Pho All Seasons

We stopped at Pho All Seasons in Des Moines in November after I ran the Hungry Turkey 5K, and my parents and sister had run the Hungry Turkey half marathon.  The place had a pleasant family atmosphere.  

I ordered a medium bowl of chicken pho for $6.95.  It was ok, but I missed the lime slices I could squeeze into the soup at Pho 515.  Without a little citrus, it seemed rather bland, but then that's just my tastes.  My mother ordered beef pho and thought it was delicious.

Pho 515 in Des Moines

My mom's favorite food is pho, a Vietnamese rice noodle soup.  With my grandmother's visit ending, my mom decided to take us out to a pho restaurant for a farewell dinner before seeing Yai off at the airport.

My mom is a pho expert, and she wanted to make sure she got good authentic pho.  We went through the reviews of several of the Des Moines pho restaurants on Trip Advisor and Yelp, and she decided Pho 515 would be our best bet.

A Drive Through the Countryside

This morning we awakened with the dawn to deliver a load of our concrete pads for propane tanks to a co-op near Des Moines.  The grass was still glittering with dew and crepuscular creatures were singing mellifluous ballads to our magnanimous Creator, thanking Him for another beautiful day.

Our journey to the co-op was uneventful.  We noticed several family businesses on the way, selling trellises, quilts, eggs, and potted flowers.  It was delightful to note that the spirit of entrepreneurship still flourishes in rural Iowa.

On our way home we chose a circuitous route, aiming to catch a glimpse of the more colorful side of the countryside.

Here's Saylorville Lake:

It reaches as far as the eye can see.

Shortly after crossing the lake, we reached Polk City where this large nut caught our eye:

"Can you imagine how big of a wrench you would need to tighten that?" Papa asked.  It's perfect for a Brobdingnagian.  Unfortunately the artist was not at the studio so we couldn't get a closer look at his artwork.

We drove through Rhodes and checked on the tank which adorns the heart of the town (I wrote about it here last year).

Down the road a ways in another small town we came across an old Phillips 66 gas station.

It was closed, but there would be a rush at the pumps if it reopens someday at the price of the last sale!

Total price: $1.95 (?)  36.9 cents per gallon.

Reminders of the past are always present in the countryside and small towns where the good old days will ever live on.  We returned safely home, and can only thank the Lord for "oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!"

"The Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

Iowa State Historical Museum

The third stop of our trip, just 6 minutes' drive from Pioneer Park and in front of the capitol building, was the State Historical Museum.  The museum, open from 9 AM to 4:30 PM Monday-Saturday, has no admission fee and occupies the spacious State of Iowa Historical Building.

Upon entering, the visitor is confronted by a huge skeletal mammoth replica and a decent selection of bones and bone replicas.

In the adjoining room, there are Iowa starfish fossils.  The American Mastodon femur (upper leg bone) shown below was found near Algona, Iowa.  

We saw Native American headdress and clothing, and tools of the pioneers--including a collection of millstones.  Native American and pioneer themes can be found throughout the building.  After seeing a 2-row planter and a 1 furrow plow, I'm sure all farmers are thankful for their modern farm equipment!

  The coal mining exhibit was in a dark room made to look like (guess what?) a coal mine.  Nearby, a film played telling the history of coal mining in Iowa.

Wildlife displays were next.  The moose behind me are from Alaska and Minnesota.

 

The 520 pound male bear lived in Grand View Park, Des Moines in 1916.  There were numerous bear sightings in Iowa during the 1800s and early 1900s.  Also on display were elk, buffalo, Iowa brush wolves,  wild turkeys, prairie chickens, hawks, foxes, and raccoons.  It was interesting, but also evoked the inevitable "Poor animals--why did they have to be stuffed?" feeling (especially the little fox kits and fledgling hawks).

Upstairs there was an insect display with butterflies and insects from Iowa as well as exotic butterflies from Peru, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.  

The section of spruce below is from Washington state.  It was unloaded in Des Moines by mistake on its way to the 1893 World's Exposition in Chicago.

Currently, the museum has a temporary exhibit on the Civil War.  The exhibit depicts camp life and has special sections for weapons, prison life, and civil war music.

 

Across the hall is a room specifically dedicated to the Confederacy.

These flags, which read "Independence or Death" and "Southern Rights" are 2 of several southern flags displayed in the room.  

We were pressed for time and therefore skipped a visit to the library and historic preservation rooms on the first floor, instead heading upstairs.  From the staircase, we had a good view of the three vintage airplanes suspended from the ceiling.

The Solbrig is a benoist biplane that was built and flown Oscar and Mary Solbrig in Davenport, Iowa before 1910.  

A Curtiss-Klein pusher (1910) is on the left and a Bleriot XI monoplane (1909) on the right.

Aviation buffs can also find a Hat-in-the-Ring painting made from a scrap from a wing of one of Eddie Rickenbacker's planes.  (Rickenbacker was the top American ace in World War I, leading the Hat-in-the-Ring squadron).  You can also see the jacket that Colfax, Iowa native James Norman Hall (a friend of Rickenbacker's) was wearing when he was shot down and crash landed in Germany during World War I.  (James Norman Hall became a successful author, writing many books, including Mutiny on the Bounty).

(Ouch...I'm sure glad Jimmy Hall survived that one!)

On the second floor there are many beautiful portraits of famous Iowans as well as paintings by famous artists.  In the museum there are also musical instruments including an organ, bugle, and melodean--an instrument developed in the 1840s as a more affordable alternative to a piano.

A melodean

Other interesting artifacts include Daniel Boone's rifle, a pair of glasses that once belonged to Abraham Lincoln, and a rocking chair President Theodore Roosevelt sat in on a visit to Iowa. 

A pretty wedding dress caught my eye as well.  Around the time of World War II there was a silk shortage and the bride-to-be could not find silk to make a wedding dress.  No problem!  Her prospective groom was in the air force and flew over his fiancee's house, dropping a parachute to her father.  The dress was made from parachute silk!

The museum covers life from cradle to grave.  In search of an old-fashioned hearse?  The museum has that too--you'll just have to find a horse!

Need to find an iron lung?  Let's hope not!  But just in case...

And who could live without a Frank-A-Matic?  Oddly situated in the museum right beside the iron lung, this may not be as much of a life-saver, but it certainly was a time-saver!

Used in Des Moines in 1964 by the meatpacking industry, the Frank-A-Matic could stuff and link 35,000 frankfurters and sausages an hour.

The third floor of the museum houses a silver plated ware collection and Barratta's restaurant.

By the time our self-guided tour was over, it was near closing time.  After a long day, our feet were tired.  We had a lot of fun, and the trip was very worthwhile.

We bade farewell to the beautiful golden-domed capitol and headed home.

Iowa Gold Star Museum

Saturday we took a trip to the Des Moines area.  The first place on our schedule to visit was the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum at Camp Dodge in Johnston.  The museum contains the largest military weapons collection in Iowa and is open Monday-Friday 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. and Saturday 10:00 to 4:00.  There is no admission fee.

We went through security at Camp Dodge, and soon realized we should have asked the guard where the museum is.  After a little wandering, we found someone who directed us down a road to the museum.  On the way, we saw national guardsmen/women training and drove past the barracks.  Later in the day we could hear target practice.  

We were greeted in the museum by a retired sergeant who had told us of his experience in the armed forces , and explained to us the meaning of the gold star.  The blue star was placed in the windows of families who had a member in the service and the gold star was for mothers whose sons had died in the service.

The first room we toured contained a gun collection.  There were revolvers, dueling pistols, flintlock pistols, anti-tank guns, rifles, mortars, incendiaries, and grenades.  

On the left you can see among others a M1917 Smith & Wesson revolver (.45 caliber, 6 shot) and a M1903 Colt .38 caliber.  On the right there's a Spanish .54 caliber flintlock pistol (1780-1850), and a German 13mm percussion dueling pistol (muzzle loader) (1830-1870).

In the next room there was a collection of civil war era lances and swords.  The Gatling Gun (above right), a forerunner of the modern machine gun, is from 1883.

There was a separate display on each war the U.S. participated in.

1917 Machine gun ammunition cart and  1898-1909 German light field howitzer

There were helicopters, a Humvee, a half-track, and a jeep. 

 A Curtis P-40 B fighter plane replica hung from the ceiling.  At the push of a button by any passerby, a sound track would play of the plane going into a dive: then lights would flash from the replica guns and you could hear them "fire."  

In the submarine room you can find controls and monitors (and an informational video) as well as a periscope which gives a view of the street outside of the building.

The display on the most recent "Global War on Terror" includes a mortar used in Afghanistan and rockets like those mounted on either side of the Cobra.

On the other side of the building there is a small room with more information on the Civil War.  There is a small room dedicated to the Iowa State Patrol with mannequins displaying the State Patrol uniforms over the years.

On the left is the original uniform (1935--why does it remind me of Sheriff Andy Taylor?) and on the left is the current Honor Guard uniform worn by Iowa State troopers.

Outside there was a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak flown by the 132nd Fighter Interceptor Wing Iowa Air National Guard from May 1969 to April 1971.  It had a maximum speed of 658 mph and a cruise speed of 539 mph.

There was quite a collection of tanks, trucks, and artillery as well as a few rockets in the field near the museum.

We wished we could have spent more time: there is so much to see!  But after a very pleasant hour we had to leave quickly.  We didn't want to be late for the chess tournament!

The Iowa Gold Star Museum is a great place to visit!  Just be sure to come when you have plenty of time to enjoy it fully.

Tomorrow read an account of the chess tournament: Des Moines Time Odds Blitz