Des Moines, Iowa
Our 24 hour trip to Iowa: What we did and what we would do differently.
We arrived in Iowa on Wednesday around noon. The winds were blowing and the plane was rocking but we made it safe and sound. We rented a car from Budget using Costco Travel and the rental car lady started our trip off with a bang in true Iowa fashion, aka being the nicest person. I think that’s what Iowa should be most known for; having the nicest people in the US. I’m not sure why they’re so nice, must be something in the water.
We got our car (that had heated seats thanks to our girl) and headed to our hotel. Upon arriving at The Renaissance we were greeted with a hand written letter saying we were being upgraded to a suite. Our room was spacious and clean, although the bathroom could barely fit one person at a time. But that didn’t matter too much as we didn’t plan on spending much time in the room other than to change and sleep. After unloading we went out in search of beer, as we always do, and walked over to Peace Tree Brewing. We got a flight of beer each and loved them. They had barrels stacked to look like a Christmas tree and had it decorated with lights and ornaments. It was very cute and a great vibe. The walk there was cold but short as it was only about .7 miles from our hotel.
After enjoying some beers we headed over to the Iowa Tap Room which was just across the street to get a bite to eat. Honestly, this place was just OK. Nothing really to write home about. But after we filled ourselves up we walked to Up/Down which was definitely my favorite part of our day/night. Up/Down is an arcade bar filled with classics like Donkey Kong, Skee-Ball, and even Hungry Hippos. Each game is 1 token and you can buy the tokens at the bar. The beers and tokens are cheap which leads to endless amounts of fun. They also sell pizza by the slice which we wish we would have saved room for. We honestly could have stayed there all night racing the boats and playing Skee-Ball but we knew we needed to get up early for our Turkey Trot the next day so we headed home. Our walk back was cold and windy and a little longer than it should have been as I walked us the wrong way past our hotel ... But the walk was beautiful as they had trees decorated with lights and the streets were empty and clean.
We woke up Thursday morning to the sound of music in the streets as we were just feet from the start of the Turkey Trot. We got ready and waited until the last possible minute to head down to the start line. It was a chilly 30 degrees with light wind and boy is that something our Arizona blood isn’t used to. There were a little over 4000 people that were doing this race and it was a beautiful route through the city. There were 2 race length options available, a 5k or a 5 mile. We opted for the 5 mile which ended up really being around 4.5 miles (Major win!). It was a beautiful way to see the city so I recommend it to anyone who is there during the holiday and wants to see a lot in a little amount of time like us. After the race they provided cinnamon buns and chili which sounds like a weird combination but honestly it was amazing and oddly satisfying. You got the sugar rush from the cinnamon bun and the warmth from the chili… *chefs kiss* .
We went up to our hotel room after the race to get ready and pack our things before heading out. One thing that was disappointing was that our hotel room didn’t have a bath tub. I was so cold that a nice soak in a hot bath sounded amazing. Oh well. Before leaving the city and heading out to Nebraska we had to stop by the infamous Casey’s general store for some Thanksgiving Day pizza. We have heard that the breakfast pizza is a MUST and the store was nice enough to cook a fresh pie with half bacon and half sausage for us to try a slice of each. And let me tell you, it lived up to the hype. Such a odd but delicious concept.
We wish we had more time to hangout in Des Moines and explore more but we will for sure be back!
What we would change: Honestly, I would have skipped the Iowa Tap Room all together. While the beer and food were OK i think we would have been happier spending our time/money elsewhere. Honestly, I would have rather grabbed the cheese platter we saw people eating at Peace Tree and spent more time there before and heading straight to up/down and having pizza as our late night snack/meal.