Dear Small Town Iowa Restaurants

Dear Small Town Iowa restaurants-

I love ya. I really do. I am more than proud to call Iowa my home state and I cherish that I was raised in a small town. But lately you haven’t been as good to me. When eating out, why must everything include bacon, sausage, or brisket? Or be “smothered” in cheese sauce or gravy? Just the word “smothered” makes me gag a little.

And when I cobble something vegetarian/vegan together, load it up on veggies don’t give me this iceberg lettuce crap with a couple of tomatoes and less than a proper serving of beans. Substitute all of that meaty/cheesy goodness with double (or triple) veggie goodness. Cross my heart, I’ll reward you with a large tip in return. Deal?

C’mon, Iowa. I get that meat production is a large industry in the state, but let’s also focus on plant nutrients too, eh? What about seasonal produce from the local farmer selling his crop on the corner? There really is no excuse in the summer and I would hope other patrons would feel the same.

Left hungry and feeling cheated,
Stephanie

Ready for RAGBRAI

My two-wheeled companion, Lexa; Photo by Stephanie Hertel via Instagram

I am so excited. So very, very excited. This has been a crazy, busy summer and after the last couple weeks in June, I am in desperate need of vacation (this may have also been suggested a couple of weeks ago by my boss when I was a bit sassy...). So I am truly looking forward to a week away from the distraction of life and ready to be riding in RAGBRAI. Sometimes it honestly brings tears to my eyes just thinking about memories from last year.

If you haven’t been following along, RAGBRAI stands for Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. It’s always the last week in July, during the most humid and hot time of year of Iowa. So sure, it’s going to be a scorcher and riding 40-80 miles per day in 110+ degree heat indices doesn’t sound overly pleasant, but it’s truly an awesome experience and I would recommend it to anyone, athlete or not... especially Iowans.

RAGBRAI is a leisure, fun ride across the state. It’s not meant to be a race and it’s best that way. Sometimes I entertain the idea of riding hard in the morning in order to get to the next overnight town around noon to escape most of the high, mid-day sun. But I think that would be missing the point of RAGBRAI. It’s not about speed, it’s about enjoying each pass-through town and all of the activities that it has to offer on the journey. It’s about meeting fellow riders and making new friends along the way.

Early morning riding is by far the best. Everything is peaceful, calm, and beautiful. The landscape is truly breathtaking and moves me to my core... sappy, right? But it's so true and I can't help but feel blessed for the experience in the sunrise hours. The majority of the riders (i.e. those that didn't get a little too tipsy the previous evening) start around 6:00 am, which means you hear hundreds of neighboring riders clicking into their petals, downshifting and in general riding as one. Picture one graceful, giant school of fish. As the day passes, riders start to disperse and there is no longer that continuous group movement of the morning, and honestly, it's probably safer that way. But there is something purely magical about RAGBRAI mornings.

So this coming week, think of me as you’re enjoying your modern amenities. I will miss air conditioning, the internet, and a soft bed the most, but it will be well worth it as I take in the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Iowa and RAGBRAI via my two-wheeled companion.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I had such a fabulous weekend! I spent treasured time with my parents, went to a very, very lovely wedding on Saturday and spent Sunday morning in Ames for coffee with a friends, followed by a sorority event. Wow, do I miss ISU! The women currently in my sorority and alumna are all amazing, passionate, inspired, and strong women. Coming back for our International Reunion Day reignited my love and gratitude towards Alpha Gamma Delta and helping to build the woman I am today. I was extremely hesitant about joining a sorority, but after encouragement from my dad and brother, it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life thus far! No matter the changes that have been made in the past five years, these places still feel like home:

ISU Alpha Gamma Delta house: Inspire the Women, Impact the World

ISU College of Design

The sorority event was held at one of Ames' most beautiful locations, Reiman Gardens. This was one of my favorite places on campus to take photos when I was living there, so it was only appropriate that I snapped a couple quick shots today:

RAGBRAI, The Conclusion

I did it! I finished RAGBRAI and dipped my front tire in the Mississippi River! I am unbelievably proud of myself. I went into RAGBRAI telling myself it was ok to walk up most of the hills, catch the sag wagon towards the end of the day, be the slowest person in the group, etc and I was fine with it. But I was so totally wrong. Yes, this girl that threw a tantrum any time I had to participate in any sort of athletic sporting activity as a child, cycled across the state of Iowa.

I gladly used my friend's wedding reception an excuse to not ride the first day. So, I started on the second day, the day with the most climb of all the days - 4719 feet to be exact. And I dominated. I had fresh legs when everyone else was tired from the previous day. I was sprinting up the hills that I was nervous about like a champ, passing many in the process. The first day was by far my favorite, the weather was cool, cloud-covered and beautiful. The rolling hills went far past the road and we were left with the most beautiful, lush landscape with the fog cresting the horizon. I was smitten, completely smitten. This is why I had decided to do RAGBRAI and I was elated that I was riding at an above-average rate, well above my training pace. And I had the huge realization that I can do this.

It wasn't all rainbows and daisies, by the end of the day the sun had come out and the hills were not nearly as fun and I was a exhausted. Days three through five all blur together a little bit with varying emotions: pride, joy, irritation, exhaustion, silliness, delirium, etc. And then finally I took day six off. My entire life I have been pretty sensitive to the sun/heat: heat exhaustion, heat rash, heat stroke, sun migraines, you name it, I've had it. Around day three I developed a ridiculously irritating heat rash on my arms and legs and decided it was best to give them a rest (which conveniently happened to be the longest day on the route). And I wanted to finish strong on day seven, the last day.

And finish strong I did. Six of our team members finished on Saturday, I rode with four of them and led the pack most of the way. I was in the groove in the morning, riding a good 2-3 (or even 8) miles per hour faster than I trained, up hills and cutting through headwinds. It was an amazing experience to feel my training paying off and being able to go that fast and not be completely exhausted. As we rode into Davenport people lined the streets cheering us on as we rode our final 6.6 miles across Iowa. This was amazing, it felt like a real accomplishment to finish.

I got to the dipping station at 2:56 pm, making it our fastest day of the bunch. I'm so happy I did RAGBRAI, definitely have plans to do it again, although next time more pie will be consumed and I want to take the time to enjoy the people and sites of Iowa, not just escaping to the shade in pass-through towns. I want to be able to ride the entire route and even the 100 mile loop, sun and heat cooperating, of course. Although I'm not sure I'm cut out for the whole camping thing...

I had originally decided to track all of the calories I consumed during the week, but I was too exhausted at night to track everything. Instead, here's some estimated stats from the week:
Miles rode: 300-315 (or about 70% of the route)
Feet of Climb: 13,218
Days: 5 (of 7)
Calories Burned: 11,000+
Max Speed: 36 mph
Weight: +4 lbs (It's common for first time RAGBRAI riders to gain weight. The question is, how much is new muscle mass vs consuming too many calories?)
Pieces of Pie consumed: 1 (I am so sad about this stat)
Ears of Corn consumed: 1 (again, deeply saddened by this!)



And props to the awesome team members of TFP (Team Fist Pump):
Will. Paul. Nate. Danny. Loren. Becky. Dan. Jon. Catherine. John.

Major props to Paul and my dear friend, John, who both rode the entire way across Iowa. Paul even added the extra century day. But John was a rockstar, this was his first RAGBRAI as well and he was determined to finish every mile, no one else in our group had that kind of determination. We were all impressed (and a little shocked) that John rode every. single. mile. Congrats, friend!

RAGBRAI Preface

The time has come, RAGBRAI starts Sunday. I'm about 75% excited and 25% nervous... or really it's the opposite. The past couple weeks I've been trying to get over a nasty cold and my life has just been out of control busy. Translation: I haven't been training like I should. To this date the longest ride I have completed was 32 miles. 32 pitiful miles. And now I'm about to embark on a 454 mile journey. This is scary.

But I do have lots of short rides under my belt. I have done nearly 400 miles in the past 4 months. (Ok, really, that's not that much and OMG I will double that in one weeks time). RAGBRAI recommends 1,000 miles of training before the ride, but most do less... some don't train at all. I just need to keep telling myself RAGBRAI is a series of short rides from town to town. And breathe. I need to remember to breathe.

And camping? I don't think I've ever truly been camping, at least not since I was a tween. Is this woman, who enjoys her 15 minute hot showers ready for an entire week of camping? With mostly boys? I haven't even begun to prepare for that...

So please wish me luck as I prepare for the most athletic and outdoorsy thing I have ever done in my life.

Junck?

Recently on a trip back to my hometown, my mom encouraged me to stop at a new store on our square, JUNCK, after seeing my post about on the MN art fair and the Spark Plug Guy. JUNCK "repurposes hidden treasures" to help move "toward creating a greener, happier world" and "do something productive with some of the STUFF that is already here."

I was pleasantly delighted with the goods I found at JUNCK! Neither my mom, nor I, walked away empty handed. My mom purchased two great wood plant stands. And I ended up with a beautiful, vintage "Marta Stewart blue" vase, 3 blue Ball mason jars, and this lovely vintage pyrex (shown above), all for right at $20! I baked with the pyrex for the first time this weekend and am already deliberating on my next baked good. I've always dreamed of being the stylish mom with the cute kitchen items to bring to potlucks... now I'm one step closer to making that dream a reality... sigh!

2009 Stone Arch Art Festival

The Stone Arch Art Festival was huge! We didn't make it to all the booths, but I listed a couple of my favorites from the event below:

- The Spark Plug Guy, who creates these amazing little sculptures out of found metal objects... he was the last booth we visited for the day and my favorite. I could find gifts for all the men in my life right there... he had everything from a grillin' dude to a mammogram machine! www.sparkplugguy.com

- I purchased my ring from a jewelry maker out of Texas: www.courtneymariejewelry.com I have a tradition where I buy a piece of jewelry to remember all of the locations that I've traveled to versus buying a destination spoon or bell... not that there's anything wrong with that!

- Branch Accessories had cute patterned bags, fabric flower pins, & fused glass jewelry! Very fun and trendy! www.branchaccessories.etsy.com

- And some beautiful paintings and mixed media pieces from www.winterberryinc.com the colors were great and very reminiscent of Mark Rothko's color studies.

I've been reminiscing about Iowa so much lately and trying to think of a way to express the love & appreciation I have for the great state. Being at the art festival this past weekend inspired me to create some mixed media pieces of my own. While I was driving through the beautiful countryside, I started visioning what I wanted to create. And I've already named the piece I want to make... now give me at least a year to crank it out. (It may fall in line with the other 217 craft/art projects I have in my head).

Minneapolis Weekend

This past weekend I was able to get away for weekend trip to Minneapolis to visit friends with a short layover in my hometown to visit the 'rents. Here's the highlights via bullet points:

- Peppermint Bon Bon ice cream in a waffle cone (my fav)

at Twin Shoppe in J-town
- No golfing with Daddy due to rain (it would have been

hysterical for both of us), but got to visit miniature horses

& miniature horse babies at a friend's farm!
- Quiche Lorraine from Angie's Tea Garden with my

Grandma & Dad (another J-town fav)
- Driving my new car
- Meeting friends in Minneapolis
- The hilarious romantic comedy, The Proposal
- Room & Board outlet (where all my future furniture

shopping will take place)
- Stone Arch Art Festival in Minneapolis, where I bought

my obligatory piece of jewelry from a vacation destination...

and it was handmade, which made it even better!
- Delectible sushi at Origami & drinks at Drink.
- 8.5 hour drive home, with at least 1.5 hour delay from construction

This weekend was full of my favorite things: friends, food, & the arts (minus the travel time). It couldn't get much better than that!

It's summer time!

I went on a bike ride tonight around the quiet streets of North Kansas City and it immediately took me back to my summers in J-town, where my bike was my main form a transportation.

I rode my bike everywhere. Across town to our acreage with warm bottles of milk riding safely in my backpack while hungry bottle calves were waiting. To riding to swim team practice in the crisp morning air, with dew on the grass. To riding as fast as I could in the rain for fear of being late for my summer school classes and crashing head-first into a telephone pole and cracking my helmet in the process (and that's why we wear helmets, kids). To considering the last block of my route the "speedway" where I would go as fast as I absolutely could to finish strong. And having my mom put a zip-tie on the right side of my bike, so I knew what side of the road to ride on. I still have problems with the right-left thing, but thankfully I don't need a zip-tie in my car!

Oh, the good ol' days!

oops... I missed Wallpaper Wednesday...

Flashback to childhood

I lived in the same house for 21 years of my life. About 3 years ago, when I was a senior in college and my parents were about to be empty nesters, they up and moved about a mile a way to a house with almost twice the square footage. Why they need a house that size is baffling to me... I sure hope they're not waiting on grandbabies, because I don't think there's going to be any to speak of any time soon! Anyway, I digress...
I have many fond memories of our old house, but there are really two things that I miss the most: the peonies and the asparagus patch. Apparently, my brother liked the sabbotage our asparagus crop and run over the patch with the lawnmower... now he's succomed the great taste and even buys asparagus for himself on occasion. But the peonies were always there around Memorial Day, blooming so beautifully and happily outside my bedroom window.

Last week one of my co-workers brought in some gorgeous pink and white peonies and I was forunate enough to get a couple of blossoms to enjoy. So thanks, Cindy for the gorgeous flowers and reminding me of the beautiful, fragrant flowers of my childhood. Now if anyone has any extra aspargus, you know where you can make donations...

On another note, in this journey back to my childhood I've also realized I need to stop making such definitive declorations on my personal color preferences... I actually do like pink flowers, contrary to what I've said recently. I've had this fickle color preference for years... when I was younger my room was an off-white color and I was adamant that everyone needed white walls, not cream colored walls, but white. So we painted three of my walls white and the 4th was a two-toned stripe pattern, in "Purple Ice" and a periwinkle. A couple years later, I was on this kick that every wall needed drama and lots of color, no wall should every be left white. I painted my walls a medium green color, probably a little too overpowering for my small room. Now I'm finding myself attracted to the whites again. In a couple of years, you'll probably find me only wearing pink...

Smash

Some time ago I read about this t-shirt shop, Smash, located in Des Moines, Iowa. After looking at their website, it is decided that I need to order at least one... or maybe a couple! I'm leaning towards:

"Iowa, Wave next time you fly over"
"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa"
"Iowa is the California of the United States"
"Des Moines, IA: Let us exceed your already low expectations!"
"Actually, we're just outside the middle of nowhere"

... or do I dare go for the
"Iowans: The few, the proud, the extremely attractive"
"Not everything in Iowa is flat"

Where is America's happiest place to live?

...well it's not Disney World folks. I couple of days ago I heard on the radio mainstreet.com published their "happiness index" based on household income, debt, employment, and foreclosures. Nebraska ranked numero uno for the happiness place to live economically, while Iowa followed in second place.

It makes me so happy to be from Iowa! Not to mention, I spent a good amount of my childhood in Nebraska. So maybe my frugality partially comes from being an Iowan... which in turn makes me happy!

RAGBRAI in Jefferson!

Jefferson, Iowa is my hometown and on Monday night Jefferson was an overnight town for RAGBRAI, (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). I arrived early Monday morning to help my parents prepare for the 40+ guests that would be staying at our house, shortly after their support drivers began to arrive. My parents house was en route into Jefferson; I spent several hours enjoying the beautiful day and watching riders go by.

I cannot begin to describe the enjoyment I found in getting to know the riders that stayed with us. We had several middle-aged women from Iowa, a couple from Fremont, NE, four riders from Colorado, a group of men from Aurora, IL, a bus from around the country, including New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. and a couple riders from good old KC. It was so interesting talking to the riders, some were RAGBRAI virgins, others had done it for years, one thing that everyone mentioned was "Iowa hospitality." At our house, some of the riders dubbed me "the hostess with the mostess," which suited me just fine! I miss Iowa and love it dearly.

RAGBRAI is such an great event, because it's not a race, but instead a simple bike ride with 10,000+ friends. You see all kinds of people on RAGBRAI, young and old, athletic and determined, from all regions of the country and world. This experience has really inspired me ride next year, even if it's only a couple of days. I can't wait to start training...

Images above (clockwise starting in upper left corner): Riders leaving Jefferson, riders in the rain around Scranton, Nate Guess from Band KounterTop performing downtown, riders leaving Jefferson (next two), crowd in downtown Jefferson enjoying the concerts (center)

Here are some videos that I thought were interesting:

Lance Armstrong in Ames with thoughts on RAGBRAI & Iowa

Video of riders entering & leaving Jefferson