Road Tips

The Blue Band/BoDeans - Des Moines

As I pointed out in an earlier post here, Cindy and I went up to Des Moines to go the Iowa State Fair in August.  Our main reason for the trip was to go see both The Blue Band and The BoDeans who were playing at two separate stages on the second Friday night of the fair. 

The Blue Band played for the first time in three years at the annual Wells Fargo Street Festival in downtown Davenport over the Bix Weekend in late July.  In fact, they were sandwiched between two of my favorite local bands - Jim the Mule and Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  The Saturday lineup for Street Fest was the strongest in the nine years I've been involved with the festival.  Also playing that day was the great Ernie Peniston, as well as The Ellis Kell Band.  It was a day full of great music in downtown Davenport. 

Ernie Peniston

In fact, Bob Kelly from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls came up to me while The Blue Band was playing and said while looking out at the massive crowd, "Now, how are we supposed to follow THIS?!"

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls on stage at the Wells Fargo Street Fest.  Photo courtesy of Colin Peterson.

But they did follow them and did a great job.  It may have been the best show I've ever seen them play in all the years I've worked with them.  In fact, they even had Bob Dorr from The Blue Band come up on stage with them and play a song with them (picture left - courtesy Colin Peterson).  It was a great night for everyone.  It was, by far, the most fun I've ever had working the stage at a Street Fest.

But back to the subject at hand (I know, I know - I always digress).  Cindy and I got up to the fair and after running into my cousins, we took off up the hill to go to the Anderson-Erickson Stage to catch The Blue Band's first show of the evening. 

We got up there and grabbed a beer and walked down to see the guys behind the stage.  They were all sort of surprised to see us there, but happy we made the trip over from Davenport.  Bob Dorr was a little flustered with the guys running the sound, so we didn't get to visit all that much with him.  But we caught up with the other guys who were just hanging out.  Just before showtime, we wished them the best and went back out front to catch their show. 

Playing bass for The Blue Band that evening was Rick Cicalo, a guy I've known for a number of years who used to play with Patrick Hazell in the old Mother Blues Band years ago.  Rick is now the mayor of Washington, IA, which, to me, is sort of surreal.  Rick also plays with Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey on occasion.  The Blue Band's drummer, Steve Hayes, I've known just as long as "Rico" and he also has played with Hazell, Brown and Ramsey over the years.   

And Sam Salomone (left) joined the band on the organ that evening at the State Fair.  Sam used to play full time with The Blue Band, but has cut back in the past few months playing selected shows with the band.  Since he lives in Des Moines, it was an easy gig for him to make. 

The band sounded OK, but they were definitely having problems with the sound.  Heath and Nathan on saxophones were barely audible when they first began to play.  Still, the band did a great job as always.

In fact, just after the State Fair over the Labor Day weekend, The Blue Band was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  (See their inductee details here.)   It was a double whammy for Steve Hayes who was also inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same weekend for his work with Mother Blues, along with Cicalo.  In fact, Steve and Rick were inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame earlier this summer, too.  They're great musicians and equally great guys. 

After hanging around for about 45 minutes listening to The Blue Band, we decided we'd better high-tail it back down the hill to get a good seat for The BoDeans at the Bill Riley Stage just south of the administration building.  We got there in plenty of time to grab a Gizmo from Carl's Gizmo.  It was just killer.

There was a pretty good sized crowd waiting for The BoDeans.  My cousins were able to snag some seats up front in the covered bleachers area.  But it was still about 30 feet from the front of the two foot high stage - a lot of real estate between the crowd and the band.

That didn't last for long.  As soon as the band came out to play, a rush of people went to the foot of the stage area.  Cindy and I were part of the crowd and we stood about 10 feet from where Sammy Llanas and Kurt Neumann were standing.  It was pretty awesome.

In fact, The BoDeans, backed with a new keyboard player and bassist, along with longtime John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff, sounded about the best I've heard them in a long time.  They seemed to be fresh and upbeat during the whole show. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Kurt Neumann

      

After seeing them a number of times and working with them at the 2005 River Roots Live festival in Davenport, it was good to see them again.  They put on a great show.  Actually, it may have been the best show I've ever seen them play. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Sammy Llanas

Even though Joe Walsh was the main attraction at the fair that night (he was playing in the grandstand), I'll have to say that just for the price of admission to the fair The BoDeans were the best deal of the night.  They drew a good amount of people - I'm guessing between 1000 and 1500 people were there to see them.  And they certainly didn't disappoint.

We were going to go back up the hill to catch the second part of The Blue Band's second show of the night.  But lightning in the skies to the northwest and an ominous looking radar on my Blackberry told us it was probably best to high-tail it to the shuttle bus to take us back to our car at the State Capitol complex.  We got back to the hotel just as it was starting to rain. 

We got to see two great bands who have been together for a long time, and both with great followings.  The Blue Band and The BoDeans may not be the most well-known bands out there, but for the Midwest they're the tops in their class.

The Dakotas Trip - Part 4

For part one of The Dakotas Trip, click here; for the second part, click here; and for the third segment, click here.

After getting out of Wall Drug and hitting the road again, I once again had a long trip in front of me to Sioux Falls.  It was a warm, windy day in South Dakota - the kind of day that helped make Wall Drug a favorite destination of thirsty travelers years ago.  But I was certainly happy to be out of there and back on the road.

Heading east on Interstate 90, I had nothing but miles and miles of road ahead of me as I traversed through the Badlands.  It became a rather monotonous drive.

About a hundred miles east of Wall is the turn-off to go to South Dakota's state capital city of Pierre.  Once again, I'm such a geography nut and Pierre would be the last state capital of the 11 states I cover that I haven't visited.  Pierre is about 35 miles north of the interstate, but US Highway 83 is a four lane road between the interstate and Pierre, so I thought it would be a rather quick side trip.  (See map)  Well, it was and it wasn't. 

For 30 miles, the rolling Badlands scenery offered not much in terms of scenic beauty.  It was void of trees and gold from drought with the lack of rain in the region.  Suddenly, the road began a gentle slope down into the valley.  In front of me was the Missouri River with Pierre just ahead. 

Actually, Pierre was kind of a nice little town.  After getting some gas and a snack (I hadn't had any lunch), I struck out to find the South Dakota state capitol building.  After finding the downtown area (what there is of it in Pierre), I saw a sign that directed me toward the state capitol.

Pulling up in front of the capitol building, I was very pleasantly surprised.  It was nothing like the North Dakota state capitol, and the grounds around the building were very well manicured with lush green lawns, flowers and plants.  There was a very nice little lake to the east side of the building.  Given how dry the area was, it looked like a green oasis in the middle of the Badlands. 

I drove to the east of the capitol building and took a left in a residential area to see if I could get any pictures of the capitol from across the lake.  I looked over and there was a sign that said, "Governor's Mansion".  I couldn't believe it.  There was this modern mansion with this huge lawn.  Most of the governor's mansions I've seen in other states are usually large older houses.  This one looks like it was built within the last couple three years.   The gambling and banking businesses have obviously been very good to South Dakota.

I turned around and found a place to park on the street on the south side of the governor's mansion.  I walked out onto the lawn and took this picture of the capitol building across the lake.  It was actually very pretty. 

There's not much else to Pierre, so I ended up going north of town a little bit and went up to Lake Oahe.  Formed by a massive power dam across the Missouri River, Lake Oahe is one of the largest man made lakes in the U.S.  The power plant at the dam provides power for many of the residents in the Dakotas, Western Minnesota, Northern Nebraska and into Wyoming and Montana.  It was well over a mile to get across the dam.

I was able to get out on the other side of the dam and take in the sight of the lake.  Lake Oahe is one of the biggest destinations for fishermen across the Midwest.  It stretches for over 200 miles north of Pierre, well up into North Dakota before ending just south of Bismarck.  It's also the boundary line for the Central Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone.  The east side of the Lake Oahe dam is in the Central Time Zone, while the west side is in the Mountain Time Zone.  I'm fascinated with geographical boundaries, almost fanatically fascinated. You'll see a little later on.

Back on the road and back down Highway 83 toward the interstate, it was getting late in the day.  I knew I had one more stop to make before I made it to Sioux Falls for the evening.  And that was in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace. 

Driving east on Interstate 90, it was rather interesting how the topography changed tremendously once I crossed over the Missouri River.  West of the river was the rolling and grassy hills of the Badlands, while just over the river to the east the land became flat and green with farm fields full of soybeans.  It reminded me earlier of how the land changed from the tree filled mountainous region west of Rapid City to the Badlands just east of the city.

I pulled into Mitchell around 7 p.m. and went toward their downtown area.  I'd heard much about the Corn Palace over the years and wanted to see it for myself.

The Corn Palace dates back to the 1800's when a wooden structure was built and decorated on the outside by corn kernels and stalks.  The original intent was to have the structure serve as a community center and help lure residents to the area.  The original Corn Palace was torn down and a new structure was built in 1905.  The present day Corn Palace was built in 1921 and has been added on to over the years. 

Every year since the late 1800's, the exterior of the Corn Palace has been decorated in corn kernels.  Well, every year except for last year when a severe drought across the region in 2005 affected the corn harvest.  Local artists have annually designed and decorated the exterior.  It costs about $130,000 each year to decorate the building.

Inside, the Corn Palace is a multi-use building with a large stage, a basketball court and theater seating.  The interior is also ornately decorated with corn sculptured pictures throughout the place.  They had a church bazaar going on when I was there that evening.

There's also a long hallway stretching from the main entrance lobby down to the floor area of the auditorium that shows pictures and paintings of previously decorated Corn Palaces.  It was kind of neat to see some of the previous designs they came up with. 

Here's a picture of the first year (1921) of the present day Corn Palace.  (As always, click on the picture to enlarge.)  This shows the building before the Moorish domes were added in the late 1930's. 

Here's some more of the designs inside the Corn Palace.   Many of the sculpted pictures inside the building depicted the history of the area.  And they also show many of area's outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing.  And they even had a "corn" Mount Rushmore.  For as corny as it all was (pardon the pun), it was still pretty cool.

Across from the Corn Palace was a hot dog shop that was closed for the evening.  But they had this sculpture outside their front door.  Too bad the place wasn't open.  I would have liked to gone in and tried one of their hot dogs.

And on the corner at the hot dog place was a sculpture of The Blues Brothers hanging out on a park bench.  Being that it was right across from the Corn Palace it looked a little out of place, but it was pretty funny see. 

It had been a long day, and I still had to go on to Sioux Falls and a late evening dinner.  One of the things I realized after leaving Mitchell - for an area that celebrates corn, I didn't really see much corn along the interstate coming from the west.  However, east of Mitchell toward Sioux Falls, there were miles and miles of cornfields. 

One more day on the road including a long trip home.

(Coming up - Part 5 of the Dakotas Trip.  My fascination with state borders.)

Soldier Field - Chicago

Over Labor Day weekend, we went into Chicago to catch the Iowa Hawkeyes play Northern Illinois at Soldier Field.  Now, I've been by Soldier Field hundreds of times, but had never been inside.  I was sort of looking forward to the experience. 

We went in with our friends, Scott and Marcia Schroeder and stayed out in Elmhurst at the Spring Hill Suites.  We had dinner at Bob Chinn's up in Wheeling the Friday night we got in.  On Saturday, we got up and drove into the city the next morning.

Actually, traffic heading into the city was pretty light for a Saturday morning.  But by the time we got around Soldier Field, traffic was backed up along Lake Shore Drive.  By the time we got around to the south parking lot, they were just closing it up.  So we ended up parking (for $30 bucks!) in the underground parking garage between Soldier Field and The Field Museum.  It wasn't ideal for tailgating, but at least we were close to the stadium. 

It was a beautiful day in Chicago.  We met up with our friend, Tom Kakert from Hawkeye Report, and his wife, Jennifer, near the Field Museum.  Tom had some friends who were tailgating near the Charter One Pavilion over on Northerly Island across Burnham Harbor from the stadium.  We walked over there to meet them and have a couple beers and some snacks.  Here's a great shot of the stadium with the harbor in the foreground.

Cindy took this shot of the downtown Chicago skyline from where we were tailgating.  Like I said, it was a gorgeous day in Chicago.  A little warm, but there was a nice east wind off of Lake Michigan that helped make the air temperature feel good.

I got a call from my cousin, John Wehrle, who was up from St. Louis for the game with his girlfriend, Bonnie Loman.  My other cousin, Tom, was in from Des Moines; and their nephew and my cousin Sarah Wehrle Burke's son, David, had flown in from Rochester, NY for the game.  They wanted to meet up with us so Scott, Marcia, Cindy and I started to walk back toward the stadium. 

After catching up with them near the stadium, we went down to where the car was parked to drink a few beers and eat some more snacks.  Although it was in the underground garage and there was a big air circulation system running at about 90 decibels near us, we hung out there before the 2:30 kickoff.  It was out of the sun and quite cool and nice down there.  Here's a picture of John, myself, David, and Tom tailgating before the game.

To get into the stadium, we went up and elevator then down a tunnel.  This is the shot of the inside of Soldier Field where the tunnel comes out onto the concourse of the stadium. Our seats were sort of up in the third deck of corner of the stadium.  Not bad, but not as good as the seats my cousins had. 

However, the cool thing about our seats was that it got us into the Cadillac Club on the east side of the stadium.  It was basically a huge sports bar that had food, televisions, REALLY cold beer and a nice deck to walk out onto to look out onto the lake. 

Here's a nice shot of David Burke, Bonnie and John in the Cadillac Club.  David's mom, Sarah, told us to buy David a beer.  Well, we bought more than a few beers for him that day.  He was having a great time getting corrupted by his uncles and his cousin.

We settled into our seats just in time to see the Hawkeyes take the field.  Soldier Field holds about 62,000 people and I'd have to say there were 45,000 Iowa fans on hand there this day.

The opening kickoff to the 2007 Hawkeye football season!

Here's a shot of Chicago skyline from our seats.  Note the large amount of gold shirts (Hawkeye Fans) in the stands.  Even though it was a designated home game for Northern Illinois, Iowa fans dwarfed the NIU fans.

Satisfying my scoreboard fetish.  Actually, the scoreboard at Soldier Field was really nothing more than a big screen TV, a clock and a bunch of advertisements.  Definitely not like a major league ballpark.

Touchdown Iowa!  Albert Young scores on a seven yard carry in the second quarter.  Iowa built up a 13-3 lead at the half and then played uninspired ball in the second half to beat Northern Illinois 16-3.  It was a pretty dull second half, to say the least.

Scott and Marcia's son, Greg, is in the U of Iowa student athletic training program.  Greg got the football team assignment this fall and gets to work with the team.  Here he is running off the field after giving the team some water during a time out.  As hot as it was that day, Greg was handing out a LOT of water to the team. 

After the game, we drove immediately up to Lincoln Park and went to Chicago Pizza Oven and Grinder Company.  The wait for a table was going to be about 90 minutes, so we went across the street to the Clark Bar for a few beers while we waited.  Here's a picture of Scott and I as we sat in the Clark Bar.  This will teach Scott to make faces when Cindy takes a picture of him.

While Tom was working on his account of the game, Jennifer Kakert took a cab up from their downtown Chicago hotel and met us for dinner at Chicago Pizza Oven.  Neither Scott, Marcia or Jennifer had been there before.  We ordered a big anti-pasto salad and each of us ordered the one pound pot pizzas.  It was a great meal and a great end to a great day.  I'm not certain I'd really ever had that much fun in Chicago during one whole day.  I think Iowa should play in Chicago every year.      

Rodizio Grill - Denver

While in Denver recently for the CEDIA Expo, we decided to go out for dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse.  A couple of the guys in our company had never been to one before.  We ended up going to a place in downtown Denver called Rodizio Grill.  (see map)

Pronounced Roe-DEEZ-sho, it's one of the two big Brazilian steakhouses in Denver. (Texas de Brazil being the other - but they weren't too accommodating when we tried to make a reservation over the phone.)  Like all Brazilian steakhouses - or churrascarias, Rodizio Grille serves their meats rodizio style with the meat grilled on skewers and sliced at your table by gaucho waiters.

And, very similar to other Brazilian steakhouses I've been to, they have an extensive salad bar they want you to graze at so you won't be slamming back so much meat.  But, actually, compared to the other Brazilian steakhouses I've been to, the salad bar at Rodizio Grill wasn't all that big.

I sat across from one of my colleagues who had never eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse before.  He said, "So, now what?"

I said, "Well, turn over this little thing here (a small wooden object with red on one end and green on the other) so the green side is on top and just sit back and let 'em bring the meat."

They had the regular sirloin and beef tenderloin slices that were very good.  Their pork was a little overdone, as was the turkey wrapped in bacon.  And they also had some chicken chunks that were OK, but not outstanding.  And their lamb was way overdone.  It wasn't all that great.   

But they had a garlic sirloin - or called Picanha com Alho (Pee-cahn-ya com Al-yo) - that was just outstanding.  In fact, it was orgasmic.  The garlic was infused throughout the meat - you could literally smell the garlic in the meat even if you were about three feet away from the skewer.  Everyone at our table went nuts over it.  The only problem is that we'd already eaten a lot of meat before they brought out the garlic steak. 

But that didn't stop us - we asked our waiter to keep the garlic sirloin coming.  He had the gaucho waiters keep coming around with the beef.  Oh, man!  Was it delicious!

I sort of got to wondering how they were able to get the garlic to permeate the sirloin beef.  When asked, our waiter wouldn't reveal their secret.  I guessed they must use highly concentrated garlic oil with olive oil as a marinade and they keep the meat in the marinade for up to 48 hours.  It was just awesome. 

Actually, as far as the Brazilian steakhouses that I've been to go, Rodizio Grill was pretty fair.  Not really outstanding, but good.  Well, not until they brought the garlic-laced sirloin out.  That made it worth the price of admission.

The service at Rodizio Grill was very good as our waiter was very attentive to getting us refills of drinks and directing which gaucho waiter we wanted to our table.  And like all the other Brazilian steakhouses I've been to, I ate way too much.  I was miserable for 36 hours after our dinner.  The garlic sirloin was just so damn good that I - and others in our group - just gorged.  If they had brought the garlic steak first, that would have been the only thing I would have eaten all night.  It was that good.

I've got to try and figure out how to make that damned garlic sirloin sometime...   

Sanford's Grub and Pub - Dickinson, ND

I put on a dealer earlier this year in Dickinson, ND.  Dickinson is a long, long way from Davenport.  It's a 13 hour drive - one way.  It's in the Mountain Time Zone.  I must be crazy for putting on a guy that far from home.  But I promised that I'd be out at least once a year to look after this dealer, and part of the reason for the Dakotas Trip earlier this summer was to go see him. 

After our meeting/training session, we went out for dinner to a new place in Dickinson, but one that has been around for a few years in the Rocky Mountain and Western Plains states - Sanford's Grub and Pub.  Sanford's started in Wyoming when a bunch of college buddies decided to try their hand at a restaurant that served good food, had a lot of beers to choose from and had a ton of TV's to watch sports on.  They later expanded into Colorado, South Dakota, and now North Dakota.  The Dickinson location opened earlier this year.

Now, Dickinson is in the literal middle of nowhere, so I wasn't expecting much from this place.  I thought, "OK, I'll just go with the flow tonight and see what happens."

Actually, Sanford's Grub and Pub reminded me of a little mix each of a T.G.I. Friday's, an Old Chicago, an Applebee's, a Buzzard Billy's, a Joe's Crab Shack, and an ESPN Zone.  It had all this crap all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling, along with about 30 televisions.  They had perky waitresses who oozed sweetness.  And they had over 40 beers on tap to choose from.  That was a plus.  But they were trying to be too many things for one place.  And I was a little wary of that fact. 

Sanford's menu also features a little bit of everything - steaks, sandwiches, burgers, appetizers and salads.  They also had a number of dishes that featured Cajun specialties, as well.  They're famous for their deep fried pickles, a delicacy that we didn't partake in.  In fact, a lot of their appetizers were of the deep fried variety.  We ended up getting some chicken wings and the Baja Bites - small pieces of grilled chicken wrapped in a tortilla shell.  They weren't bad. 

For the main entree, my dealer went with the shrimp and Parmesan linguine - a Parmesan cream sauce covering linguine infused with shrimp, mushrooms and chives.  It sounded great, but I went with the BBNY - a Cajun seasoned New York strip steak, topped with chunks of garlic and sauteed mushrooms.  That sounded almost sinful.

I have to say my steak wasn't bad - but it wasn't great.  The meat was a little tough for a medium rare steak, but the Cajun seasoning and the mushroom and garlic topping made up for the lack of tenderness with a great taste sensation.

My dealer had never gotten the linguine before, but he said he was very satisfied with it.  It looked good and he said it tasted very good. 

I encountered a couple other Sanford's Grub and Pub's on my trip through the Dakotas, but I didn't think the food was worth stopping in a second location.  For Dickinson, I'm sure it was pretty good.  But, then again, since it was my first trip to Dickinson, I don't know if there's anything better than Sanford's.  I'd like to think so, but for what it is, Sanford's does a good job.  I just wish they'd concentrate on doing one thing and doing it great.      

Iowa State Fair - 2007

Cindy and I went to the 2007 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines recently.  Actually, we went up there to see both The Blue Band and the BoDeans who were playing the same night, yet at separate stages.  Cindy wanted to go back the next day to look around at things, so we did just that. 

We met my cousins, John and Tom Wehrle, John's girlfriend, Bonnie, and Tom's co-worker friend, Bobbie, at the Varied Industries Building just after we got to the fair.  John was hungry and he wanted to go get a Gizmo.  So we headed over to get him one. 

Here's a picture of John finding the holy grail of State Fair foods - Carl's Gizmo.  To see my earlier post which featured Carl's Gizmo, click here.

The Gizmo is still the best food at the fair.  Ground beef and sausage, cooked in a special tomato sauce with herbs and spices.  Placed on an Italian roll and topped with melted mozzarella cheese.  Oh, man!  It's heavenly.  We didn't have a Gizmo right then (since it was around 4:30 on Friday and we ate lunch a little bit earlier), but we did have one later on that evening and one again the next day for lunch.

Here's Jalapeno Pete's on the Grand Concourse.  It's one of the newer places to eat at the State Fair and they also serve margaritas and Mexican beers.  I had a Sol, but it was lukewarm, plus it cost $6 bucks.  Ouch!  It was also horribly loud in the place with karaoke going on.  We didn't stay there long. 

This is one of the new stages they have near the Original Budweiser Beer Tent.  This is the Susan Knapp Amphitheater.  It looked pretty neat.  But most of the acts playing on this stage were of the country and western variety, so we didn't stick around there, either.

One of things that drove us nuts this year were the number of people in these little carts driving around the fairgrounds.  First of all, they're slow as all get out.  Secondly, they pop up out of nowhere.  Third, if you can't walk around the fairgrounds, why even come out?  I told Cindy, "If I get to be that big and can't walk, just shoot me and put me out of my misery."

But this is the most popular mode of transportation around the fairgrounds - the good ol' tractor hauling the people wagon.  I can safely say I've never gotten a ride on one of those things, but it seems to be a big hit with a lot of people.  They're always packed. 

Here's a far away shot of the grandstand and the midway from the south Sky Glider.  Actually, there's not much to see on the south Sky Glider - it goes right over all the farm implements and some of the agriculture exhibits.  The north Sky Glider that comes down the hill on the east side gives some great shots of the Des Moines skyline and the Grand Concourse as shown in the picture on the right that I took last year.  For more pictures from last year's fair, click here.

Of course, Cindy had to go see the cows and horses.  We stopped in and caught a little bit of the judging for cattle.  And we went over and watched a little bit of the horse show.  It's big for a lot of farm people, but to me it's like watching paint dry. 

They had the annual Chili cook-off going on at the fair when we were there.  They had about 20 to 25 people all lined up in a row along one of the streets making up chili.  Here's Cindy asking one of the contestants what his secret is.  I think he replied, "Cow urine." 

And the trip to the State Fair can't be complete without seeing the big boar and the big bull.  This is the big boar champion - Big Red.  He weighed in at 1203 pounds.  No shit!  He would sleep all day, then wake up around 7 p.m. to drink three gallons of water and eat five gallons of ground feed.  And no, those aren't hemorrhoids hanging from his backside.

And here's the big bull - the Super Bull - as they call it.  "Lazar" tipped the scales at 3322 pounds.  Jesus, that's a big goddamn bull!  But as impressive as that might seem, he was still 56 pounds UNDER the record weight for a bull that was set in 2004.  His owners said they didn't do anything special to make him that big - he just had his daily helpings of silage and hay. 

We had to head up to the art building to see the pictures and paintings.  I always like to see the sand castle they sculpt in the main entry area at the art building. 

Right down from the art exhibits is the agriculture building.  And that means the annual pilgrimage to see the Butter Cow.  This is the second year Sarah Pratt has sculpted the Butter Cow, after taking over last year for longtime butter cow sculptor (sculptress?) Duffy Lyon.  Lyon sculpted the Butter Cow for 46 years. 

And they usually have some topical sculpture with the Butter Cow.  This year, it was Harry Potter.  The lines were long to see the sculptures up close.  I just took Cindy's camera and stood behind the crowd and held it up above and took the shots. 

Here's another big winner and very popular exhibit at the fair - the biggest pumpkin.  This one was the all-time record for the State Fair - 1176 lbs!  Holy crap!  And crap is what they had to feed the soil around the ground to make this thing grow, no doubt.  That and a LOT of water.  But the 1176 pound gourd didn't just barely break the all-time record.  It DESTROYED the old record by nearly 200 lbs!  My God!

Time for relaxation.  Here I am standing in front of Stockman's Inn near the barns on the south side of the fairgrounds.  Stockman's has the best deal on beer at the fair - $5.00 for a 24 oz. COLD glass of beer.  Most of the other places charge $5.00 for a 16 oz. glass of beer.  Stockman's is my favorite place to drink at the fair. 

And at the end of the day, we met up with my cousins, with Tom's friend, and John's significant other.  Here's the crew having a cold beer at Stockman's.  From left, Tom, Bobbie, John, Bonnie, and Cindy.  Believe me, it was tough to leave because the beer was cold and we were having some good laughs. 

The last weekend of the State Fair always seems to bum me out.  When I was younger it meant that summer was over and school was just getting ready to start.  These days it just means that summer is almost over.  Walking out brought back those feelings again.  But it was still a great time at the Iowa State Fair.  I'll go back again next year.         

The Dakotas Trip - Part 3 - Wall Drug

For the first two parts of The Dakotas Trip, click here for Part One, and here for Part Two.

Leaving Rapid City in bright sunshine demonstrated the micro-climates that envelope the Black Hills.  Another thing I noticed is the topography.  Almost as soon as I got east of Rapid City, the coniferous trees were gone.  Well, almost ALL the trees were gone.  Suddenly, it was the awesome rolling hills of the Badlands.

And almost as soon as I got out of Rapid City, the signs began.  As in the signs for Wall Drug.  Wall Drug began in tiny Wall, SD (see map) in the midst of the Great Depression by Ted Hustead, a pharmacist who moved to Wall mainly because there was a Catholic Church in the community.  When it became apparent the townspeople of Wall weren't very rich, Hustead came up with an idea to offer free ice water to people traveling on U.S. Highway 14 to the then new Mount Rushmore, the nearby Badlands National Monument (now Badlands National Park), Yellowstone National Park and points west. 

With the help of others, Hustead erected signs along the highways leading to Wall, beckoning hot and thirsty travelers to stop in for free ice water.  Soon there were signs for Wall Drug all across the state of South Dakota and later across many states in the Midwest and Mountain states. 

Almost immediately, business picked up in the tiny drug store.  Their ice cream and soda fountain business began to flourish.  They've been giving away cold water and selling 5 cent coffee almost as long as they've been open.

In the early 60's, it was estimated there were over 90,000 signs for Wall Drug in the region.  I read somewhere there are still about 280 Wall Drug signs of various size and advertisements along portions of Interstate 90 in South Dakota. 

Well, it was on the way and I had to stop.  I mean, it's in the middle of nowhere and it is one of the largest tourist attractions in the upper Midwest.  I had to go just this one time. 

The signs guided me right into Wall and onto Main Street where I found Wall Drug (see map).  I expected it to be a huge place, and I wasn't disappointed. 

I pulled into one of the many large parking lots near the drug store and walked down the street.  Actually, the whole area around and across from Wall Drug is nothing but a tourist trap with t-shirt shops, western wear and other horrible stores just screaming to separate you and your money.  I wasn't even certain I really wanted to go into Wall Drug as I walked up the street.

The inside of Wall Drug was just as I imagined - a plethora of cheap trinkets and overpriced crap that droves of tourists snatch up.  They had rooms and rooms of this stuff.  I didn't even stop long enough to look at some of the things they had to offer.  I was afraid I'd get trapped into buying something.

Since dinosaurs roamed the area millions of years ago, there were a lot of dinosaur models for sale at Wall Drug.  Kids love dinosaurs - you couldn't even get through the aisle where the models were because there were so many kids screaming for their dad to buy them one. 

Of course, the kitschy items were more than prevalent, as well.  I couldn't resist taking this picture to show some of the crap they had for sale.  Actually, I sort of wish I would have taken more time walking through the gift shop area to find the most outlandish piece of merchandise.  On second thought, no, maybe not.   

Wall Drug has been built on to and expanded many times over the years.  It now takes up one whole city block in Wall. This is the "Backyard" area of the place, which has the Train Station Water Show area.  It had kind of an old Western theme to it.  They had a little water fountain out there for kids to run through.  Just what parents want - wet kids in the car. 

Also in the courtyard were a number of props to be used to take pictures with.  There was a miniature Mount Rushmore, a number of ceramic horses, a big gorilla and this giant jackalope that people can get on to get their pictures taken on.  Believe me, a lot of people were jumping up on this thing while I was there. 

Here's the free ice water dispenser out in the courtyard.  They're smart at Wall Drug - to get to the water, you have to walk through the gift shop area.  That's sort of like how they do it in Las Vegas - in order to get to your room, a restaurant or to a show, they make you walk through the casino.  In other words, they want more of your disposable income.

Years ago, Ted Hustead and his wife, Dorothy, used to chip ice off of big blocks of ice and pour ice water from a pitcher.  Now, you can just serve yourself.  I thought they'd at least have some one just handing out water.  But it must get pretty cold out there in the winter time.

The newest building on the backside of Wall Drug had a display of articles about the history of the business, as well as letters, articles and pictures of the Hustead family over the years.  Ted Hustead's son, Bill, ran the day to day operation for a number of years and oversaw the expansion of Wall Drug to it's present size today.  Bill's sons, Rick and Ted, are the CEO and President, respectively, of Wall Drug today.

Around the corner from where the family memorabilia was displayed was an art museum of paintings and artifacts of the Old West.  They had a long hall area with prints and drawings, as well as a large museum room filled with paintings, sculptures and antique relics.  I didn't spend much time in there, although it did look pretty neat.

Back into the main building, this is the mall area Bill Hustead built onto the original Wall Drug in the mid 70's.  When financial advisers told Bill that the economy was backsliding and advised him to divest from Wall Drug altogether, he expanded.  This was the first part of the expansion of Wall Drug.

In the mall, there's a poster shop, a t-shirt shop, an art gallery where you can buy prints and sculptures, a soda fountain, and, of course, the Wall Drug drugstore.

Actually, that was about all I could handle.  I'm sure there was a lot more to see, but I had a lot of miles ahead of me.  I ended up getting out of there and heading back out to the mini-SUV I was driving.  I thought to myself, "Well, that's 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back." 

But, still, there were some sort of neat things to see at Wall Drug.  It's pure Americana, not only in the kitsch and touristy items they have, but with the sort of wholesome feel that permeates the place.  If you ever get up that way, you really have to stop.  Once.

(Next up - Pierre and The Corn Palace.)    

Another Reason to Hate (and then, Love) the Cable Company

One other reason why I haven't been able to keep up with my weblog is the fact that my high-speed Internet has been intermittently cutting out.

    Since I got back from Denver on Monday, I've been having sporadic service with my high-speed cable through Mediacom.  It would work for an hour, then it would act like it's not getting a signal at all. Then it comes back on like nothing happens, then 15 minutes later, it goes off.

    I called the repair line yesterday and they had a recorded announcement which said there was an outage problem in my area and they were working to fix it as soon as possible. But all through the afternoon and last evening, it was still going on and off.

    Finally this morning, I'd had it. It was working when I got into the office at 7:30, but suddenly it went dead again. I called up the service line. This time the recording said there were no outages in my area. I talked to a service guy. He had me reset the modem (which I had done numerous times since Monday when the service is down, to no avail). He said, “Well, there's an upstream problem and I'll have to send someone out for service.”

     He then proceeded to tell me the earliest anyone could come would be next Wednesday afternoon. NEXT WEDNESDAY FRIGGING AFTERNOON! (Sorry, my stress meds haven't kicked in yet this afternoon.) I about shit on the spot. Even after I told him that I rely heavily on a high-speed Internet connection for my work, he said, “I'm sorry, but there's no way we can get there until next Wednesday.”

     Since I'm scheduled to be in Lincoln, NE next Wednesday I told him there was no way I could do that. He once again apologized and said that was the soonest he could get a technician over to check on the problem. 

    Finally, I thought I'd bluff him and say,  “Well, then I guess I'm going to have to call AT&T or Qwest and get their high-speed service since I need a high-speed connection now.”

     The service rep said, “Well, if that's what you have to do, sir, then I'm sorry. But we're backed up in your area and that's the earliest possible time we can get repair service to your house.”

     And then the little bastard had the nerve to say, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”

     I almost said, “Yeah, you can shove Mediacom and their shitty service up your ass!” But I opted to slam the phone down before I could give an answer.

     Earlier this week, my friend Tony Jobe, who lives out in Ohio, was conversing back and forth with me about getting a new HD Antenna to pick up his local HD channels now that he had DirecTV.

    Tony told me that when he called Time Warner to discontinue his cable service, the customer service rep immediately offered to knock $40 bucks off his bill for him to keep TW cable. Tony said to me, “Why don't they take some of that money and apply it to getting the Big Ten Network?”

    (Not having the Big Ten Network on Time Warner was the reason Tony went to DirecTV.  The large cable providers in the Midwest are still balking at the Big Ten Network's demands to put their fledgling network on basic cable, while cable providers continue to push for the Big Ten Network on a digital sports tier.)

      He told me that he has a local friend in Ohio who grew up in Nashville and he has no interest in the Big Ten Network. Tony told him to call up TW and say that he's going to drop the cable service and get DirecTV. That way he could get $40 bucks off his monthly bill.

  So, I got to thinking about Tony's conversation with Time Warner and wondered if I could pull off a similar scam.

    I called Mediacom’s Customer Service and got a representative on the phone. After all the verifications and the like, he asked,  “How can I help you today, Mr. Veber?”

    I told him I needed to know the procedure for discontinuing my Mediacom service. He immediately said,  “Well, I can connect you with that department.”

    I was on hold for about three minutes before I was finally connected to a guy that sounded like he was much more mature than the first customer service rep I had gotten a hold of earlier this morning.  I told him that I wanted to know the procedure for shutting off my cable service by the end of the week. He immediately asked,  “And may I ask why you're wanting to suspend your service?”

    I told him that I had a service issue that couldn't be resolved in a timely fashion. Then I added, “And the Big Ten Network situation not being resolved is another reason.”

    I explained to him that I needed high-speed Internet for my job and it was having intermittent problems since Monday. Even though they said there were service outages in my area the previous day, there were none reported today, but I was still having problems.

    I explained to him I was told the earliest anyone could come out would be next Wednesday afternoon. I said I work in my home office and travel on the road. Even if I could wait until next Wednesday, I was scheduled to be out of town.

    I said, “I realize my $160 a month payment may be just a drop in the bucket to you guys and maybe you don't care if you lose customers because you can't accommodate their schedules. But to me, $160 bucks of perpetual monthly income would be a big deal. I wouldn't want to lose that kind of income.”

    The customer service rep said, “OK, Mr. Veber. Let me tell you what. I want to put you in touch with the head repair supervisor for Mediacom. I think he may be able to take care of your problem.”

    Another three minutes passed. Finally, a man comes on the line and introduces himself (didn't get his name, but he did have the title of chief supervisor for technical service - or something like that). He asked what the problem was and I basically said the same thing that I had said to two previous Mediacom technicians.

    Then I added, “Look, I spend $160 bucks with you people each month and I think that YOU should have to work around MY schedule, not me around yours. High-speed Internet is important to me for my work and if I can't get it taken care of in a timely fashion - one that fits into MY schedule - then there are alternatives like AT&T and Qwest who bombard me with offers in the mail on a weekly basis.”

    The supervisor said, “If we can resolve this service issue immediately and get someone to come out to your house today, would you stay with us?”

    I said, “Well, that's a start.” But now I was feeling cocky. I said, “But let's talk about this Big Ten Network thing.”

    He said, “Well, let me do this first. Let me get a hold of one of the local dispatchers in Davenport, explain the situation to him about how important it is for a high-speed connection in your work, then see if he could get someone to come out today.”

    I said that would be fine and he put me on hold for about three more minutes. He came back on and said, “Mr. Veber, I have contacted the lead dispatcher in Davenport, told him of your situation and he said he would be calling you shortly to set up a time for a service technician to come by within 24 hours and possibly as early as this afternoon. Will that work for you?”

    I told him, yes, that would be acceptable.

    The conversation then turned to the Big Ten Network and Mediacom's refusal to pick it up. Even though I'm siding with Mediacom in this matter in a big way, I played the poor disconnected consumer, caught in the middle of two bull-headed behemoths slugging it out in the pits.

    He told me the cable provider and Big Ten Network are in final negotiations in bringing the network to Mediacom. He said, “There are a few minor details that need to get worked out by our legal department. We hope to have this issue resolved within the next 7 to 10 days.”

    Now, I don't know if that's a standard answer Mediacom uses to hold off those who are looking to abandon the service in favor of satellite, but this guy seemed to be a significant “higher up” in the Mediacom food chain. He talked openly and frank about this situation and definitely had his facts in a row.

    But he refused to answer my questions about possible rate hikes, per subscriber fees paid to the Big Ten, and whether it would be on basic cable or the sports package. But other than that he seemed to be at ease (as in, someone definitely in the know) in talking about the situation.

    He said, “Believe me, we've gone round and round with the Big Ten Network on this, offering them every possible scenario to make this work. They've finally come back with some reworked points over the past couple of weeks and it's something we believe is more feasible than earlier demands they were making.”

    It remains to be seen whether or not this will happen as quickly as he says it may. But as they say on television, stay tuned.

    Oh - the resolution of the above story regarding my high-speed Internet connection through Mediacom.

    The chief supervisor apologized up and down to me about having some underling say they couldn't come out until next Wednesday. I mean, he was falling all over himself apologizing and saying that it's quite evident that I use my high-speed Internet for my livelihood. Which I do, quite a bit. He couldn't have been more accommodating.

    About 30 minutes after the last phone call to Mediacom, my high-speed came back and has worked flawlessly ever since. A technician called me at 4:25 and said he was on his was over. I told him that everything seemed to be working normally, but he said, “Well, I'd still like to come over and run some tests on the modem.”

    He came by about 4:45 and took a look at my set up and then ran a diagnostic on the system. He changed a couple things out for me and he said it improved my Internet signal-to-noise ratio by 6 db - which is significant. He was here all of 20 minutes and there was no charge. Well, dammit, there shouldn't have even been a mention of a charge.

    But just the bureaucratic crap that goes on at places like Mediacom is enough to make me crawl up a wall. It was like the first guy I talked to didn't give a shit about me going to AT&T or Qwest for my high-speed Internet. As I told the chief supervisor, “I would have thought there would have been more of a sense of urgency if your customer service rep heard that I was cutting my service.”

    He said, “There should have been more of a sense of urgency on that person's part and for that I truly apologize.  He was falling all over himself to appease me.  It was kinda fun!

    Well, I didn't get $40 bucks taken off my monthly bill. My high speed cable is working better now that the guy came over and changed the cable and the coupling out. But the aggravation I went through with Mediacom today - even though they were “Johnny-on-the-spot” in getting over and addressing the problem - still leaves somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth.

    Maybe it's time for a beer...

CEDIA 2007 - The Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD Wars Continue

The annual CEDIA Exposition is going on in Denver this week and the big buzz continues to be the ongoing format war between Blu-Ray technology - backed by Sony, and HD-DVD technology - backed by Toshiba.

As I said in this post last January, the consensus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was that it was quite possible that HD-DVD would eventually be the winner.  The discs were cheaper, the equipment to play them on were cheaper and it seemed to be a more widely accepted format among video aficionados. 

While HD-DVD seemed to be in the lead since Toshiba introduced the first player in March of 2006, Sony silently made partnerships with a number of motion picture studios to distribute Blu-Ray discs exclusively.  In addition to their own movie production company, Sony has forged alliances with MGM, Fox, Disney, Lionsgate and Warner Brothers studios.

On the HD-DVD side, Paramount, Universal, Dreamworks and Warner Brothers are supporting that format.  It's interesting WB is supporting both formats.      

Earlier this summer, Blockbuster announced it will only stock and rent Blu-Ray discs at their 1700 locations in the U.S.  Their reasoning was that in test marketing in 250 Blockbuster stores, 70% of the high definition discs that were being rented by their customers were of the Blu-Ray format.  The reason is clear - Sony's PlayStation 3, which uses Blu-Ray technology, is driving the market place at this time. 

And considering a large number of movie titles are more readily available on Blu-Ray than HD-DVD at this time, suddenly Sony and Blu-Ray has the clear lead. 

Or does it? 

Sony is kind of getting a big head about Blu-Ray.  The release of Spiderman 3 has caused an outcry from consumers as Sony's asking price of $49.95 for the movie has been deemed outrageous.  That's the downside of Blu-Ray.  Their players and the movies are more expensive than HD-DVD.

Prices on machines have come down since they were first introduced, but Blu-Ray machines are still higher than HD-DVD machines.  Sony's Blu-Ray player retails at $499.99, while Toshiba has a player now at $299.99.  Of course, there is a universal player now available from LG which retails at $999.99. 

So you're probably asking, "OK, what's the big difference?   Why the discrepancy in pricing?"

The biggest difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is the amount of information that can be stored on one disc.  While most DVD's offer 10 gigabytes of information that can be stored on them, HD-DVD offers 15 to 30 GB of information, depending upon whether it's a single layer or double layer disc. 

Blu-Ray, on the other hand, has the capabilities of storing 25 GB of info on a single layered disc, and up to 50 GB on dual layered discs.  This is more desirable for the gaming aspect of Sony's PlayStation 3 which has dynamic and stunning graphics when game discs - basically Blu-Ray discs - are played on them. 

Why Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs can't be played on each other's machines is simple.  The optical pickup between the two - the mechanism that reads the digital information on the discs - are set at different angles.  The difference only .2 of a degree, but when you're talking about billions of bytes of information in a microscopic area, 2/10ths of a degree is akin to a mile.   

Plus, Blu-Ray has a tighter track groove than HD-DVD.  That's one of the reasons it allows for more information on a disc that is the same physical size as an HD-DVD disc. 

What makes Blu-Ray more expensive is that their formatted discs do not share the same thickness layer as DVD's.  Production facilities have had to be modified or re-manufactured to produce Blu-Ray discs.  And because their surface thickness is thinner than HD-DVD, a special coating must be applied to the Blu-Ray disc to protect the information that is stored just 1/10th of a millimeter below the surface.  But because of this, Blu-Ray discs can have multiple layers that could theoretically boost their total capacity to 200 GB of information.

A number of "mid-fidelity" to "upper-mid-fi" companies have been taking a "wait and see" approach as to where the format wars will end up.  Denon was the first of the "upper-mid-fi" companies to announce a Blu-Ray player that will be released this fall.  The only problem is that the unit will retail for $1999.99.  However, it is the first machine to employ the 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta processor chip - a truly high-end videophile chip that offers outstanding video playback for both Blu-Ray and DVD discs.  (All other processors in Blu-Ray players employ an 8-bit chip.)

I'm sure a handful of other upper-mid-fi companies will be announcing which format they'll be supporting shortly - possibly even before the CEDIA Expo ends this weekend.  The electronics company we distribute in North America - Cambridge Audio - is still taking a firm "wait-and-see" approach in regard to the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. 

And the battle isn't over by a long shot... 

Downtown Farmer's Market - Des Moines

When we were in Des Moines recently for the Iowa State Fair, we stayed downtown on a Friday night at the Embassy Suites.  On Saturday, we went to one of the largest Farmer's Markets in the Midwest, the Downtown Farmer's Market.  Over 200 vendors line a number of streets in the Court Ave. area of downtown Des Moines (see map). 

And, boy, does it bring the people out.  Thousands of people packed in to buy food, artwork, produce, flowers, wine, baked goods and whatever else one could think to sell at a farmer's market. 

When we first got there, Cindy was sort of hungry - even after we had a small breakfast at the hotel.  So I bought her a Dutch Letter.  A Dutch Letter is an "S" shaped puffed pastry stuffed with an almond filling and sprinkled with sugar.  Personally, I never had a Dutch Letter before, even growing up near Pella, where the Dutch Letter reigns as the king of bakery items.  I had a bite of Cindy's and it was OK, but I'm not big on the almond filling. The picture above is Cindy walking along with her half-eaten Dutch Letter.

I was holding out for the REAL baked goods, like what's shown on the right.  Honestly, I wasn't hungry and didn't get anything.  But tables upon tables of baked goods including cinnamon rolls were all over the place.  I was actually rather proud of myself for not getting any because I have a hard time passing up cinnamon rolls and they looked very good.

Since Cindy's been back from Europe, she's been on this espresso kick.  She doesn't drink coffee like she used to - but now she goes for the high-octane stuff.  Here she is bartering with an Italian guy, smiling and batting her eye-lashes to see if he'll give her a double shot of espresso for the price of one.  He did. 

One of the more popular places at the Downtown Farmer's Market was this place that sold breakfast burritos.  The line of people was 10 deep when we were there.  There had to be another 15 to 20 people sitting on ledges eating burritos.  We figured they must be pretty damn good and we were sort of kicking ourselves for having breakfast at the hotel before we came over.

At the Davenport Farmer's Market, we have a family of Amish people who bring in baked goods on a weekly basis.  Well, there's an Amish family that brings baked goods to the Des Moines Farmer's Market, as well, only they have a lot more items they bring.  The table in the foreground was just covered with cinnamon rolls, and the shelves in the back are filled with pies.  They brought, maybe, five to six times the amount of baked goods compared to what the Amish family brings in Davenport. 

And just like most places that have Farmer's Markets, there's a number of artisans who have jewelry, artwork or trinkets for sale.  Cindy can't pass these places without looking at everything.

Not only is the Farmer's Market in Des Moines on Court Ave., they also go into parking lots and down sidestreets.  This is looking North on 4th St. in downtown Des Moines.  Up this street they had everything from wine, barbecue, Maytag Blue Cheese, and more food. 

Here's Cindy talking with a Vietnamese girl selling produce for Vietnamese food.  Cindy saw some greens that looked a lot like some water weeds we get in the garden.  She was asking this girl what they were for and the girl was explaining that, yes, they were edible, but rather bitter.  Cindy said, "God, I pull that stuff out of my garden to get rid of it, and they sell it for food!" 

Good God!  More pastries and baked goods!  I don't know how the hell I got out of there without buying anything.  Everything looked so damn good.  It was all I could do to walk past these places.

I saw a booth for the Jasper Winery, a small winery that opened a few years back in Newton.  They had a number of bottles of wine on the table to sample and a few people were doing just that.  Now, most Iowa wines are of the sweet variety, and I'm just not into that.  But the Jasper Winery wines also feature a Seyval Blanc wine that is pretty good. 

I was sort of hanging around as I wanted to get a brochure when the crowd sort of thinned out.  A guy and a gal were manning the booth and I wasn't paying much attention to them at all.  I finally got up to the table and I reached for a brochure.  Suddenly, the guy reaches across the table and pulls on my shirt collar.  I looked up and it was my old friend, Dave Mortensen, working in the booth with his wife, Cyndi.  I about crapped on the spot.  Dave and I were old friends from back in Newton and since I moved to Davenport we just don't stay in touch like we used to.

Dave and Cyndi bought an acreage south and east of Des Moines and have planted 1400 Seyval grape vines and are selling the grapes to the people at Jasper Winery.  They help the owners out from time to time at the winery and at things like the Farmer's Market.  We were able to visit for a short while as they were pretty busy giving out samples and selling bottles of wine.  It was really great to see them.

By this time, my cousins Tom and John Wehrle; John's girlfriend, Bonnie; and Tom's friend from work, Bobbi; showed up to meet us.  John and I decided we needed a beer, so we went into the Court Avenue Brewing Company for a couple beers.  The others walked around looking at stuff.  The Farmer's Market was so big, I'd had enough for the time being.  That's one of the big things I like about the Des Moines Farmer's Market.  There are bars right there where you can go in and have a morning beer.  And I like morning beers. 

We met back up with them for a quick walk down Court Ave.  My buddy, Jeff Versteegh from Newton, told me to look for a lady selling a brand of gourmet mustard called Denison Mustard.  We found her.  She had a number of different varieties of gourmet stone ground mustard and we sampled a few.  We ended up getting one of their garlic country mustard and one of their hickory smoke country mustard.  Oh, man!  Great stuff!  Thanx for the tip, Burph!

My cousin, John, argued with me for awhile that the Dane County Farmer's Market around the Capitol Square in Madison was bigger than the one in Des Moines.  But after walking along and seeing all the vendors along Court Ave. and up and down the side streets and parking lots, he finally said, "Well, maybe this is bigger.  There's a lot of booths here."

But it turned out he was right.  The Dane County Farmer's Market claims they have over 300 vendors on their web site.  When we've gone in the past, it just didn't seem that large.  But it's also been a few years since we've been there. 

So, the Des Moines Downtown Farmer's Market is by far and away the SECOND largest one we've ever been to.  And it was almost overwhelming.  Cindy said, "Geez, I can't even imagine coming down here every Saturday.  It takes you a minimum of two hours to see everything.  And that's if you don't stop at every place along the way." 

The Downtown Farmer's Market in Des Moines is pretty impressive.  My three tips are: 1) Go early.  2) Have a lot of time on your hands.  And 3) Go hungry. 

The End of Summer

I always get kind of bummed out this time of year.  I really love summer and the first of September signals that summer is going away.  I like fall and everything, but summer is my favorite time of year. 

And it was funny as I got up this morning and realized that it was September 1st and I thought, "Where did the summer go?"  It just flew by this year.  It seems like it was just the 4th of July a couple weeks ago.  Maybe that's a manifestation of growing old. 

The days are getting shorter and the weather is cooling down (although it could reach 90 around here next week - again).  The growing season is winding down and that bums me out, as well. 

So today starts what is known as the "Meteorlogical Fall" - which is September, October and November.  Given how quickly the "Meteorlogical Summer" went by, it won't be long before we see snow. 

And that REALLY bums me out.