Advertisement
Published: June 26th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Entering Iowa
The state boundary with Missouri Our most recent trip away was a short one, just an over-nighter to the rather forgettable town of Des Moines (pronounced Damoyne, or the way we say it, Dez Mwar-nez). Des Moines is a touch over three hours to the North East of Leavenworth, and the only reason that took us there was a game of football.
Not long after we arrived in Kansas I signed up to play for the Kansas City Power, our local AFL club. I made it down to the first training session of the year, which consisted of a full length game practice match. Shortly afterwards I decided that training was too much effort and decided that I would play without training (bad idea, but more on that later…..). It was bloody fantastic to see our great game being played in the US, and surprisingly there were very few Aussies involved in the club. With my arrival at the club, there were a grand total of 3 Aussies, of which one didn’t play….most of the guys were young blokes who had seen the game on TV or travelled to Australia and decided to get involved……bloody excellent.
Anyway, we arrived in
Family photo at the State Capital
Shortly after this Fiona asked: 'So Omaha is the capital of Iowa?' To which I replied, 'No, Omaha is in Nebraska, Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, that's why we are standing in from of the Capital Building....' Des Moines to a scorching hot day with high humidity….I was sweating before the warm up! The game kicked off and it’s much scrapier play than back home, but some of the guys are actually really good players – they may not have the skills, but know how to find the footy. Unfortunately I managed to tweak a 37 year old hamstring at the end of the first quarter when trying to take a speccy in a big pack (didn’t even touch the ball, by the way), so spent the rest of the game confined to the forward line.
The boys had a great time watching the game. In between them climbing all the trees around the ground and Fiona painting their finger nails (very excited about that!), they actually kicked their little Sherrins around and came out to the half time huddle. Unfortunately we went down by four goals, but considering we had one on the bench and the opposition had 8, it wasn't too bad an effort by the boys.
After the game we checked into the hotel and decided to explore the town. Des Moines was a reasonably attractive town that
had a few small historic villages that added character. The town hall was the most imposing structure which sat upon the high ground in the city. It is capped with an eye catching gold dome which really makes it the show-off of the sky line. The building itself is surrounded by a beautiful green-space which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. Somehow they manage to find every single structure in a park that they can climb on!
We had a quick dinner which was an interesting interpretation of Penang Curry and Pad Thai noodles before heading to the Des Moines sculpture gardens which housed and array of sculptures (surprise surprise) in a beautifully maintained park in the centre of downtown. The kids thought is was great fun and ran themselves ragged until Paddy took a good stack resulting in a skinned knee and lots of tears! After some cuddles and medical treatment, we called it a night and retired to the hotel.
Next day was Father’s Day, so I was woken by two very excited boys jumping on me just bursting out of their skin to give me a present and hand drawn cards! I was
Bridges of Madison County
Much more interesting than the movie stoked with my new Avengers T-Shirt which I wore to breakfast at the International House of Pancakes (or IHOP) much to Fiona’s enjoyment! After shoving pancakes into our heads we headed out of town for the journey back. However, not far south of Des Moine is Madison County of ‘Bridges of Madison County’ fame. The largest city in Madison County is Winterset, the birthplace of American legend John Wayne. So, if you haven’t seen ‘Bridges of Madison County’, you are probably thinking, 'it’s filmed at John Wayne’s birth place' (good), 'stars Clint Eastwood - also good'. This movie is going to be a ball-tearer right? Wrong! It’s the biggest piece of cinematic dribble I have ever had the displeasure of seeing. After 60 minutes or sheer boredom I desperately wanted to turn it off, but I was already committed – ‘it’s only got 30 mins’, I thought, ‘might as well see the end’. Another 93 minutes of mind-numbing dribble later and the credits finally roll……oh my god, what an exercise in endurance - I'm sure I'm dumber for having watched it - the bridges are nice though!
There’s several of the old covered bridges throughout
John Wayne Museum
The Army issue toilet paper is called John Wayne paper, cause it's rough and tough, and doesn't take shit from anyone! the region, some dating as far back as 1870. Interestingly, the majority span only very small creeks, some of which had no water flowing at all. Although, they probably turn into mini-rivers early in the spring as the snow melts and the water flows into the major water-ways. The towns in the area, including Winterset were picturesque ‘small town America’ villages. Hanging baskets of brightly coloured flowers lined the main streets which were full of classic American buildings and an eclectic range of shops. It was a great experience to stop and see these sleepy little towns that are a long way from tourist brochures and postcard sights which you would normally see on a whistle stop tour of the country.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0351s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb