Des Moines Art Festival


 One of the reasons we came to this part of Iowa was to attend the art festival.  I read about it in Sunset and thought if we were near the area in late June we would come. We had a great time visiting with artists from all over the country.  













The festival takes place in the Western Gateway Park in downtown Des Moines. The artists set up on the streets around the park that also houses the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden. 










The show was wonderful. The location was great and we were both very impressed with this Midwest capital. The city has amazing architecture, great restaurants and small businesses.  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, MT

Image
 On our way to Polson, MT, we stopped at Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site. It’s right on HWY 90 as you are traveling E/W in Montana.  This ranch preserves the lifestyle of the American cattle rancher from the late 1880s. The ranch has a restored main house and over 80 out buildings but alas, like many places we have encountered, the park service is short staffed and not all locations are opened.  The ranch explains the cowboy rancher and how he was able to get cattle to market.  It’s a great location for kids. 
Read more

Goodbye AZ - Hello NM

Image
 Today was a repositioning day. Moved further east to visit some places in NM before heading to Texas. No sightseeing today so instead some info about where we are going and why.  Some of you know that I’ve been visiting National Parks, Memorials, Historic Sites, Monuments.... all to collect passport stamps. Several years ago after I’d been collecting stamps since the 80’s, the Department of Interior came out with a new passport book and it’s a whopper. So I bought it and I’m now on a mission (snd I’m dragging a phil along) to visit as many places listed in this book as possible.  Listed in this book are places all over this country and in US Territories where you can visit snd get a passport stamp.  As we travel we try and hit some of these spots. Some are historically significant - like battlefields- and some commemorate significant events - treaty signings - we are going to Chamizal National Monument this week.  Many are just plain beautiful places in our cou...
Read more

Exceeded Expectations

Image
Today we started out to visit Chiricahua National Monument located in southeast Arizona.  Based on the hour plus drive to get there it did not look like we would see anything that exciting.  Boy were we surprised.   The visitor center was built by the Conservation Corp in 1934. It sits at over 5000 feet high in a beautiful ponderosa pine forest.  You drive through a high desert and come around a curve to arrive at this lush forest. There is an amazing drive to the top of the mountain that allows you to see the reason why this area is protected -  “tuffs.”  These are geological phenomena created over 26 million years ago after a volcanic eruption in this area. These “tuff” structures make this destination a must see.  There is a visitor exhibit at the top of mountain that explains what you are looking at in every direction. This is the land of the Apaches - Cochise snd Geronimo.  Where settlers were massacred for encroaching on Apache land. The vis...
Read more