(Hawk) Eyes on the Prize

Iowa’s Capital City Allows Twin Citizens to Make a Quick Autumn Getaway

Everyone knows Iowa as the Hawkeye State … but precisely why everyone knows Iowa as the Hawkeye State is the topic of some debate. The nickname might have been inspired by a popular 19th-century novel or a real-life Mohican chief. 

Another possible origin story supposes the nickname was a preemptive strike of sorts: frontier lawyer David Rorer fretted that his fellow new state citizens might, without corresponding interference, be bequeathed an insulting nickname similar to those thrust upon their neighbors: residents of Illinois were then known as “suckers,” and residents of Missouri were then known as “pukers” … and since the mostly-theoretical Nebraska had already put dibs on “cornhuskers,” “hawkeyes” seemed like a better appellation on which to settle. 

The eyes of a hawk aren’t necessary to take in an autumn getaway spent in Des Moines, the state’s capitol, but they might help. One optical option manifests before one even arrives in “the Hartford of the West”: the fertile soil not occupied by ripe crops is occupied by sleepy trees, lots and lots of ‘em, and the aesthetically pleasing death of chlorophyll within their foiled foliage will bedazzle the traveler’s eye whether said traveler is seeking such bedazzlement or not. For the seekers thereof, the best time to take in such leafy rainbows is mid-September and mid-October—apparently, Iowa autumn is a Libra.

LEAVES LEAVE

Perhaps the most balanced and multi-faceted of multiple leaf-peeping options can be found at Jester Park. It takes its fall foliage viewing seriously, offering options that vary from watching elk and bison from observation decks to guided horseback rides to indulging in the Nature Center’s 18-hole golf course. Alternately, aspiring poets wishing to become inspired poets are free to explore alone the eight miles of hiking trails carved into Jester Park’s transformative 1,600 acres. Obviously, numerous other options can be found online.

NITTY GRITTY IN THE CITY 

Away-getters who eschew natural beauty in favor of artificial beauty will find plenty to celebrate when entering downtown Des Moines. Its most unique feature is its collection of dozens of building-sized murals, gracing the exterior walls of the region’s most fortunate structures. Internet resources can turn consecutive viewing of the city’s murals into an excursion of its own. 

Years ago, Des Moines citizens John Poppajohn and Mary Louise Poppajohn donated two dozen bits o’ statuary to the city. It placed said artwork onto 4.4 acres of citified public space, transforming it into the aptly-named Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Today the Park boasts over thirty such exhibits, varying in form from the figurative to the abstract, from the minimalist to the fabulous.

Also, downtown, the Des Moines Art Center offers a wider range of art, along with the added benefit of a roof — three roofs, in fact, as the center is composed of three attention-grabbing buildings whose design might qualify them as artworks in their own right. 

Of course, visitors to Des Moines can find plenty that’s, uh, “Lavender”-friendly to look at, as well.

CITYWIDE PRIDE 

Capital City Pride identifies itself as an organization that, according to its website, “produces authentic events and activities throughout the year for people to feel safe and welcome under the four pillars of Pride: Community, Education, Family, and Health. By providing access and visibility, they educate.” 

Such activities might well fall into a fall getaway. Des Moines visitors might sit in on a meeting of Des Moines’ Pride Book Club, take in some queer cinema via the Varsity Pride program, attend an Intergenerational Panel Discussion, be swept away by a Storytellers’ event, or play a game of Family Feud. Speaking of families, visitors with kids might indulge in a rainbow scavenger hunt or take part in a Rainbow Safari at Blank Park Zoo (where Des Moines keeps its exotic animals, not its refraction-wrought optical phenomena).

Speaking of exotic animals, it’s worth remembering that the eyes of a hawk can see best after sunset.

NIGHT TIME, RIGHT TIME

A tent pole of Des Moines’s queer community is its East Village, and a tent pole of its East Village is Iowa’s oldest gay bar, The Blazing Saddle (“where it’s always a double and never a cover”). Recently the subject of a documentary, “The Last American Gay Bar,” The Blazing Saddle first giddied up in 1983. 

That means The Blazing Saddle has served multiple cultural purposes during its four-decade existence: a haven during the AIDS crisis, a grumble ground during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, or a springboard to honeymoons for precocious same-gender marriages. Naturally, that history doesn’t preclude what’s expected from a modern gay bar: drag shows, happy hours, trivia nights, and even charity events. 

The LGBTQ+-owned Buddy’s Corral is right next door to the also LGBTQ+-owned Blazing Saddle. A cash-only bar, it’s often described as more relaxed than its next-door neighbor, featuring a jukebox and karaoke. Similarly, the Garden Restaurant & Show Lounge is a queer-owned and -operated business that is home to a host of amazing talent with an outstanding legacy. The Garden offers a wide variety of entertainment and a full kitchen menu (hence “Restaurant”). The Locust Tap, also an LGBTQ+ business, embraces the term “dive bar” like a dyke hugging her bike, specializing in affordable beer (hence “Tap”) and an easy-going, old-school feel. The Locust Tap’s walls are unselfconsciously covered in graffiti, and its floor is unselfconsciously covered with cracked tile. 

CAPITAL LETTERS

Like the origins of Iowa’s accipitrine nickname, the options for visiting its capital are manifold. Beauty can be found outside Des Moines or inside it, and, like all the best beauty, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Catch Des Moines, the capital city’s tourism and travel industry marketing organization, puts it this way: “Our community continues to welcome all groups and all visitors. We invite you to come and experience Greater Des Moines as you are.”

Des Moines, Iowa
www.catchdemoines.com
capitalcitypride.org