May 1, 2013

Put your mettle to the pedal and ride! May is Bike Month. The bike enthusiasts at The Des Moines Bicycle Collective are up to their panniers in activities for you to choose from. This story could have more links than a bike chain, with all of the bike clubs, org’s and websites in the area. Go to bikemonthiowa.com for a full scoop of The Collective,...

Jun 5, 2012

Having a nineteen-month-old daughter, I don’t get a lot of opportunities to see live local music. But over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to check out, and even be a small part of, the local music scene at the open jams at Bombay Bicycle Club (BBC). This is a great bar (see this write-up) that wouldn’t be out of place in San...

May 22, 2012

I never made it to the Gilroy Garlic Festival when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it always sounded like a lot of fun. It’s a huge celebration of all things garlic. I always heard there was garlic ice cream. Had I gone, I would have been game to try that one! (incidentally, I did go to a produce-related celebration when I lived there—the Tracy...

May 15, 2012

There are some activities that just scream summertime in Des Moines.  A morning at the Downtown Farmer’s Market.  An afternoon bike ride to El Bait Shop’s patio.  An evening stroll through the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden.  (Sounds like a great day, right?) But for me the summer doesn’t truly begin until I see the first live baseball game of the...

May 8, 2012

It’s hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since I moved back to Des Moines from the San Francisco Bay Area. In so many ways it still feels like I just got here. Maybe it’s because of the mild winter and early spring that the time seems to have gone by so quickly. Or maybe it’s the fact that my wife and I are in the raising-a-baby time warp in...