I'm just gonna dive right in with my favorite place we visited while in Portland, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It actually turned in to an impromptu trip on our first day out in Portland, which makes me love it even more! As a recap, I traveled out to Portland last month with my best friend Ashlyn to help her apartment hunt because she moved to Portland yesterday [hooray Ashlyn!] We were supposed to see a few apartments on our first day out there but they all ended up cancelling on us so that left us with a day to explore. We were downtown at Pioneer Courthouse Square where they have one of those posts with arrows that tell you how far away specific landmarks are, and Ashlyn noticed the Gorge was only about 20 miles away. So when we saw all we could see at the Square and the mall she said, "hey do you want to drive out to the falls?" I was down before she could even finish the sentence!
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Our Portland trip was full of adventures, including food adventures! I made it a point to try new foods and be a lot more adventurous with my meal choices. I went full speed ahead at the first place we went to for lunch, Shut Up and Eat!
*Additions made to this city guide going forward from 6/1/15 can be found on the Des Moines city guide in the drop down menu.*
I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. However, a blog post is unable to hold this large of content. I am still accepting comments, concerns, or recommendations on this post though! Thank you for your understanding.
Breakfast/Brunch/Coffee
Dinner
Cocktails
Bites/Dessert
Hotels
Other Attractions
Events
Transportation *DISCLAIMER: THIS LIST IS EVER EVOLVING AND WILL SEE MANY ADDITIONS OVER TIME DUE TO MULTIPLE TRIPS TO DES MOINES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. THIS IS A LIST OF MY PERSONAL FAVORITES, AND I WAS NOT PROVIDED COMPENSATION FOR ANY OF THE PLACES ON THIS GUIDE. **If you have any recommendations for me please leave a comment on the city guide post for Des Moines or contact me via the Say Hello option on the top menu. ***Enjoy DSM
Our last trip to Des Moines was a quick one but we sure did jam pack the day with fun activities! Here's a look in to our one full day that we had in Des Moines a few weekends ago.
Day 1 // Des Moines, IA 5 AM // Wake up, get ready 5:30 AM // Drop Wrigley off at babysiters aka my parents 6 AM // Grab a coffee at Starbucks 6:30 AM // Drive to Des Moines 11 AM // Check in to hotel 11:30 AM // Friend's bridal shower at Gortz Haus Gallery 2 PM // Explore Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden 3 PM // Sweets & drinks at Crème Cupcake 4 PM // Explore the East Village 6 PM // Dinner w/ friends at Centro 8 PM // Drinks w/ friends at El Bait Shop 9:45 PM // Comedy show w/ friends at the Funny Bone So as you can see we had a really early start and a late end to the day, but it was so much fun! We had a great mix of quality time just the two of us and also with friends. It was a wonderful trip out to Des Moines and we're really looking forward to heading back out there later this month for a long awaited wedding! Make sure you like the Yellow Mondays Facebook page to keep up with new posts and fun adventures!
During our fun weekend trip out to Des Moines we tried out a new bar for us but an old favorite for a lot of our Des Moines based friends. El Bait Shop is one of those Des Moines staples that you'll probably hear about if you ask any locals about the best places to get a drink in the city. And they are right, it's really really awesome!
Today I want to share with you what I am convinced is the best restaurant in Chicago. It is mine and Caleb's absolute favorite. We've been going to Bistrot Zinc for about a year and a half on the regular for brunch. We stumbled upon it one cold November afternoon and haven't looked back since...
Like I said in my last packing post, we made a short trip out to Des Moines a couple weekends ago for a friend's bridal shower. After the shower we had lots of time to explore before our night out! It was raining all afternoon, so we had to do an indoor activity. We planned on going to the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, which worked out for the most part.
Last weekend Caleb ate a restaurant in Davenport for a bachelor party that was so good that he insisted on taking me before we made our merry way back to Chicago. So he ate at this restaurant twice in three days...so it must be good right? It's called the Machine Shed and it is down right amazing! It might be our new stop on our way out of Iowa every single time now.
Food + Drink
This place gave us so much food that you could barely see the table top when all our food was on the table. And it was just Caleb and I. And we were in a huge booth. I started myself off with a lemonade and it was seriously some of the most delicious lemonade I've ever had. I'm pretty sure it's homemade. For an app we got the beer cheese fondue, and we also got a bowl of the baked potato soup. Both were so delicious! The soup was nice and hearty and perfect for the rainy day that it was. The pretzel sticks were nice and soft and perfect for dipping in to the beer cheese sauce. On top of that, the Shed also brings you your choice of sides to have before your actual meal. Caleb and I opted for the cole slaw and apples. Both super yummy. They also bring you bread. So, after all this Caleb and I were full. BUT we still had our actual meals to come! I ordered the BBQ beef brisket sandwich, and Caleb got the burnt ends. Their BBQ sauce is out of this world. I forced myself to have a few bites of my sandwich before I called it quits. Both our dishes also came with garlic mashed potatoes, and we got beef gravy to go on top of them. It was like heaven in my mouth. Even though I couldn't finish it all at the restaurant, I did polish that bad boy off for dinner that night! Ambience + Atmosphere It's a big restaurant with a shop attached to it. It's perfect for family dinners or like Caleb and I are planning on doing...our spot to grab a delicious bite on our way back to Chicago. It's not too loud but it's also not intimate and quiet. It's your typical BBQ family joint. Nice and casual and perfect for any meal of the day. Location + Transportation The Shed that we went to is located in Davenport, IA and is almost right off of I-80. They have a giant parking lot to accommodate their popularity.
Extras + Details
I'm not completely sure if the Shed accepts reservations. Yelp says they do but there's nothing on their website to make one. I guess you can call and find out...but I don't think you really need one. The restaurant is so big and they get people in and out fast. We only had to wait 15 minutes and that was at lunch time on a Sunday (after church). They also have "gift shop." You can buy a whole bunch of stuff...kitchen gadgets, dinnerware, cookbooks, jam, honey, syrup, candy, just everything! And trust me I wanted everything! Overall Impression We had a great lunch at the Shed. Our waitress was wonderful. So nice and attentive. The only little thing I noticed was we had to wait awhile for our actual meals to come out. We were on our way out of town and wanted to get going, so I think that made us notice this more than we usually would. I do give this place a major thumbs up though. If I ever make a Quad Cities City Guide, this will probably be the first place on it. It was a perfect lunch, and we intend to go back over and over again! I highly suggest you give it a try if you live in the area that one of these restaurants are in (they have multiple locations throughout the Midwest), or if you're passing through the area. You won't be disappointed!
What is your favorite stop along I-80?
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After all the wedding festivities last weekend, Caleb and I made a quick stop at the John Deere Pavilion. It was somewhat small but the exhibits were quite mighty!
The Pavilion was full of all different kinds of John Deere equipment. The shear size of all of them is incredible. The Model A Tractor was the first John Deere tractor styled by Henry Dryfus. The wheels were huge and even though it's old, it got the job done.
Outfit details:
Button down shirt (similar) - Eddie Bauer // Tank - Forever 21 // Jeans - Madewell // Flats (similar) - Target // Ring (similar) - Tiffany & Co. // Purse (similar) - Banana Republic
This S670 combine is ridiculously huge. It's used for harvesting crops and can hold up to 300 bushels at a time. It takes about 94 seconds to unload. That's so efficient, it blows my mind!
Farming equipment has come such a long way and is so important to the American culture. These are the machines that help feed us. Literally. John Deere is such an innovator when it comes to the farming community and it's amazing that he started from nothing. The John Deere Pavilion is small but that makes it easy to get through. It's full of interesting facts and is very kid friendly. You can climb inside almost all the equipment! If you're ever in the Quad Cities, this little gem is definitely worth your time! My favorite was the little turbo lawn mower. It literally mows your lawn by itself and then just returns to its docking station to charge. I would totally just sit out in a lawn chair, drink a marg, read a book, and let it do its thing. Caleb says no though because he needs our future lawn to have perfect diagonal lines ;)
Have you ever visited the John Deere Pavilion? If so, what was your favorite part?
Check out our Flickr account for more pictures from the Pavilion! There's a few funny pictures of me in the Quad Cities album...
I get a lot of questions about how our trips are planned out and how we fit so many activities in on one day, so I thought I'd put a little spin on the "day in the life" type of post! This is the exact itinerary from our first full day in San Fransisco!
Day 1 // San Francisco, CA 8 AM // Wake up, get ready 9 AM // Grab a coffee at Peet's Coffee 9:30 AM // Explore The Presidio 10:30 AM // Walk the Golden Gate Bridge 11:30 AM // Go pick up friends in Daly City 1 PM // Grab Dim Sum for lunch in Chinatown 2 PM // Explore Chinatown 4 PM // Shopping in Union Square 6 PM // Dinner at Foreign Cinema 8 PM // Change clothes 8:30 PM // Dessert at Mission Pie 9 PM // Drinks at Bourbon & Branch 11 PM // Drinks & games at a friend's place in Daly City So there you have it. That was our whole first day in SF! Each of those times account for travel times, as well. That's why you see a significant amount of time between picking up our friends and grabbing lunch and again between dinner and changing clothes for going out. Also, if you were to map out this day, each segment of the day is fairly close together. All the morning activities were located together, afternoon activities were all within walking distance of each other, and post dinner activities required some driving, but they were only miles apart. If you like jam packed days like Caleb and I do, I highly suggest setting up your day like this. To find more tips on how we plan out our trips take a look at my Trip Planning Tips post from awhile back! How do you like to plan out your trips? Make sure you check out our Flickr account for lots more photos from this exciting day in San Francisco! |
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All photos are taken by Caleb and Diana Cabrera unless otherwise stated. These photos are property of Yellow Mondays. Thank you.
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