Iowa Girl on the Go

If you think that covered bridges are the only reason to visit Madison County, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the variety of activities in Winterset, Iowa, and the surrounding area.

I spent today roughly following the advice of Des Moines Register writer Paula Reece, who wrote a travel piece in the “Fiftysomething” insert a couple of weeks ago about fall drives to take in the Midwest.

Before heading west this morning, I stopped at the downtown Des Moines farmers market, because this is the best time to go to the market in my opinion. I was not disappointed today. The air was crisp and there was still abundant produce and prepared foods to be had — including fall produce such as pumpkins, squash, apples, cider, bittersweet, and Indian corn.

After spending way too much time and money at the market, I headed to Madison County, known for its covered bridges made famous by Robert James Waller’s book The Bridges of Madison County and the subsequent movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. (I have to admit I’ve never read the book, which probably makes me un-American — or at least un-Iowan.)

I have visited the bridges and the town of Winterset, the Madison County seat — but never on such a glorious fall day. I started my journey by taking Exit 104 off I-80 about 20 miles west of Des Moines. That led to a long and gravel-y drive to the first bridge: Hogback. (If I do this again, I will take Hwy. 169 off I-80, which provides a more direct route to the bridge. This is what I get for following the tourist map.)

Hogback Bridge is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, like most of the bridges. You drive along on a gravel road and then bam! there’s the bridge. Hogback, built in 1884, gets its name from the limestone ridge that forms the west end of the valley. It’s really just a few miles northwest of Winterset, and it’s a very nice-looking bridge.

My next stop was Pammel State Park, a disappointment. I was hoping to hike some of the “five miles of trails” promised in the newspaper article, but I’ll be switched if I could find a single one. I drove back and forth several times on the same roads and could only find water trails on the Middle River, which runs through the park. I did drive through the park’s tunnel — reportedly the only highway tunnel in the state of Iowa (can that be right?)

After that, I toyed with the idea of driving out to Roseman Bridge — the most famous one from the book — but I’ve been there before and found the presence of a gift shop annoying. Plus, I want to go back later with Dave because he wants to see the bridges and visit John Wayne’s birthplace. So consider Roseman on my to-do list for next summer.

Instead, I went to downtown Winterset to do some shopping. Reece suggests Applehurst, an eclectic shop in the former Madison County Jail. I went there, and it’s very cute. Lots of stuff outside to see, tables on the porch for drinking local wine and beer, and a shop filled with gardening and birdwatching supplies mixed with antiques, gifts, and more.

I was pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of shops downtown. I think it’s grown exponentially since the last time I was here — or perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention. But there are good-quality gift shops, art galleries, antiques, and even an old-fashioned Ben Franklin. I visited B.Shannon Designs, featuring custom jewelry and art, as well as a couple of antiques and gift shops.

Winterset City Park is one of the nicest city parks I’ve seen. For one thing, it has its very own covered bridge — the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge. This bridge was built in 1870 and was originally located over the North River near Bevington. It was moved to its present site in 1970. The park also features a well-tended English hedge maze — tell me the last time you saw one of these? — and plenty of other features.

I headed east out of Winterset to visit the Holliwell Bridge (also on a gravel road, but not far from town). Built in 1880, it is the longest covered bridge, measuring 122 feet. It remains in its original site over the Middle River southeast of Winterset.

I had to go back through Winterset to get on Hwy 169 to head back to I-80, and my stomach was growling, so I stopped at a little Italian deli right off the square. This small shop features a menu of sandwiches and salads, a deli counter with meats and cheeses by the pound, Italian imports, and a rather random gift shop. The women running the place were good natured and made me a dandy veggie sandwich on a warm Italian roll. It was so huge I couldn’t eat the whole thing — and with chips, Italian herbed crackers, coleslaw, a pickle, and a bottle of water,  it only cost me $5.00. (A number of other locally owned restaurants and bakeries can be found on the town square.)

Besides the Roseman Bridge, the other bridges I did not visit were the Cedar Bridge (north of Winterset) and the Imes Bridge (in Charles City, right off of I-35). I’ll leave those for my next trip.

The Northeast Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour gives art enthusiasts a unique opportunity to visit artists where they work — and even sometimes where they live.

The 14th annual studio tour features 45 artists from Calmar to New Albin, Waukon to Lansing, with a concentrated number in Decorah.

You can drive at your own pace through scenic Northeast Iowa. Many of the studios are only open for this event once each year, and you can visit with the artists and purchase their art. This was a perfect weekend to go for a scenic drive; the temperature today was in the low 80s and the fall color was lovely.

Dave and I spent the day traveling from studio to studio, starting at Steel Cow  where Valerie Miller paints cows. Big cows, small cows, brightly colored cows. Steel Cow, her urban gallery in small-town Waukon, is worth the drive from anywhere. I defy anyone not to smile when they see these paintings. The cows all have names, like Grace and Caroline and Queenie and Mae. We definitely started with the best studio on the tour. It’s totally cool.

From Waukon, we went to Lansing, ate lunch at TJ Hunter’s, and then visited Fred and Velga Easker’s studio up the road. Fred Easker paints extremely realistic, panoramic scenes of northeast Iowa and also offers the paintings as prints in several sizes at very reasonable prices. Velga Easker’s collages are inspired by quilts but contain tiny pieces of paper and even postage stamps. They are small, delicate masterpieces.

Heading north toward New Albin, we attempted to find the pottery studio of Nate and Hallie Evans. After a few missteps and backtracks, we finally pulled out the GPS and found the Allamakee Wood-fired Pottery studio down a long, skinny gravel road.

I liked the Evans studio very much because it seemed like a real, authentic, messy artists’ studio. They even offered us soup and homemade bread.

Winding back southwest on county roads gave us the opportunity to see more pretty fall leaves, farm fields, and dairy cows. We ended the loop in Decorah where there were more than 15 studios and galleries. We visited a few of them and also shopped in some of Decorah’s other nice-quality shops in the downtown area.

Next year’s tour is Oct.12-14, 2012.

Des Moines’ East Village is the setting for this weekend’s World Food Festival. The festival features authentic cuisines from Iowa’s diverse ethnic populations (as well as some American foods thrown in for, I assume, the kids and the faint of heart). Unique and exciting foods abound. For example: Aloo pie, a vegetarian dish from Trinidad; donates dolmasi from Mesopotamia; French crepes; Cajun jambalaya and etouffee; steamed buns from the Philippines; Ukrainian perogies; Moroccan gyros; plantain fritters from Ecuador; and Bosnian cabbage rolls.

Dave ate pupusas from El Savador: thick corn tortillas filled with pork and cheese and topped with vinegar coleslaw and salsa. I was thrilled to see a booth sponsored by the Ethiopian Association of Iowa. I love Ethiopian food and don’t get a chance to eat it very often — especially in Iowa. I ate vegetarian atkilt with cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, and green beans in curry sauce with spongy injera bread (pictured).

One great thing about this festival is that each booth offers a $1 taste item. Dave took advantage of this and had a little piece of alligator on a stick at the Fat Tuesday booth. He said it tasted like fish. I chose toasted marshmallows on a stick (caramel and coconut) and I’m pretty sure they were better than alligator meat.

The festival continues through Sunday.

For those of you who followed my blog in April when I was traveling with a group of Iowa Staters in Italy, you may remember that I became very close to my fellow travelers and had a very hard time saying goodbye. At the farewell dinner, Connie Osborne suggested that we all get together in Ames this fall for a football game and everyone was enthusiastic.

Those kinds of ideas generally sound great while you’re in the midst of a group in a lovely city such as Venice…but rarely come about once you return to your daily lives. But this group was different. Yesterday, five couples (nearly half of the total group) converged in Ames. I hosted the group in my home, and it was like a joyous family reunion. We all crowded into the kitchen, and the sound was deafening! It made me remember how loud we were in Italy!

For some reason, this group just connected from the very beginning. So it was really fun to see them again. We drank wine; ate pasta and bruschetta, bread, salad, and tiramisu; listened to Italian opera music; and celebrated the “second retirement” of one of the group’s members, Don Feld. We sat at two tables — it was quickly determined that men would sit at one and women at the other for maximum conversation — and reminisced about such things as the lovely villa in which we stayed in Tuscany, the restaurant we loved in San Gimingano, and our wonderful guide, Mauro. We toasted to good memories and good friendships.

I love fall and I love beer, so it seems surprising that I’ve never been to the annual Oktoberfest celebration on Court Avenue in downtown Des Moines.

I remedied that last night. Friday was the first of the two-day celebration featuring live polka music and dancing, food, beer, and folks in German costumes. The celebration continues today, starting at 4 p.m. and running until 1 a.m.

Cost for the event is $10 at the door, but that gets you an official Des Moines Oktoberfest mug and your first beer. After that, beer is $4.

I was surprised to see the number of really good dancers until I saw that many of them were members of the Polka Club of Iowa. Who knew?

Last year I was at least a week late (maybe two) for the peak of fall color for my annual trek to northeast Minnesota.

This year, I was at least two weeks early. Maybe three.

It also rained all day Sunday — my only full day on the north shore. So I spent a fair amount of time inside: driving, reading, even napping. But I also took a walk (with a jacket and umbrella).

But I am getting ahead of myself. Saturday Dave and I drove to Duluth. En route, we spent a few hours at Jay Cooke State Park just outside the city. It’s a beautiful park, with the St. Louis River flowing through it and a swinging bridge. There was a bizarre wedding (or cult activity or virgin sacrifice) going on at one of the picnic areas. I love Minnesota.

Saturday night we went to Canal Park by the waterfront. This is a big tourist area with shops, restaurants, bars, antiques, boat rides, an aquarium, IMax theater, and more. It was chilly out, and I was hungry. We tried one bar but the service was wretched. So we ended up at a higher-end Italian restaurant where I drank expensive wine.

The next morning we drove up the north shore in the aforementioned rain. I took literally no pictures the entire day. We walked to the water falls at Grand Portage State Park, visited the Grand Portage national historic site, and dropped by the Naniboujou Lodge — a real gem right across the highway from Judge Magney State Park (a few miles north of Grand Marais). Judge Magney State Park will forever remain in my mind as the place where I wrecked my Volkswagen Beetle several years ago. I was the only one in the parking lot. (It’s a long story.) Then, as now, it was cold and raining.

In Grand Marais, we went to my favorite places: Gunflint Tavern (for beer and veggie chili) and Sven and Ole’s (for wild rice pizza — my favorite pizza in all the world). We stayed the night at East Bay Suites. The room was small but it had a (fake) fireplace and a (real) balcony — upon which we could watch it rain. This morning we woke up to a sunny, beautiful day. Too bad we had to leave.

We walked around the Grand Marais harbor area and took a few pictures before driving down the shore. We stopped at Cascade Lodge for breakfast. That’s where I normally stay on the north shore (the lodge, not the restaurant) so it felt like home there.

Farther south we stopped at Palisade Head for a brief walk and some photos. Our last stop on the north shore was Split Rock Lighthouse, a historic attraction I’ve driven by and photographed from a distance many times but never actually toured. It’s pretty cool. There’s a visitor center, lighthouse tours, and a walk down the lake to get the best view of the lighthouse.

I wish I would have had one more day.

You only have to drive a couple of minutes north of North Grand Mall in Ames to reach the 430-acre Ada Hayden Heritage Park, but it feels like a world away.

The park’s central feature is a large lake – actually made up of two lakes – with a walking bridge. Around the lake is a 2.8-mile paved bike trail (or 3.2 miles if you walk the path as a “figure 8.”)

In addition to the paved path, there’s a 1.2-mile “upland” hiking trail with a crushed-rock surface.

Ada Hayden is a great place to walk when the weather is nice. In bad weather, it’s best to stay away. The trail offers very little in the way of shade, so on a very hot, sunny summer day, this can be a miserable trail. Likewise, if it’s cold and windy, the lake just makes it feel colder and windier. But on a nice evening or a fall day, this is a great place to walk or ride your bike.

Boating and fishing are allowed on the lake, but not swimming. The lake’s surface is 125 acres.

Right now Ada Hayden Heritage Park is transitioning from summer to fall, so some of the summer wildflowers and bushes are looking a little tattered, but the fall colors are starting to come out. The sunflowers are brilliant.

I walked the trail today with my daughter’s dog, Charley. She isn’t used to long walks, and she has very short legs, so at about the two-thirds point around the lake, she headed for a grassy area to lie down. I carried her for awhile and then decided to take a shortcut back to the car. She was a pooped-out pup.

Huzzah! Today we harkened back to Ye Olde Canterbury-on-Sherwood (Sleepy Hollow Sports Park, just south of the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Des Moines’ east side) for a chance to shop, dine, and experience merriment from the age of Shakespeare.

It was also a chance to muck about in the mud, as it turns out, given the torrential rain we experienced in central Iowa yesterday. I guess it could have been worse. In the Middle Ages the streets would have been running with sewage.

This is the ninth Renaissance Faire in Des Moines and the first time I’ve attended. I was a regular at the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City (on the Kansas side) for many years…mostly before having kids. So that tells you how long it’s been. I loved that festival, with it’s unique foods and crafts (I always bought a ceramic Christmas ornament), but mostly for its bawdy humor by comedy teams like Snot and Puke and solo comedians like David Naster.

The Des Moines Faire is much, much smaller than the one in Kansas City. The first act we attended was the Twins de Fous Merde in the Viking Pavilion. I made it through exactly four bad jokes — and I mean both very badly written and very badly executed — before I had to get up and leave. It was painful to watch. (Two girls in the very small audience were laughing their pretty heads off at every joke; I have to assume they either knew the actors…or wanted to get to know them.)

Our next stop was the South Corral Mud Yard, with entertainment by Crazy Boy Coy. Crazy Boy was a darn good juggler and put on a funny and impressive show. He seemed like a real professional, unlike those two unrehearsed dumbos in the Viking shack. Crazy Boy juggled balls and flaming sticks while balancing on a large ball, and he carried on witty banter all the while. I thought he was cute and had no problem putting money in his hat after the show.

The next guy (Comedy Hamlet at the Castle Stage) reminded me of Chris Farley doing one of those out-of-control, angry characters on Saturday Night Live. You remember that guy, right? Now imagine him as Hamlet. You get the picture. He made me uncomfortable. I did not put money in his hat.

I was getting hungry at this point but the jousting extravaganza was about to begin in the jousting arena, so we joined the crowd and waited to be entertained by knights on horseback. There were three knights on three huge, gorgeous horses, and they did indeed do some kind of jousting thing. But I was not into all the silly fighting and forced storyline and guys hitting each other on the head. So I drifted over to the food vendors in search of something I could eat.

I stood in a line at the “Off with Your Bread” stand, whose sign promised fruit sorbet in a natural fruit shell in addition to soup in bread bowls. The wait was for nothing, however, because they had no fruit sorbet. So I stood in another (very long) line for a pretzel and a beer. Other food choices included bangers and mash, roasted turkey legs, gyros, fajitas, brats, crepes, ice cream, funnel cake, and pizza — most of which was not exactly available in the Middle Ages.

The Faire offered a number of shops selling leather goods, ceramics, weapons, clothing, jewelry, and the like.

Probably the most interesting part of an event like this is the costumes — not just on the festival participants but also on a large portion of the crowd. I guess if you have a costume like that, you want to wear it — and outside of Halloween, there’s not a lot of opportunity.

The 25-mile High Trestle Trail that runs between Woodward and Ankeny in central Iowa is a great bike and walking trail — but the bridge that gives the trail its name is the real hidden treasure.

The half-mile-long bridge between Madrid and Woodward was converted from a train trestle that overlooks the Des Moines River from 13 stories high. It’s an incredible view, and the bridge itself is spectacular thanks to artwork by David Dahlquist Studios. Dahlquist and his team created a design comprised of 41 steel “frames” that create a tunnel effect as you look across the bridge. The center frames contain blue LED lights that make a night viewing a one-of-a-kind experience.

Six overlooks on the bridge feature interpretive panels that highlight the region’s cultural and natural history.

I arrived at the trail one night last week just as the sun was low in the sky. It was one of those humid, late-summer nights where the eastern sky just goes gray and murky. But the sunset was gorgeous in the west, and dozens of bikers were on the trail along with a few in-line skaters and a group of women just sitting in bag chairs watching the sun go down. When those blue lights came on and illuminated the bridge, it was just magical.

Here are two more views as the sun went down. If you look close at the last one, you can seen the moon.

Today’s the first anniversary of my first blog post on Iowa Girl on the Go: Aug. 29, 2010. It’s been a fun year. When I started out, I had no idea how easy or difficult it would be to find something to write about each week, or even if I would stick with it. To tell the truth, it was never really that hard. Well, maybe a couple of weeks in the winter.

To date, I’ve written a total of 75 blog posts and had 4,797 all-time views. My busiest day was Dec. 6, 2010, after a piece I posted about Nada Silent Night was mentioned (and linked) on the Nadas’ Facebook page. I got 110 hits. Thanks, Jason! Most days I get more like 30 views.

On an average month I’ve posted 5 stories. My slowest months were November and December (3 posts each) because of all the family activities surrounding the holidays. This year I’ll try harder to post something every week, even during the crazy days.

My most prolific month was by far April 2011, with 15 posts. But that was a little different, because I was in Italy for almost three weeks and I tried to post something at least every couple of days so friends back home could follow my travels.

For the most part, people don’t leave many comments on my blog. I’ve received only have 26 approved comments in a whole year (that number doesn’t include all the spam). Sometimes people comment on the blog on my Facebook page.

I’ve been to every quadrant of the state this year: From Okoboji to Lansing, Villisca to Burlington. I haven’t had any trouble finding fun things to write about. I think I’ve hit a lot of Iowa highlights this year (Iowa State Fair, RAGBRAI, Des Moines Farmers Market, the Des Moines Arts Festival, Okoboji, Mississippi River towns) but I have so much left to do! I’ve by no means run out of ideas. I still haven’t written about the bridges of Madison County, the Amana Colonies, Loess Hills, or Field of Dreams, all iconic Iowa locations. I haven’t had to do too many restaurant reviews or talk too much about shopping – both lazy topics I’m inclined to fall back on when I’m busy or it’s snowing.

Two of my favorite Iowa posts were an early one about the axe murder house in Villisca and my fall tour of northeast Iowa in October. Two of my least favorite blogging adventures were the god-awful Wild Rose film festival and Jolly Holiday Lights.

I got out of Iowa a lot this year. I wrote about Minnesota several times, Chicago, Seattle, Florida, Kansas City, Italy, and New York.

January and February were by far the most difficult months to find something to write about. I didn’t want to drive anywhere, so I ended up doing a lot of things in Des Moines and got into a bit of a rut.

In recent months I’ve had blog posts reprinted on the Travel Iowa blog (Kalona, Mt. Vernon, the God Bless America sculpture) and hope to do more for them in the coming year.

I’ve had such a good time with this blog – it’s gotten me out of the house when I would have probably been lazy, and it’s allowed me to see and do so much in Iowa – that when I decided to try to switch to a vegan diet this month, I decided to do a daily blog about that, too: www.veganforamonth.wordpress.com

Here’s to another great year!