9/9/26.. Des Moines, in all its glory.

DRAKE. CAROL’S DES MOINES LIFE. NEIGHBORHOODS. ARCHITECTURE. ART. STATE GOVERNMENT.

After breakfast at the hotel (Hotel Fort Des Moines), we headed to the Drake University campus (where Carol did her undergraduate work). As I’ve mentioned, we had previously (on other girl trips) visited my childhood city (as well as homes and schools) and we have been to Chicago where Adrienne lives. So on this trip, it was Carol’s turn to show us her home city– Des Moines. Frankly, I had only been to Des Moines once in my life and I think I was just driving through on a solo cross-country trip decades ago.

Carol had contacted the Alumni Office at Drake because she especially wanted us to see this wonderful, very small meditation chapel (Oreon Scott Chapel) designed by the Finnish modernist architect Eero Saarinen as part of the broader campus master plan. Apparently it was somehow connected to the philosophy or theology department. We started out at the Alumni Office where Andy (director of alumni affairs?) happily greeted us and gave us a good pitch about the school He certainly did his homework and had the yearbook for Carol’s graduating class out and open to her photo on the table in the conference room. We had a good laugh seeing Carol with a bouffant hairdo. We chatted with Andy about current admissions and other academic status issues of small colleges. Then we headed through the campus to the chapel which was quite a treat.

We strolled the campus a bit. It’s a nice campus, with some significant buildings by big name architects of the 50s and 60s. The campus plan was originally done by Saarinen in the 1940s. But, nothing looks great on an overcast day! And as we drove to the campus we saw the results of last night’s storm—many fallen trees around the city; trees crushing cars; and tree removal trucks and crews everywhere.

From Drake we headed to the Des Moines Art Center which is impressive for a small city. There is a large main gallery that rotates several exhibitions throughout the year, and several other galleries with traveling exhibits and areas that showcase the permanent collection. There are outdoor sculptures and a rose garden. And the museum surrounds an external reflecting pool.

The original museum wing was designed by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen in 1945; the first addition was designed in a more modernist/brutal style by I.M. Pei in 1966. There are some that say that Pei designed the south windows, which look out onto the rose garden, to spell out “PEI,” but he denies this. The most recent wing was designed by Richard Meier in 1985. There’s a nice cafe (where we had lunch) and a good gift shop.

From the art Center we headed to Carol’s childhood home and drove past her elementary, junior, and high schools. A trip down memory lane for her, so we heard stories about her long walk to school (no public transit and no school bus). And then we headed to the State Capitol to see the Law Library which is a spectacular four-story room with a large central skylight, stained glass and floor tiles that date to the 1860s. There are very ornamental balconies throughout the space and wrought-iron spiral staircases. There are also original gas lights that have been wired for modern day electricity.

We strolled through the capitol.. with its five domes, including one large golden one which is apparently gilded in real 23K gold (Trump watch out!) The building houses both the state house and senate chambers, the governor’s office, and supreme court chambers. It dates to 1871.

After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed to dinner at a fairly new restaurant called Oak Park which was wonderful. The restaurant sits in from of a large garden where the restaurant grows much of the vegetables that are served on their very seasonal menu. After cocktails, we shared three starter plates: oysters, mini duck confit filled filled empanadas, and gnocchi sitting in a tomato beurre sauce and topped with a potato lace tulle and herbs. Then we shared two entrees: black bass with fennel, shallot, rice chips served with sweet corn and roasted tomatoes; and “Amish chicken” that melted in your mouth sitting on the plate with a small salad of pickled ramps, roasted onion, and some other stuff… It’s definitely an upscale eatery with great service. We ended with two desserts: a pumpkin souffle that had some kind of cocoa flavor and I think cinnamon ice cream.. and an order of madeleines.

Now I’m back at the hotel… going to pack up to leave in the morning. I’m back tomorrow night.. and then it’s life as usual.