A trip down south...

With Minnesota temperatures only expected to be in the low 40's on Saturday, 

we decided to head south for our Anniversary weekend. 

Oh, not the SOUTH you are probably thinking....

 

SOUTH as in... Des Moines Iowa

(that kind of SOUTH)

Temperature in Des Moines were 10 degrees higher than in Rochester,

 50's sounded better than 40's.

and... we only had to travel 3 hours to this beautiful city.

Sunday proved to be even better as the temps rose to the low 80's 

Photo taken of Rick 20, and me 18, during our dating years.

~39 years ago TODAY... we had our first date!

We were babies, Me just 16 and Rick 18

~34 years ago yesterday we were married!

Best decision I ever made...this guy is all he's cracked up to be  :)

~  ~  ~  ~ 

So .... back to our fun little Anniversary get-away!

We left Saturday morning and headed SOUTH to Des Moines

When the skys are clear,

 it's amazing how many jets you can see occupying the same air space.....

"Holy air traffic controller Bat man" 

 
 Pretty much everywhere you look in Iowa

We managed to tour two spectacular mansions on Saturday

I will post on them soon...

 We chose Mexican cuisine for dinner, we always try to eat at places that are new to us!

 This place looked good, and it was..

A very cool chandelier made out of hanging beer bottles 

After our big dinner we decided we needed to walk around and

 burn off some calories, so we stopped  at Dick's Sporting Goods to check out their Kayak's.

 Rick is in the market for a new one to take to the cabin.
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Then my favorite store in the whole wide world... KIRKLAND'S

We no longer have a "Kirklands" in Rochester so you can imagine,

 I was thrilled to stop here and browse. 

We actually ended up buying a nautical looking mirror for the cabin....SCORE!

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Next stop Jordan Creek Mall, but it closed 15 minutes after we got there (9pm)

 Oh well,

 enough time for dessert,  Cinnabon!!!

So what we just burned off...we now gained back!

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We had a great day on Saturday, our day was full of interesting things to see!

Stay tuned for more posts on our Anniversary weekend in Des Moines...

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Bonus photo:

 "The Gas Lamp" a very old building with neon letters that I'm sure look very cool all lit up at night.

"The Gas Lamp is a very eclectic music venue located in the heart of Des Moines new booming Western Gateway. Boasting a very vintage throwback feel, this is a bar that is designed to stand the test of time and trends. Live music weekly, with acts ranging from Experimental to Bluegrass, and Alt Country to Punk".