We had 19 out-of-town guest for Thanksgiving this year (from L.A., Tucson, Chicago, suburban Chicago, Springfield, suburban Detroit, Brooklyn and Washington D.C.) and enjoyed showing them around the new improved Des Moines. Among their favorites:
– La Mie restaurant for lunch
– East Village for shopping – including Raygun, Porch Light, Kitchen Collage, Gong Fu, Eden
– Winterset – lunch at Northside Cafe (complete with a visit from Santa, who inadvertently spooked our 2 1/2-year-old niece), shopping at the Ben Franklin on Shop Small Saturday (as fate would have it), a visit to Roseman Bridge.
– Star Bar for lunch
– Django for dinner
– Raccoon River Brewery for afternoon billards and drinks
– Confluence Brewery, hand-crafted beer served in the taproom and in refillable half-gallon bottles (aka growlers.)
– The Des Moines Art Center’s Halston-Warhol show.
– The downtown Pappajohn Sculpture Park (although it was too nippy when we visited to walk around.)
– Gateway Market for cheese and bread shopping.
– The state historical museum (good places for a little girl to run around…and I need to revisit the Hollywood in the Heartland exhibit)
TakeBetsywithyou 