Nancy likes soft-serve ice cream. I’m not particularly fond of it, but I have no objection to stopping for Nancy to get a cone. And there are times when I prick up my ears and start salivating. That’s when she wants to stop at Dairy Queen. The attraction at Dairy Queen is the Blizzard. The Blizzard is one of those great inventions, like refrigeration, the … Continue reading Dairy Queen: The Blizzard
The other day Liza observed, “I take a lot fewer pictures when I’m having a lot of fun.” I thought about that as I started writing up a wonderful evening. As I wrote here, our flight into Milwaukee at the beginning of our five-state Tour de Midwest started a magical day. And the same was true of our last evening before returning home. Nancy and … Continue reading Mo’s … A Place for Steaks, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Our five Midwestern state capital Volksmarches completed, Nancy and I made a few stops on our way to see former next door neighbors, Carrie and Jason Enzler and their terrific children. First, we detoured into Grinnell to see the eponymous college, which we were able to find despite GPS’s insistence that the college was in the middle of a downtown commercial block. Next we stopped … Continue reading Pullman Bar and Diner, Iowa City, Iowa
After our … memorable drink at Ernie’s Boondocks, Nancy and I went to dinner. One of my goals for our stay in Iowa was to have a fried tenderloin sandwich. It’s something of a specialty in Iowa. It’s not the official state sandwich, that’s the Tavern or Loose Meat Sandwich. I thought about getting one, and had a tip on a good-looking place in an … Continue reading Iowa Taproom, Des Moines, Iowa
Every now and then someone asks me to review dive bars. I don’t go to bars as such very often. I like a drink a little more than the next guy, maybe a good bit more, but my days of going to bars ended around the time I married Nancy. When I was a child, I drank as a child, I misunderstood as a child, … Continue reading Ernie’s Boondock, Des Moines, Iowa
After a fantastic dinner at Jesse’s Embers the night before, Nancy and I got an early morning, pre-heat start on our State Capital walk. We wrapped up a very pleasant 11k walk in Des Moines just before noon. The Capitol itself was impressive, especially the library. The walk took us around the many memorials on Capitol Hill, and it wound through East Des Moines, an … Continue reading Open Sesame, Des Moines, Iowa
Nancy and I left Ames after a long walk around the lovely Iowa State campus, a fruitless effort to find a Clone Cone (they’re only sold during basketball games, it seems), and a drive around the historic downtown, we turned toward a main Iowa destination: a steakhouse in Des Moines. Jesse’s Embers came with a strong recommendation from our Senior Mexico and Iowa Correspondents Lyn … Continue reading Jesse’s Embers, Des Moines, Iowa
After a delightful visit with Curt and Cindy Liljedahl of the addicting AdventuRetired podcasts, Nancy and I stopped for the evening in Ames. We checked into our hotel, and then ventured out to Hickory Park on Curt and Cindy’s recommendation. It’s east to see why they recommended it. Hickory Park has been an institution in Ames for over 50 years. It’s changed locations a couple … Continue reading Hickory Park, Ames, Iowa
This was not the best food, but it was easily my favorite meal of the trip thus far. Nancy and I had enjoyed our 10k walk around Pierre. Pierre is a small city, about 13,000 residents, but it’s a memorable walk. One thing that I loved was there is a statue in Pierre of every governor of the state. That’s no big deal, but the … Continue reading The Chuckwagon Bar and Grill, Fort Pierre, South Dakota, and Zesto in Pierre
Nancy and I got up at 0 Dark 30 for our 10K walk in Bismarck, even before the morning coffee was hot at our hotel. We finished up, hopped in the car, took the back road down the Missouri River through the Sioux Reservation, across the bridge at Mowbridge, and on to Pierre. You need to take that drive. Not the fast drive, the one … Continue reading Cattleman’s Club Steakhouse, Pierre, South Dakota
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