The Pappajohn Sculpture Park is a 4.4 acre park in the heart of downtown Des Moines with 28 sculptures. It is operated by the Des Moines Art Center (which we also visited), and opened in 2009.
It’s named for local venture capitalist John Pappajohn and his wife Mary, who gifted the initial 24 sculptures valued at $40 million. It was part of a redevelopment project that help revitalize Des Moines, which had previously been in a rather dilapidated state.
The cover photo to this post is from the park, Keith Haring’s Untitled (Three Dancing Figures, version C), designed in 1989 but not fabricated until 2009 (19 years after Haring’s death).
Nomade, Jaume Plensa, 2007.
Moonrise. east. january (2005) and with Moonrise. east. august (2006) peeking from behind. Artist Ugo Rondinone.
Ancient Forest, Deborah Butterfield, 2009.
Good Eats
Doug had the Zombie Burger restaurant on his list, and here’s the “Disasterpiece” Burger he had (it was special for September). “Des Moines chopped cheese (two beef patties chopped with American cheese), slab bacon, fried egg, shredded lettuce, tomato, mayo and ketchup, South Union Bakery hoagie.” He declared it to be delicious. The restaurant is Zombie-themed, though I personally thought that part was underwhelming.
Maid-Rite is “loose meat” sandwich, and another time when I was glad to be vegetarian because it did not look appealing to me. The same-named franchise is based in Des Moines, with the first restaurant opening all the way back in 1926 in Muscatine. Though at one time there were 138 stores and major expansion plans, it’s now down to just 31 locations.
Iowa is the nation’s leader in pork production, so a pork tenderloin was on the list of things to have. We went to the Angry Goldfish restaurant in Des Moines, where Doug’s tenderloin was breaded with Sriracha seasoned Goldfish crackers.
Steak de Burgo is a steak dish that is associated specifically with Des Moines, Iowa. It is a beef tenderloin topped with butter, garlic, and Italian herbs. We went to Simon’s for our meal, which was fantastic. This might have had something to do with the amount of butter in both of our meals (I had salmon), and the complimentary red velvet cake we received – one of the moistest (and delicious) pieces of baked goodness we’ve ever had. We were able to chat with Simon himself to top off our culinary excursion.
Birdin’
We had high hopes for birding in a new spot, but we were foiled again and again. We hardly saw anything, and what we did see were common birds for us.
Great blue heron.
Red-bellied woodpecker, looking a little frazzled.
The “All Other” Category
A pavilion at the Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens. I was on the fence about going here, but stopped in when I drove right past it. It was pretty underwhelming.
OK, this is more technically “on the way to Des Moines” as opposed to in Des Moines. You remember that crazy popular book and subsequent movie, The Bridges of Madison County? I personally wasn’t impressed with either (having an affair is not “romantic”, IMHO), when we arrived in Madison County there were signs everywhere about the covered bridges. This is the 1870 Cutler-Donahoe Bridge in Winterset.
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