We spent a little time exploring Des Moines, IA this morning, starting with a hearty breakfast at Waveland cafe, a cozy small-town diner playing electronic music to accompany our meal. Next, we strolled around Pappajohn sculpture park admiring public art, followed by an exciting wildlife sighting of a hungry school of carp on the banks of the Des Moines River. Of course, we also had to seek out the quintessential pagoda that seems to exist in every midwest city!
For lunch, we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska and tried Alton Brown’s favorite hamburger in the country, the Croque Garcon at Block 16, a “1/3-pound burger, cheese, ham, a sunny-side-up egg, mustard and truffle mayo on a ciabatta roll”. It was pretty delicious, with an equally amazing side of corn elote speciality fries. We thought that this meal was a great way for us to sample the renowned beef and corn of the state of Nebraska (because unfortunately, Omaha steak for lunch did not fit in the budget for this trip…).
The Old Market in Omaha was quaint, and we enjoyed some of the small shops while sipping on a Caramelicious® from Scooter’s coffee, a local franchise touted as the “Starbucks of Nebraska” according to Yelp reviews. Thanks to our friend Mit for the recommendation! Another interesting find was Hollywood Candy, a vintage candy and variety store complete with a maze of rooms containing but not limited to an extensive pinball arcade, Pez dispenser collection, retro ice cream counter, and in-house mini movie theater.
On our way out of Omaha, we had to make one last stop at an Omaha Steak retail store for a picture (when in Rome…). When enthusiastically greeted by the advertised “steak specialist”, we awkwardly pretended to be interested in purchasing frozen beef while on a cross-country road trip. Interestingly, in a mini deep dive, I learned that Omaha Steaks was founded by an immigrant couple from Latvia escaping religious persecution in 1917 (the company started as a small butcher shop) and has stayed in the family ever since!
The rest of the day was a flat drive through Nebraska until reaching our overnight destination in North Platte, NE.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures! Next stop, Denver, Colorado…
grablifebythehorngs 