Saturday Extravaganza!

Apparently there IS stuff to do in Des Moines. And we pretty much did it all today.

Stop 1: Free Tour of the Capitol
We went on a free tour of the Iowa Capitol building. Our guide was a little goofy, and there were a LOT of stairs, but overall it was very cool and we were all glad we went.

5 Important Things I learned from the Tour:
1. Iowans are behind the times. They have never had a female governor, US representative or US Senator. LAME!
2. Iowans keep their first ladies locked in a glass case--and they all conveniently have the same face.
3. Schools and liability have changed drastically. When the capitol building was on fire, the governor ordered 250 kids from East High School to go into the burning building to rescue furniture, books, money from safes, etc. "Okay kids, run INTO the burning building!"
4. Iowans were super cheap. They stayed in a building that looked nothing like a capitol building for 26 years--a building that was literally falling down on the legislative branch.
5. Ugly carpet will never go out of style, apparently.

Stop 2: Farmer's Market
It was the opening Saturday for the Farmer's Market so we walked around and checked things out. Definitely better when there are actual crops and food and stuff there. But still fun.

Stop 3: Lunch at Legends Downtown
Had a yummy turkey melt and people-watched out the window. Our waiter was extremely slow.

Stop 4: Amici Downtown
David and I did a little homework/reading while Chad and Tony hunted for mushrooms at Saylorville Lake. Talked to our favorite barista, Rachael.

Stop 5: Spike's for Dinner
Nothing special but it was a stop

Stop 6: Tony's Apartment
Played Mario Kart for Wii (I did not enjoy it as much as Mario Kart for GameCube) and ate some mushrooms.

Stop 7: Wal-Mart
Picked up some items for RA appreciation gifts and kinda walked around to kill time before stop 8.

Stop 8: Speed Racer at Cobblestone
Waaayyyyyy better than I could have imagined, especially after reading terrible review after terrible review. Yeah, parts of it were a little reminiscent of fuscia vomit but there was a plot, the actors were fun and the racetracks were just like ones on MarioKart! Plus a HYSTERICAL monkey. I told Chad that's what I want for graduation. Complete attainable, I know. Anyway, I totally got kidnapped and forced to go to this movie (I won't mention what the punishment was gonna be unless I said yes) but I actually enjoyed it. And I didn't even doze off!


We were busy from 10:00am until after midnight. Talk about a great day in DSM!