Quality Inn & Suites At Event Center Des Moines

... navigating us through Des Moines to the hotel. Tomorrow, head over towards the Quad Cities, see my aunt who just got diagnosed a couple days ago with stage 4 cancer that had spread to the brain, and then work towards home for a late night arrival. Sigh, there have been many things that have made us wonder if this vacation should have occurred, but yet we survived and life with hectic and chaotic once we get home, Sigh

... the shopping centre Alicia got her engagement ring from which she had told us about the night before. Mark and Kym took me through the shops and made a beeling for the sports store, a double story and open store that ***** all over sport stores in Australia. It was cool and Mark was looking to do some more Hawkeyes (highest ranked College football team in Iowa, based in Iowa City two hours away) shopping but he seemed to feel he had enough merchandise already.<br><br>We left the ...

... br><br>Alicia had mentioned a couple of funny little things and the bane of my American road trip introduced itself to me on the journey to Alicia's place - 4-way stop signs. They kind of made sense, kind of didn't (we'd use roundabouts for the same purpose) but I managed to get home in one piece, without running stop signs and without attracting attention of the police; not that I wasn't worried about that last one.<br><br>The morning was spent with everyone packing things as Mark, Kym ...

... the others but got called over only to find them playing games in the back.<br><br>The games were interactive ones most of which didn't make much sense aside from the basketball throw and the gridiron throw (think basketball throw but you have to throw the ball through the hole rather than in a hoop). These were a lot of fun except having not thrown a ball in forever I sucked. Kym however was a surprise packet bringing out a little **** whooping for me and Mark before I ...

... little tougher than I imagined, but not horrible. We then showered and hit the road towards Des Moines. We arrived and parked downtown. After walking around for about 15 minutes, we felt like we had seen all we wanted to see, haha. It was a little bigger than Knoxvilles downtown, but it seemed like noone was smiling and there wasn't anything around except buisnesses. Maybe we were in the wrong part, but oh well. We left after grabbing a bite to eat for lunch and started towards Nebraska...

Isn't it amazing the things that amaze you?! Rest stops, of all things, rest stops become a source of joy and amazement on a road trip. Heading from Minnesota (a beloved state) to Iowa which happens to have the best rest stops we have ever seen in our lives. Beautiful architecture, clean, organised and useful facilities, free wifi and overnight parking is safe and ...

... periods of farming history in Iowa: The Native American times of the 1600&#8217;s, a farm from the 1850&#8217;s, and a farm from the 1900&#8217;s. The final part of the museum is the reconstructed town circa 1875. <br><br>You start at the earliest period in Iowan history and end at the town&#8230;and once again I believed this was going to be cheesy. Turns out, it was the best part of Iowa, hands down. <br><br>You arrive at the Native American village set back in the woods where ...

... decision to rent a car (much more cost-effective than cabs and I've heard Orlando's public transportation isn't great). Now, while having a car handy is convenient this will definitely put us in a position to bust out a map, figure out the city and GO WITH THE FLOW. **I do have one rule in place when I travel and that's that I won't visit any chain restaurant than I can have at home. This ...

En route vers Des Moines en Iowa, on pensait avoir des routes planes puisqu'on était vis-à-vis du Manitoba mais il n'en est rien, les routes sont très valonneuses sans pentes abruptes. Une différence, le décor est presqu'exclusivement composé de fermes avec d'immenses champs de maïs qui s'étendent à perte de vue ; très peu de champs de blé. Notre camping était bien situé en banlieue de Des Moines dans un secteur appelé « Adventureland »; comme le nom l'indique, nous étions au ...

Less than one week! Less than one week until I get on that plane. Holy ****--less than one week... **** Well, at least I have a ticket. In my last entry, you'll recall that I was nervous about getting my visa back from the Korean Consulate in Chicago. Thankfully, that came in last Saturday, so I let my school contact know asap. Monday they bought my e-ticket and emailed it to me, with the casual opener, "Here's your e-ticket. Check it out." If only. The website it was from was ...