Day 2, Des Moines to Omaha

Sun., 9/25—We were out early on this quiet, Sunday morning, exploring Des Moines.  It’s a pretty city, with some beautiful buildings, especially the capitol building and the grounds around it.  The dome on the top is covered with gold leaf—impressive and beautiful.      I don’t know how the early residents got their money, but some of the old homes are beautiful and huge.  Our only goal today was to drive west across Iowa, from Des Moines to Omaha, Nebraska.  We decided to follow a scenic byway instead of staying on the interstate.  The scenery was great—as yesterday, mile after mile of corn and beans and corn and beans; farm after farm after farm.  We were surprised to see that Iowa is continuously hilly, more gently rolling than the pretty hills of Tennessee.  In fact, the farm fields were almost all tiered, to allow for more efficient planting and harvesting, I suppose.   We drove for two hours and did not see even one restaurant to stop in for breakfast.  We did go through towns, but they had no cafes or diners or food shops of any kind.  Oh! One interesting thing: we went through the small town of Stuart.  The entire town was toilet papered!  Every tree!  That was quite a site to see.  Alas, I took no pictures of it, for some reason.  Early afternoon, we arrived in Omaha, Nebraska, where we’ll be staying for two days.  After some Sunday football time, we went out for dinner to Zio’s Pizza (“Voted best pizza in Omaha 28 years in a row!”)  in the Old Market section of the city.  It was a great area.  I’d describe it as a mix of Boston and Ann Arbor.  Lots of people were wandering around or eating at the many small restaurants.  There were street musicians, a horse and buggy, brick streets, interesting shops.  And, the pizza was great!