S. Worthen | Weblog

I've put the cuts in for the three photos, not because I was particularly verbose about the past few days here in Des Moines.


I tagged along with a work trip my mother went on on Monday, to Adventureland, the local amusement park. If we'd known in advance they had installed a water park there this year, we would have brought swimsuits. Instead, we saw a circus, went on a water ride, the carousel, and other accessibly gentle rides.

What a lovely bridge this is! A curving double-pathway is suspended from a parabolic arch, with a pathway connecting the two in the middle. It was well-trafficked even late on a weekday night, and even though the bridge currently goes from approximately nowhere to nowhere. It overlooks a weir on the Des Moines river.

I came home for the fair. At the Pork Producer's tent, the pork chops were as good as always, and one of the honorary chefs-of-the-day was a 2012 presidential candidate. The installation in the lobby of the Cultural Center is a sand sculpture themed "Star Boars". The new horse arena, new outdoors arena, and new food center all look really good: major structural improvements. I had a peppermint ice cream bar from Bauders and birch beer from the Pioneer village. We watched dogs herding cattle competitively - fascinating! - and pairs of ram lambs being shown. The pickles and jams were photogenic. The weather was perfect: clement and clear. Wednesday, as it turns out, is too late to catch the weird chickens and rabbits.