des moines

Living History Farms

mildlygranola, , , , 1 Comment

Last Wednesday zoo members were able to check out Living History Farms for free. It’s a great opportunity for the museum to introduce zoo members to another organization they might want to buy a membership for. It’s an even better opportunity for me to check out something that I usually wouldn’t pay to visit (my kids are too young to get much out of Living History Farms).

We decided to skip most of the farms and just go to the 1900 farm. We arrived there by tractor pulled wagon. The kids were so excited to see the tractor they didn’t even mind the wait.

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On the farm we checked out the animals. Elliot loved the cows. Audrey loved the horses. I loved the sheep. We were all happy.

After checking out the animals we walked to the pick up stop for the tractor. It was nice to get a little walk in. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the next tractor to arrive. They had a nice playground for the kids to play on. Unfortunately, it has been raining here for weeks, so the kids were pretty muddy after that.

We headed back into the historic village to check out the shops. Audrey ground up cinnamon with a mortar and pestle at the pharmacy. She thought that was pretty neat.

If the kids didn’t need naps we could have explored more of the town and checked out the other farms. We ended up spending about two hours there. That was enough for us. When the kids get older we’ll check it out again.

5 on Friday: Spots to Crafternoon in Des Moines

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Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I want a drink after this week. I was puked on by both of my kids this week. They are fine now, but I am still recovering from the grossness.

Luckily tomorrow is Saturday, so I’m going to get out of the house to knit with a friend. We’re meeting at a coffee shop tomorrow, but we have been known to head to the bar instead. We call it Crafternooning, and we have a group that gets together about once a quarter to have a drink and get some crafting* done. We’ve found some great spots around the city to have a drink and knit it up. Today I’m going to share five of the best spots with you.

The Library

This place is busy at breakfast, but we’ve had success at about 11. We all order brunch (they have breakfast nachos, which should be a thing at more places), and by the time we are done eating it has cleared out enough we can knit and drink without feeling bad about taking up a table.

Confluence Brewing Company

Lots of space. Great light for difficult projects. Really good beer. Often a food truck in front. Craft beer for crafting.

The Iowa Taproom

This is the newest bar on the list and is very popular at night. However, it has been my experience that The Taproom is pretty empty in the afternoon (apparently loads of people don’t want to drink craft beer at 2 PM. Go figure). They have really good food and an incredible selection of Iowa beers.

El Bait Shop

This is my favorite bar for afternoon drinks, craft or not. If you don’t go before a baseball game there is usually lots of room. They have lots of beer on tap (the world’s largest selection of American craft beers), and some solid fish tacos.

Saints Pub & Patio

If you want margaritas and queso in a sports bar while knitting, this is your spot. They recently stopped offering margaritas by the pitcher, which is a real shame. Until that happened our regular order was the Jess Special** – a pitcher of margaritas and cheese dip. Like the Taproom, it is pretty dark, so I would suggest bigger needled projects here.

Do you ever Crafternoon? Do you have another name for it? What is your favorite crafting drink?

* Crafting is optional. It’s OK just to have a drink and hang.

**Named after my friend Jess.