Four Days In The Corn, Part II: The Irish & The Germans

It's Wednesday in Iowa City, with all morning and afternoon to kill until the 8:00 tipoff of the Notre Dame-Iowa women's game tonight.  There is no shortage of possible ways to spend the time.  Our quarters, the Sheraton Hotel, is one of two hotels centrally situated along the pedestrian mall in the heart of downtown.  The mall also provides shoppers and diners plenty  of choices with a number of stores, bars, restaurants and even a small movie theater, the nonprofit FilmScene.  A large section of the four hundred fifty acre University Of Iowa campus borders downtown.  Included among the school's buildings is the Old Capitol, where the first state legislatures convened in the mid-1800's before the politicians decided to move the capital to Des Moines.

We have always enjoyed exploring college campuses on foot.  Illinois, Purdue, Penn State, West Point, Missouri, Texas, BYU and the Air Force Academy are some of the ones we have visited on our travels, in addition to the four where our kids attended school.  Unfortunately, due to the frigid winds which are sweeping through town on this last day of November, we wuss out on our planned campus visit this morning and choose a more laid back agenda.  After downing what passes for coffee in our room, we brave the cold gusts and traverse the two block long mall.  Other than the college kids who seem immune to the effects of the arctic breeze, there are hardly any walkers or bikers.  We duck into a few stores, but make no purchases until we arrive at Prairie Lights bookstore.

 

Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver probably still remains my favorite, but Prairie Lights isn't far behind.  This two story building just north of the pedestrian mall is the kind of place where one could spend an entire morning.  Every genre of book with multiple titles can be found here.  The store is also host to a number of events, most notably book readings by authors, many of whom are affiliated with the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop.  Some of the older the employees could easily pass for literature professors and research scholars, not that a finance major like me would know.

 

Since we've skipped breakfast, an early lunch is in order.  We happen upon a place which looks like a classic urban hot spot, the Pullman Bar & Diner.  It has the same vibe as Ike's in downtown Minneapolis, only smaller.  Just as in Decorah's La Rada two nights ago, we score the best table for two next to the front window.  The restaurant is long and somewhat narrow, probably designed to invoke thoughts of a Pullman car.  All that's missing is the clickity-clack of a train's steel wheels on the rails.  Mary selects one of her standbys, a croque madame, while I can't pass up the Frisco melt.  The food is hot and delicious, just what we need to thaw out from our stint outdoors.  We long for a real cup of coffee.  Our friendly young server, Arlinda, suggests that we order a French press, "because I love to push down the plunger into the pot!"  If that's all it will take to make her day, who are we to stand in her way?  Turns out to be a good choice for all concerned.

 

Back outside, we continue to investigate what downtown IC has to offer, this time outside the perimeters of the pedestrian mall.  It is not getting warmer despite the fact that we're now under the afternoon sun.  If anything, the wind has picked up.  Active Endeavors is a top drawer clothing store, specializing in outdoor apparel from name brand companies like North Face and Patagonia.  The floor manager spots my Notre Dame hat and informs me that the husband of ND coach Muffet McGraw was in earlier today.  We walk by the "second" downtown Italian restaurant, Basta Pizzeria Ristorante, and decide to return for dinner tonight.  Then we check out AKAR, which a 2014 travel article had billed as "a gem of an art shop" with "great children's clothing."  There's no question the place offers an array of brightly colored contemporary art goods and Iowa-centric wares, but the selection of children's clothing -- my main area of interest here in light of the travel article --  is much lower than my expectations.

 

Upon leaving AKAR we make a final decision to scuttle our plans to meander around campus, but Plan B is brilliant:  Return to the ped mall and have a beer in the Bread Garden Market.  I can't think of any place in the Twin Cities that's quite like BGM.  Most of the spacious interior is a beer and wine off-sale shop, with concentration on beer from Iowa breweries.   There's also a nice deli and hot food section which is doing a brisk business.  Along the lengthy side of the premises which faces the mall, there's a glassed-in, high ceiling dining area where almost every table is occupied by college students.  Some of them don't appear to be eating or drinking anything and have probably been camped here for hours, but virtually all are pouring over a laptop or a smart phone.  Mary and I, the oldest folks under the roof, take in the great people-watching scene while we sit at the bar and have a couple of locally produced tap beers.

 

After a short break at the Sheraton we head out for Basta, straight north via the pedestrian mall's one block north-south walkway which we hadn't seen before.  The ambience of Basta appears more authentically Italian than last night at Baroncini.  The place is divided into a bar area and a larger dining room, both of which have the lights down low and are furnished with dark wood.  As is true in many restaurants with such a floor plan, the bar area is more appealing.  After whetting our appetites with the stuffed dates appetizer, we order the salsiccia pizza, which is topped with homemade sausage and some peppers to give it more than a little kick.  Good thing I was washing dinner down with a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed.

 

The Iowa River splits the University Of Iowa campus in two.  Carver-Hawkeye Arena is situated across the river, much too far away for us to walk on a cold winter's night.  From the outside, the building doesn't look anything like a sports arena, yet this is where both the men's and women's teams play. It is barely one story high, hiding the fact that the basketball floor is in a bowl, located at what must be the equivalent of a good four or five stories below street level.  With the spectators' seats totally surrounding the court, it must be extremely loud if filled to capacity.  Unfortunately, that probably happens only for some men's games.  Tonight's attendance for the women will be no more than a couple thousand, if that.

 

The Notre Dame-Iowa game tonight is part of the Big 10-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Challenge.  Before the season starts, the honchos from those two leagues try to pair up teams from each so that the pre-season favorites play each other, the teams predicted to finish second in each league play each other, etc., all the way down to the cellar dwellers squaring off.  For unknown reasons, that blueprint has been disregarded for this matchup.  Otherwise, the Irish would be playing Maryland, as those two women's teams are far and away the pre-season favorites in their respective conferences.  (Incidentally, the pairing of last night's men's game in The Bend between Notre Dame and Iowa was also part of the Big 10-ACC Challenge.  It is merely a coincidence that the men's and women's teams from those two schools were paired up this season.  It usually does not happen that way.)

 

One of the best parts of attending an Irish Lasses game is to watch the grand entrance of ND's coach, Muffet McGraw.  She does not make an on-court appearance when her team goes through the twenty-five minute pre-game warm up.  The task of overseeing the warm up is left to her assistant coaches with the help of the student managers.  Following the warm up each team clears the floor, heading to their locker rooms. Shortly thereafter, about five minutes before tipoff, the team's re-enter for layup lines and team introductions.  It is only until then that Muffet walks in, looking like a million bucks with her coiffed trim auburn hair, a silk scarf draped over a silk blouse, an above-the-knee skirt and, impossibly, high heels.  The sixty-one year old, not looking a day over forty-five, has been Notre Dame's head coach for the past twenty-nine years.  With the exception of the incomparable Geno Auriemma at UConn, Muffet has run the most successful women's basketball program this century.  They say that a lot of sports teams reflect the disposition of their coach.  The Irish hoopsters are calm, confident and savvy.  Currently ranked as the number one squad in the country, another adjective you might use is "good."

 

Notre Dame's two best players are All American junior center Brianna Turner, and All ACC point guard Lindsay Allen, a senior.  The Lady Hawkeyes are an above average, albeit unranked, team which gives the Irish a challenge for about thirty minutes before ND pulls away as expected.  I am curious to keep an eye on two Hawkeye reserves, senior forward Hailey Schneden and sophomore forward Hannah Stewart.  They are alumna from my two former high schools, Assumption and Bishop Ryan, respectively.  Final score: ND 73, Iowa 58.

 

The night is not over just yet.  We have discovered that Iowa City, despite its small size, is home to a speakeasy!  Okay, maybe speakeasies went out with the end of the Prohibition Era, but that's the motif which the Clinton Street Social Club is shooting for.  We have to check it out!  The Club is located near the edge of downtown at the top of a narrow set of dimly lit stairs, the entryway to which off the sidewalk is about as wide as a pencil.  Once on the second floor you can tell that this place is geared for the old time cocktail crowd.  Sure, there is a person or two with a beer or a glass of wine, but spirits are in order here.  The Club's website calls itself "an apothecary of enlightened libations." Sounds serious.

 

Everyone in the place is sitting at the bar.  Our bartender, Ryan, looks like he, himself, would be carded if he walked in as a customer.  Ryan says he graduated seven or eight years ago with a business degree, but after an unfulfilling short-lived career in other cities, he returned to IC, the place he missed too much to stay away from.  Mary orders a French 75, and I try the Club's version of an old fashioned.  I have the same thoughts about this place as I had earlier today at the Bread Garden Market.  I can't think of a Twin Cities establishment, at least none that I've been in, which resembles this speakeasy.  Maybe that's why I like it.

 

 

***

 

Momma Cuandito calls me The Linear Guy.  She's poking fun at me, but I consider it a badge of honor.  I like to have my ducks in a row.  I am also big on symmetry.  Every debit should have a matching credit, every zig calls for a zag, for each Republican there should be a Democrat.  Well, scratch that last one, but you do get my drift, don't you?

 

Tuesday was our getaway day from Decorah.  What was our final task there?  Picking up some beer to go from Toppling Goliath.  It seems natural (and symmetrical) that on this Thursday morning on which we are leaving Iowa City, we should do something similar.  Lucky for us there is John's Grocery, an IC institution and my favorite grocery store of all time!  We had been there once before ten years ago when we visited Jill at Loras and set off on a day trip.

 

True, John's is a grocery store, but its calling card is the huge selection of beer stocked on its shelves both in the room temperature store proper and in their bank vault size walk-in cooler.  It's a pretty safe guess that almost every one of the thirty-five-plus beers made in the state of Iowa is there, and dozens from all over the Midwest and other regions.  Belgian and German beer also occupy a generous section.  What is most unique about John's is the bevy of beer glasses, steins and mugs to match dozens of the beers available for sale.  Wine lovers won't be disappointed either.  John's has expanded its wine inventory since our last visit, and it's now pretty impressive.

 

After making a sizable purchase of liquid refreshments at John's, we jump into our Lexus... I mean our 2005 Toyota Corolla ... and hit the road.  We are 305 miles from home, but our first destination on this final day is a place we've been meaning to visit for years, the Amana Colonies.

 

In 1855, only nine years after Iowa became a state, a group of twelve hundred religious refugees of German descent created a settlement on fertile lands along the Iowa River.  They called themselves the Inspirationists.  Their main occupation was farming, but they set up seven villages along a sixteen mile loop.  The villages were spaced about a mile and a half away from each other, roughly the distance which an ox-pulled cart could traverse in an hour.  The settlers developed a variety of skills concomitant with village life, such as baking, weaving, carpentry, teaching and preaching.  Unlike the Amish, another German group often confused with the Inspirationists, the Amana colonists not only adapted to technological advancements, they embraced them.  The most important event in the Inspirationists modern history occurred in 1932 when the people elected to separate their church from their economic activity.  Following that separation (sometimes called "The Change"), one of the colonists started an appliance business which grew into world famous Amana Corporation.

 

We make a quick drive through Homestead, the first village one encounters by driving counter-clockwise on the loop.  The main drag, V Street, is about a half-mile long, terminating as one might expect at a corn field.  With a population of under 200, Homestead looks like any other tiny midwestern town.  Neatly kept houses and a few churches line the road.  There is also a church museum and a country inn.

 

Next along the loop is Amana, the hub of whatever action the Colonies have to offer.  We have the extremely good fortune of hitting the Amana on the day before its biggest weekend festival of the year, Prelude To Christmas.  Many of the residences and retail buildings are decked out with wreaths and lights.  People are outside attaching garlands and decorations to the fences along the perimeter of their yards.  The Christmas spirit is infectious.

 

We don't want to go store hopping on an empty stomach.  The Ox Yoke Inn looks like our best bet.  Inside there are several dining rooms, most of them filled with customers.  The atmosphere is somewhat like the Norski Nook in Osseo, Wisconsin;  jolly rotund waitresses serving an older crowd many comfort food entrees followed by home made pie,  Behind us is a long table occupied by ten women who are playing a raucous dice game, apparently to decide who picks up the tab.  Good thing for the loser there will be no bar tab here.

 

Mary orders the chicken lunch plate while I pick the sauerbraten.  Both are excellent and filling, but that does not deter us from ordering two pieces of pie, coconut creme and rhubarb meringue.  I wonder how many folks from IC and Cedar Rapids drive over here for lunch; they are each only a half hour away!

 

Before we return to our car we walk across the street to check out the General Store and a children's shop called the Red Wagon.  At Amana Meat Shop & Smoke House, Mary buys a huge ham which she plans to serve the famdamily when we congregate at Brainerd in January.  Our final stop is the Amana Woolen Mill on the edge of town.  The enormous building houses both a manufacturing facility and a retail room.  Mary tosses a hint my way that we should spend $200 on a thick red woolen blanket, but I feign a hearing problem.  Yet, it's hard to walk out of that place empty handed, so I buy her a Stormy Kromer hat, which its label modestly describes as a wollen baseball cap with ear flaps.

 

The Millstream Brewing Company is located in a quaint cottage across the street from the Woolen Mills.  I have been sampling some of their product over the past few days, and it goes down easy.  I wouldn't mind checking out their tap room, but then reality sets in.  I've already made a mental note to put Decorah's Pulpit Rock on the itinerary for our next trip to Iowa.  Now I'll have to add Millstream to the list.

 

We do a quick drive through Middle Amana, the next village on the loop.  Its population of 581 makes it the largest of the seven hamlets.  Then finally our explorations are over and we point true north.  It's time to find our way home.  Who would have ever guessed we could have such a good time spending four days in the corn?