Some honest opinions about relocating to the midwest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are looking at Iowa, you might want to consider Ames, or another college town. College towns tend to be a bit more diverse, more open-minded, and have a little more going on. The smaller towns (I grew up in a tiny town in WI) tend to be insular, but can be really friendly as well. It's certainly a slower pace of life, which I sometimes fantasize about, but I just don't think I could go back.

I'm from Ames and now live in Des Moines. Ames is too sleepy. Des Moines is way more vibrant and diverse and urban. Not a fan of West Des Moines or the burbs but love our older neighborhood close to downtown. Consider Des Moines. Plus living near family is super helpful.

[Anonymous]

Go to Minneapolis! It's cold but an awesome place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and gosh you've all given such good advice and so much perspective. This is what I wanted so DH and I could really start thinking about it.

To those who say I should "let" my DH get a lesser job and move to the suburbs here, that wouldn't work for us. I don't really love the east coast culture at all (not judging, I just grew up at the beach in California - so I have a very different idea about what living on the coast means) and we only live here for my DHs job. All our family is Midwest, Texas, Arizona and Colorado. Also we make choices together, there is no "letting" each other do anything, but I think you knew that.

My husband's hometown in Iowa is gorgeous, just enough Norman Rockwell, just enough modern amenities. I'd really miss being near an MLB team though and large concert (big draw) venues. Also I really like the four seasons here in DC. I guess there is no one "perfect" place to live.

If you have family in Texas, Dallas is a GREAT affordable place to live that would give you the major sports team and great concert draws. You get like... 3.5 seasons, and granted the longest one is summer, but Dallas is much greener than I expected and does have solid spring and fall. It is NOT a place for outdoorsy people, but you are a few hour drive from the gulf (not like CA, but it's something), great airport access, etc. We moved from the midwest to Texas and are really happy with the move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company has a presence in downtown Des Moines and while I've never lived there, I'm in Des Moines annually for at least a week at a time and often several times a year.

Full Disclosure I'm a native Washingtonian, and I really do love it here, and I hope I never have to move to Iowa/Des Moines.

1. Lack of diversity among race, educational attainment, everything. I saw people refer it as white bread on another post - agree completely.

2. Lack of professional sporting options - think they have minor league baseball.

3. the city literally closes at 5pm and on the weekend. Positive: the idea of traffic is a joke for anyone coming out of DC/Atlanta/LA

4. The food options - most are horrid. There are a couple that are good - I would heartily recommend anyone in Des Moines to visit Centro (wonderful!) but I've had "Mexican" in Des Moines where I strongly suspect they poured ketchup on my food in place of red sauce (I also got food poisoning that night). When I'm in town I spend a lot of time at Panera....

5. I never once saw someone on a run or on a bike, and most of the people I interact with are much larger than the average person in DC.

6. The people are very nice but at times shallow in their niceness. They've known everyone in their circle their whole life so it can be hard to break into their existing cliques.

7. There's a reason you can get real estate downtown for <$100K. There's really nothing to do, comparable to being downtown in DC. Theatre/Museums/Cultural events are much smaller/further apart location and timing/smaller scale - see also lack of diversity above.

8. I don't find the weather that much different from DC, except for they have extremes. It's flat and blah - just as hot and humid in the summer, winter last year was miserable. Constant snow, and the worst of the polar vortex it was NEGATIVE 55*. -55*. No, thank you.

9. Finally. All the dumb farming colloquialisms... "Gotta make hay when the sun shines"

Iowa native who has lived in DC and NY and now back in Des Moines. Have to respond to this one.

1. A gross generalization, but it depends on where you live. WDM, sure not at all diverse and everyone is blond. Closer to downtown? Plenty of racial, religious, etc. backgrounds.
2. Truth. I-Cubs games are fun and places like KC, Minneapolis and Chicago are just a weekend drive away if you need professional sports. But we don’t care too much about professional sports. Expensive and rather watch it on tv.
3. Definetely NOT TRUE. I’m not sure where you get this impression but Court Avenue and Ingersoll district and East Village are hopping in the evenings and especially on the weekends. And yes the idea of traffic is a joke but that’s one of the best things about living here (that and having a very gorgeous 4000+ sq foot historic home for less than 500k).
4. HORRIBLY wrong. We have fantastic food options here. Sure, not DC level or anything but seriously. Really good food. Maybe going to the same 8-10 restaurants bores you but menus change up all the time. My husband and I frequent the same 3 or 4 restaurants a lot. I did the same thing when I lived in DC. Centro is blah actually. We like Eatery A, Bistro Montage, Café Di Scala, Alba, Proof, A Dong, Miyabi 9, La Mie, Lucca. Panera? Sad, you must work for Nationwide and not make it too far from the building. J
5. Nope. There’s a huge exercise movement here. There’s just not the volume of people that you are seeing constant streams of runners and bikers. Plus we have Power Life Yoga where a monthly membership is 90 bucks compared to CorePower in DC that I think used to cost me 150 a month. Huge road races like Drake Relays and Dam to Dam are an institution here.
6. There’s a bit of truth to this. I actually have a whole new social circle here in my 30’s after moving back after 15 years and my high school friends that all stayed friends are very insular and closed minded you might say. Overall, Iowans are extremely welcoming and helpful. Maybe not at your place of work or your small limited sample size. Plus, DC was the most shallow who you know place I ever lived.
7. False. Des Moines Art Center – one of the best mid-size art museums in the country. Science Center and State Historical Museums are fabulous. They aren’t Smithsonians but still very educational and nice. The Iowa State Capitol is fun to visit, as is Living History Farms. As for outdoors, you have Gray’s Lake and Principal River Walk. Tons of fun outdoor concerts and events in the summer. It’s also really easy to get involved in any kind of organization you might want to really have your hands on – whether it is politics or a non-profit organization. You can be a big fish in a little pond and really have an impact. And Des Moines is rapidly expanding downtown, it’s just taking a bit of time, but night and day compared to a decade ago.
8. “It’s flat and blah.” Iowa is known for its rolling hills. Yes, the weather is what it is. Summers are often really nice though with a few hot spells.
9. Come on. No one says that.

This blog really has a lot of great information on Des Moines:
http://www.desmoinesisnotboring.com/wordpress/

[Anonymous]

Iowa's "rolling hills"




Google if you don't believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left Cincinnati in 2007. I would not return but my circumstance is 100% different than the OP's. I am in a minority group and in my hometown the level of segregation is such that its difficult to prove you are competent. I also found I was living in a area with either have not's or basic middle class suburbianites with connections to certain neighborhoods and HIGH SCHOOLS!. Here the question "Where did you go to school?"---it is all about HS and class and upbringing. It is hard for outsiders to fit in.

My husband is from St. Louis and never really fit in the Cincy clique. We got tired of the low paying "Bank" jobs that came our way. We were "odd", because we wanted more and finding a job there IS a real struggle.

OP, I suggest you go on City Data and look under forums for any area you find interest in. The threads will quickly give you a feel of how the locals think and feel about their town. I DO miss the lower cost of living but I do not miss the constant sports talk, and a lot of people there are not fond of "DC" for political reasons.

I have several gfs who relocated to cincy. My impressions:

-almost everyone grew up there, went to school there, is raising a family there. Hard to find people who spent meaningful time elsewhere
-travel, especially foreign, is not a huge priority
-massive drinking
-once people hit the baby years, they are totally obsessive about babies and everything is about family time
-hard to make new friends as it is very insular

This is exactly why DH and I moved from Cincinnnati to DC. Especially if you like city living vs. suburbs, you cannot get the type of life you have in a city like DC or NYC in Cincinnati or any other major Ohio city (I also lived in Columbus for 6 years). We wanted our children exposed to culture and diversity that Cincinnati cannot provide, but DC does. To us, we felt surrounded by the culture of sports talk and drinking and driving.

Can someone give some concrete examples of how the culture and diversity of DC has enriched their lives (perhaps the PP)? It seems like people in DC give a lot of lip service to diversity yet only hang out with people from the same SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iowa's "rolling hills"




Google if you don't believe.

The PP also refers to DC restaurants like they are good. He/she loses all credibility with that one. If the food isn't as good as DC I would probably never go out to eat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iowa's "rolling hills"




Google if you don't believe.

I do not understand why is the DC poster mocking Iowa for being flat. DC is pretty flat. You have to travel outside of DC to get to any "hills" and way outside to get to anything decent.

[Anonymous]

Only Nebraska can compete with Iowa with flatness .
OP if I choose Midwest I would go to Chicago or MN.Worst case scenario Milwaukee.But Iowa,Indiana noooo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company has a presence in downtown Des Moines and while I've never lived there, I'm in Des Moines annually for at least a week at a time and often several times a year.

Full Disclosure I'm a native Washingtonian, and I really do love it here, and I hope I never have to move to Iowa/Des Moines.

1. Lack of diversity among race, educational attainment, everything. I saw people refer it as white bread on another post - agree completely.

2. Lack of professional sporting options - think they have minor league baseball.

3. the city literally closes at 5pm and on the weekend. Positive: the idea of traffic is a joke for anyone coming out of DC/Atlanta/LA

4. The food options - most are horrid. There are a couple that are good - I would heartily recommend anyone in Des Moines to visit Centro (wonderful!) but I've had "Mexican" in Des Moines where I strongly suspect they poured ketchup on my food in place of red sauce (I also got food poisoning that night). When I'm in town I spend a lot of time at Panera....

5. I never once saw someone on a run or on a bike, and most of the people I interact with are much larger than the average person in DC.

6. The people are very nice but at times shallow in their niceness. They've known everyone in their circle their whole life so it can be hard to break into their existing cliques.

7. There's a reason you can get real estate downtown for <$100K. There's really nothing to do, comparable to being downtown in DC. Theatre/Museums/Cultural events are much smaller/further apart location and timing/smaller scale - see also lack of diversity above.

8. I don't find the weather that much different from DC, except for they have extremes. It's flat and blah - just as hot and humid in the summer, winter last year was miserable. Constant snow, and the worst of the polar vortex it was NEGATIVE 55*. -55*. No, thank you.

9. Finally. All the dumb farming colloquialisms... "Gotta make hay when the sun shines"

Your post is so full of total exaggeration. You are clearly one of those annoying people who feel DC, and by association themselves, are superior. For starters in the worst of the polar vortex it was -20 with wind chills to -40. It was never -55 on the thermometer. There's a number of good food options in DSM, but if you like Panera there also no lack of cheap chain food too. Centro is good as is Splash, Djanjo, Proof, 801, etc. are all very good. The city doesn't close at 5pm, however a lot does close on Sunday. What you will find are more sole proprietor restaurants and shops and many of those are closed on Sunday. I live in NE Iowa in an area smaller than DSM and have never lacked for good food including Thai, Indian, Japanese and Pakistani all within 10 minutes of home. If you are downtown here, you won't see people biking or running. They are doing it on the miles and miles of bike trails built just for them so they're not zipping down the sidewalk. There's no professional sports, but I couldn't care less about sporting events. If I'm desperate to watch sports we have a minor league baseball team and a hockey team in town and one of the state universities is 5 minutes away. Iowa is far from perfect but its like any other place, if you approach it with a crappy, condescending attitude you get out of it what you put in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company has a presence in downtown Des Moines and while I've never lived there, I'm in Des Moines annually for at least a week at a time and often several times a year.

Full Disclosure I'm a native Washingtonian, and I really do love it here, and I hope I never have to move to Iowa/Des Moines.

1. Lack of diversity among race, educational attainment, everything. I saw people refer it as white bread on another post - agree completely.

2. Lack of professional sporting options - think they have minor league baseball.

3. the city literally closes at 5pm and on the weekend. Positive: the idea of traffic is a joke for anyone coming out of DC/Atlanta/LA

4. The food options - most are horrid. There are a couple that are good - I would heartily recommend anyone in Des Moines to visit Centro (wonderful!) but I've had "Mexican" in Des Moines where I strongly suspect they poured ketchup on my food in place of red sauce (I also got food poisoning that night). When I'm in town I spend a lot of time at Panera....

5. I never once saw someone on a run or on a bike, and most of the people I interact with are much larger than the average person in DC.

6. The people are very nice but at times shallow in their niceness. They've known everyone in their circle their whole life so it can be hard to break into their existing cliques.

7. There's a reason you can get real estate downtown for <$100K. There's really nothing to do, comparable to being downtown in DC. Theatre/Museums/Cultural events are much smaller/further apart location and timing/smaller scale - see also lack of diversity above.

8. I don't find the weather that much different from DC, except for they have extremes. It's flat and blah - just as hot and humid in the summer, winter last year was miserable. Constant snow, and the worst of the polar vortex it was NEGATIVE 55*. -55*. No, thank you.

9. Finally. All the dumb farming colloquialisms... "Gotta make hay when the sun shines"

Iowa native who has lived in DC and NY and now back in Des Moines. Have to respond to this one.

1. A gross generalization, but it depends on where you live. WDM, sure not at all diverse and everyone is blond. Closer to downtown? Plenty of racial, religious, etc. backgrounds.
2. Truth. I-Cubs games are fun and places like KC, Minneapolis and Chicago are just a weekend drive away if you need professional sports. But we don’t care too much about professional sports. Expensive and rather watch it on tv.
3. Definetely NOT TRUE. I’m not sure where you get this impression but Court Avenue and Ingersoll district and East Village are hopping in the evenings and especially on the weekends. And yes the idea of traffic is a joke but that’s one of the best things about living here (that and having a very gorgeous 4000+ sq foot historic home for less than 500k).
4. HORRIBLY wrong. We have fantastic food options here. Sure, not DC level or anything but seriously. Really good food. Maybe going to the same 8-10 restaurants bores you but menus change up all the time. My husband and I frequent the same 3 or 4 restaurants a lot. I did the same thing when I lived in DC. Centro is blah actually. We like Eatery A, Bistro Montage, Café Di Scala, Alba, Proof, A Dong, Miyabi 9, La Mie, Lucca. Panera? Sad, you must work for Nationwide and not make it too far from the building. J
5. Nope. There’s a huge exercise movement here. There’s just not the volume of people that you are seeing constant streams of runners and bikers. Plus we have Power Life Yoga where a monthly membership is 90 bucks compared to CorePower in DC that I think used to cost me 150 a month. Huge road races like Drake Relays and Dam to Dam are an institution here.
6. There’s a bit of truth to this. I actually have a whole new social circle here in my 30’s after moving back after 15 years and my high school friends that all stayed friends are very insular and closed minded you might say. Overall, Iowans are extremely welcoming and helpful. Maybe not at your place of work or your small limited sample size. Plus, DC was the most shallow who you know place I ever lived.
7. False. Des Moines Art Center – one of the best mid-size art museums in the country. Science Center and State Historical Museums are fabulous. They aren’t Smithsonians but still very educational and nice. The Iowa State Capitol is fun to visit, as is Living History Farms. As for outdoors, you have Gray’s Lake and Principal River Walk. Tons of fun outdoor concerts and events in the summer. It’s also really easy to get involved in any kind of organization you might want to really have your hands on – whether it is politics or a non-profit organization. You can be a big fish in a little pond and really have an impact. And Des Moines is rapidly expanding downtown, it’s just taking a bit of time, but night and day compared to a decade ago.
8. “It’s flat and blah.” Iowa is known for its rolling hills. Yes, the weather is what it is. Summers are often really nice though with a few hot spells.
9. Come on. No one says that.

This blog really has a lot of great information on Des Moines:
http://www.desmoinesisnotboring.com/wordpress/

My dad does, but he's from Maryland. I don't think he's ever been to Iowa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only Nebraska can compete with Iowa with flatness .
OP if I choose Midwest I would go to Chicago or MN.Worst case scenario Milwaukee.But Iowa,Indiana noooo

Um...hello...Kansas anyone?

Inland northern California and the southern Californian high desert are just about the flattest places around. So are parts of Texas. And the Dakotas. Have you travelled much of tuis country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Iowa native who has lived in DC and NY and now back in Des Moines. Have to respond to this one.

1. A gross generalization, but it depends on where you live. WDM, sure not at all diverse and everyone is blond. Closer to downtown? Plenty of racial, religious, etc. backgrounds.
2. Truth. I-Cubs games are fun and places like KC, Minneapolis and Chicago are just a weekend drive away if you need professional sports. But we don’t care too much about professional sports. Expensive and rather watch it on tv.
3. Definetely NOT TRUE. I’m not sure where you get this impression but Court Avenue and Ingersoll district and East Village are hopping in the evenings and especially on the weekends. And yes the idea of traffic is a joke but that’s one of the best things about living here (that and having a very gorgeous 4000+ sq foot historic home for less than 500k).
4. HORRIBLY wrong. We have fantastic food options here. Sure, not DC level or anything but seriously. Really good food. Maybe going to the same 8-10 restaurants bores you but menus change up all the time. My husband and I frequent the same 3 or 4 restaurants a lot. I did the same thing when I lived in DC. Centro is blah actually. We like Eatery A, Bistro Montage, Café Di Scala, Alba, Proof, A Dong, Miyabi 9, La Mie, Lucca. Panera? Sad, you must work for Nationwide and not make it too far from the building. J
5. Nope. There’s a huge exercise movement here. There’s just not the volume of people that you are seeing constant streams of runners and bikers. Plus we have Power Life Yoga where a monthly membership is 90 bucks compared to CorePower in DC that I think used to cost me 150 a month. Huge road races like Drake Relays and Dam to Dam are an institution here.
6. There’s a bit of truth to this. I actually have a whole new social circle here in my 30’s after moving back after 15 years and my high school friends that all stayed friends are very insular and closed minded you might say. Overall, Iowans are extremely welcoming and helpful. Maybe not at your place of work or your small limited sample size. Plus, DC was the most shallow who you know place I ever lived.
7. False. Des Moines Art Center – one of the best mid-size art museums in the country. Science Center and State Historical Museums are fabulous. They aren’t Smithsonians but still very educational and nice. The Iowa State Capitol is fun to visit, as is Living History Farms. As for outdoors, you have Gray’s Lake and Principal River Walk. Tons of fun outdoor concerts and events in the summer. It’s also really easy to get involved in any kind of organization you might want to really have your hands on – whether it is politics or a non-profit organization. You can be a big fish in a little pond and really have an impact. And Des Moines is rapidly expanding downtown, it’s just taking a bit of time, but night and day compared to a decade ago.
8. “It’s flat and blah.” Iowa is known for its rolling hills. Yes, the weather is what it is. Summers are often really nice though with a few hot spells.
9. Come on. No one says that.

This blog really has a lot of great information on Des Moines:
http://www.desmoinesisnotboring.com/wordpress/

Thanks PP - I'll be back in the next month and I appreciate the food recommendations!
I agree that I'm insular directly to downtown Des Moines, but maybe the Iowa tourism board should spend some time selling the points you've made above. You made Iowa sound a lot more appealing than I've ever perceived in my trips out there.
I do have one more - coming from DC and three (somewhat, depending on the time of day) convenient airports, DSM is like flying back in time 40 years. There's a corded phone to call a hotel shuttle. The first time I was there, in 2010, it was a corded rotary phone - not lying!!!! Odd given that it's a tiny airport and the population it serves is minute compared to IAD, BWI or DCA it always takes me 2 -3 times as long to get through security.

And yes - the farming colloquialisms. Maybe it's culture to our local office, a lot of them have farms they care for before and after work outside of the city. I remember it was an SVP who said the first time I had heard it & I had to ask someone why they couldn't use lights as night to make hay. She told me that I just gave myself away as a city girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My company has a presence in downtown Des Moines and while I've never lived there, I'm in Des Moines annually for at least a week at a time and often several times a year.

Full Disclosure I'm a native Washingtonian, and I really do love it here, and I hope I never have to move to Iowa/Des Moines.

1. Lack of diversity among race, educational attainment, everything. I saw people refer it as white bread on another post - agree completely.

2. Lack of professional sporting options - think they have minor league baseball.

3. the city literally closes at 5pm and on the weekend. Positive: the idea of traffic is a joke for anyone coming out of DC/Atlanta/LA

4. The food options - most are horrid. There are a couple that are good - I would heartily recommend anyone in Des Moines to visit Centro (wonderful!) but I've had "Mexican" in Des Moines where I strongly suspect they poured ketchup on my food in place of red sauce (I also got food poisoning that night). When I'm in town I spend a lot of time at Panera....

5. I never once saw someone on a run or on a bike, and most of the people I interact with are much larger than the average person in DC.

6. The people are very nice but at times shallow in their niceness. They've known everyone in their circle their whole life so it can be hard to break into their existing cliques.

7. There's a reason you can get real estate downtown for <$100K. There's really nothing to do, comparable to being downtown in DC. Theatre/Museums/Cultural events are much smaller/further apart location and timing/smaller scale - see also lack of diversity above.

8. I don't find the weather that much different from DC, except for they have extremes. It's flat and blah - just as hot and humid in the summer, winter last year was miserable. Constant snow, and the worst of the polar vortex it was NEGATIVE 55*. -55*. No, thank you.

9. Finally. All the dumb farming colloquialisms... "Gotta make hay when the sun shines"

Your post is so full of total exaggeration. You are clearly one of those annoying people who feel DC, and by association themselves, are superior. For starters in the worst of the polar vortex it was -20 with wind chills to -40. It was never -55 on the thermometer. There's a number of good food options in DSM, but if you like Panera there also no lack of cheap chain food too. Centro is good as is Splash, Djanjo, Proof, 801, etc. are all very good. The city doesn't close at 5pm, however a lot does close on Sunday. What you will find are more sole proprietor restaurants and shops and many of those are closed on Sunday. I live in NE Iowa in an area smaller than DSM and have never lacked for good food including Thai, Indian, Japanese and Pakistani all within 10 minutes of home. If you are downtown here, you won't see people biking or running. They are doing it on the miles and miles of bike trails built just for them so they're not zipping down the sidewalk. There's no professional sports, but I couldn't care less about sporting events. If I'm desperate to watch sports we have a minor league baseball team and a hockey team in town and one of the state universities is 5 minutes away. Iowa is far from perfect but its like any other place, if you approach it with a crappy, condescending attitude you get out of it what you put in.

So because you don't care about sporting options means they can be disregarded as a city draw. OK got it.
Sounds like my "crappy, condescending attitude" might be contagious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Iowa native who has lived in DC and NY and now back in Des Moines. Have to respond to this one.

1. A gross generalization, but it depends on where you live. WDM, sure not at all diverse and everyone is blond. Closer to downtown? Plenty of racial, religious, etc. backgrounds.
2. Truth. I-Cubs games are fun and places like KC, Minneapolis and Chicago are just a weekend drive away if you need professional sports. But we don’t care too much about professional sports. Expensive and rather watch it on tv.
3. Definetely NOT TRUE. I’m not sure where you get this impression but Court Avenue and Ingersoll district and East Village are hopping in the evenings and especially on the weekends. And yes the idea of traffic is a joke but that’s one of the best things about living here (that and having a very gorgeous 4000+ sq foot historic home for less than 500k).
4. HORRIBLY wrong. We have fantastic food options here. Sure, not DC level or anything but seriously. Really good food. Maybe going to the same 8-10 restaurants bores you but menus change up all the time. My husband and I frequent the same 3 or 4 restaurants a lot. I did the same thing when I lived in DC. Centro is blah actually. We like Eatery A, Bistro Montage, Café Di Scala, Alba, Proof, A Dong, Miyabi 9, La Mie, Lucca. Panera? Sad, you must work for Nationwide and not make it too far from the building. J
5. Nope. There’s a huge exercise movement here. There’s just not the volume of people that you are seeing constant streams of runners and bikers. Plus we have Power Life Yoga where a monthly membership is 90 bucks compared to CorePower in DC that I think used to cost me 150 a month. Huge road races like Drake Relays and Dam to Dam are an institution here.
6. There’s a bit of truth to this. I actually have a whole new social circle here in my 30’s after moving back after 15 years and my high school friends that all stayed friends are very insular and closed minded you might say. Overall, Iowans are extremely welcoming and helpful. Maybe not at your place of work or your small limited sample size. Plus, DC was the most shallow who you know place I ever lived.
7. False. Des Moines Art Center – one of the best mid-size art museums in the country. Science Center and State Historical Museums are fabulous. They aren’t Smithsonians but still very educational and nice. The Iowa State Capitol is fun to visit, as is Living History Farms. As for outdoors, you have Gray’s Lake and Principal River Walk. Tons of fun outdoor concerts and events in the summer. It’s also really easy to get involved in any kind of organization you might want to really have your hands on – whether it is politics or a non-profit organization. You can be a big fish in a little pond and really have an impact. And Des Moines is rapidly expanding downtown, it’s just taking a bit of time, but night and day compared to a decade ago.
8. “It’s flat and blah.” Iowa is known for its rolling hills. Yes, the weather is what it is. Summers are often really nice though with a few hot spells.
9. Come on. No one says that.

This blog really has a lot of great information on Des Moines:
http://www.desmoinesisnotboring.com/wordpress/

Thanks PP - I'll be back in the next month and I appreciate the food recommendations!
I agree that I'm insular directly to downtown Des Moines, but maybe the Iowa tourism board should spend some time selling the points you've made above. You made Iowa sound a lot more appealing than I've ever perceived in my trips out there.
I do have one more - coming from DC and three (somewhat, depending on the time of day) convenient airports, DSM is like flying back in time 40 years. There's a corded phone to call a hotel shuttle. The first time I was there, in 2010, it was a corded rotary phone - not lying!!!! Odd given that it's a tiny airport and the population it serves is minute compared to IAD, BWI or DCA it always takes me 2 -3 times as long to get through security.

And yes - the farming colloquialisms. Maybe it's culture to our local office, a lot of them have farms they care for before and after work outside of the city. I remember it was an SVP who said the first time I had heard it & I had to ask someone why they couldn't use lights as night to make hay. She told me that I just gave myself away as a city girl.

It's about weather, not light. Wet hay will rot, therefore you make hay when it's sunny as it dries out the hay and it can keep for the winter.