Des Moines

 We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Fort Dodge. A nice little place, fairly new and it had one of the best hotel breakfasts I have had. They had the typical cereal, breads, etc but also eggs, turkey sausage, sausage, make your own pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and warm cinnamon rolls. The eggs were actually very good and not the rubbery watery stuff you usually get. The sausage was good and the cinnamon rolls were excellent. Good breakfast!

Mike and Rita picked us up about 9:30 and we headed for Des Moines. First we stopped at the Kwik Stop gas station across the road for some refreshments. What a gas station! They are talking about one possibly coming to Pipestone and everyone is all excited about it. I didn't understand what the buzz is all about but now I do! They have everything!

Did some shopping in Des Moines, the usual Half Price Books, another used book/record store, and a comic book store. One of the stores actually had a section with legos and I picked up a Christmas present already! We went to lunch at Cosi Cucina Italian Grill. Was delicious! I had the meatball sandwich and Kurt had alfredo. We shared Canollli for dessert - so glad vacation calories don't count!!! Was worth every single calorie though!

After lunch we went to Valley Junction. A little shopping district with interesting shops. Mike's brother who passed away had a consignment shop here. Walked through some store and got some socks and a sticker. The had a couple candy shops so of course had to stop at those! Thankfully Rita shares my love of chocolate so I didn't have to feel guilty about my purchases! They also had a costume shop that was fun to walk through and a vintage clothing shop that was very amusing to walk through. They actually rented alot of things. Rita and I thought it would be fun to rent some vintage dresses and get wigs for the costume shop for a night out. Maybe next time...

We headed back to Fort Dodge, probably about an hour and half drive or so. They dropped us off at the hotel to drop our purchases and freshen up. I told Kurt we couldn't stay long or I wouldn't get back up so we headed about almost right away. I wanted to try out the beers at the other brewery in town so we stopped at River Hops Brewery and just got a couple cans to go. I got the Oxbow Orange and Golden Wheat. Really liked the Golden Wheat! Went back to Mike and Rita's place to just hang out for a bit. Sat outside and had a couple drinks and just chatted. 

I can't believe I didn't get a single picture today! Not even a single one of the four us or at least Kurt and Mike. Oh well, guess we will have to come back.


On a separate subject… The kennel Buddy was at sent me an update on Saturday. What a great gesture!!! This is one of the pictures they sent - just shocking! As Dee said “That’s not Buddy!”



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