I shall be in Des Moines for an agriculture business trip from London, via Bermuda and then after Des Moines, Minneapolis and Chicago.
I fly in and pick up a car rental from Des Moines International at around 18:00 on the Friday 12th October and will be heading out for work on the Monday 15th morning.
I'll be staying from the 12th until the morning of Tuesday 16th at the Embassy Suites Downtown.
Looking at my profile and making a judgement on my likes/dilikes, please recommend or advise what I might get upto as a Des Moines break from work over this weekend.
Many thanks in advance for any and all thoughts
DRJO
Des Moines 12th to 14th October
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I lived in central Iowa for fourteen years, so I figured I could help out on this one.
> Looking at my profile and making a judgement on my likes
Having just done that, my first thought was to let you know that Des Moines is not as exciting as an African safari or sailing across the Atlantic. Some people think it's not as interesting as London. So don't expect as much excitement or interest as you've had in other trips of yours.
You're just an hour from Ames, and it so happens the university team there -- the Iowa State Cyclones -- are playing a football (that's American football, if you can't guess) game that weekend. It would probably make for an enjoyable day to drive up there, watch the hoopla, enjoy the game, and then come back.
The only other thing I can recommend, that I think is remotely unique to the area, is Living History Farms.
http://www.lhf.org/en/visit/about_the_farms/
PaulRabe, many thanks. DRJO
I recently had to spend 5 days on business in Des Moines and my company put me up at the Fort Des Moines hotel (what a piece of gothic horror - lucky you won't have to stay there!). Anyway, the one bright spot was the French restaurant in the lobby called D'Jango's. I highly recommend a lunch or dinner there if you can. It is not pretentious French food at all. Had a lovely mussel and French fries dinner for about $25 tax & tip. They serve terrific drinks and because of the age of the hotel (1915), the resto bar is beautiful wood paneling. You will feel like you are in a pre-WWII locale (you actually are). It was jammed with downtown workers, so locals must know it is good food as well.
I was there to work, work, and more work, so can't recommend any fun things to do. We did go one night to a huge mall about 30 min outside of downtown, but that isn't my idea of fun. Good Luck!