. But word has it, the hamburgers were less familiar – bun-less and more like meatloaf with gravy. All the more reason to eat Japanese classic cuisine at our hotel’s restaurants or at Aiya, a chain restaurant with an encyclopedic menu worthy of an Applebee’s, featuring greatest hits such as sushi, tempura, Udon noodles, karaage (chicken nuggets) and tonkatsu (akin to Iowa’s pork tenderloin). Fortunately, Aiya’s menu also has point-to photos, since our Japanese is pathetically limited to words like “arigato” (thank you) and “Ohayo” (good morning). And refreshingly, no one in the restaurant spoke much English.
Betsy Rubiner, based in Des Moines, writes the travel blog TakeBetsywithyou.
Filed under Uncategorized
TakeBetsywithyou
TakeBetsywithyou 