Des Moines and Central Iowa - Des Moines IA Family Vacation

Preview: For a rural state, central Iowa is surprisingly urban and urbane, in a relatively gentle way. The region includes Des Moines, surrounding Polk County, and bits of neighboring counties. With a population of about 200,000, Des Moines is Iowa’s largest city. It’s also the state capital and a major financial and cultural hub. Ringing the city (and boosting the metro population to 456,000) are the ever growing suburbs, with new housing developments, corporate campuses, and shopping malls. Beyond that is countryside. In central Iowa, you’ll find big-city culture and attractions: art, music, theater and opera, plus minor-league sports, a zoo, a science center, a botanical center, and the Iowa Historical Building. You’ll also find reminders of Iowa’s proud agrarian soul: the Iowa State Fairgrounds, historic farms, bountiful farmers’ markets, and a reconstructed prairie with buffalo. Here you can see the latest musical imported from Broadway and take a bike ride past idyllic farms. Driving west on Interstate 80 from Newton toward Des Moines, cropland gradually dissolves into urban sprawl. Rising above corn and soybean fields is a sign of the big city ahead, the forty-four-story 801 Grand, Iowa’s tallest building. Continue west onto Interstate 235 through the city and you can’t miss Des Moines’s other dominant landmark, the gold-leaf dome of the elegant Iowa State Capitol. State Highways 415 and 141 take you northwest into the suburbs and the countryside. Des Moines is growing both downtown and in its suburbs, which include Pleasant Hill, Ankeny, West Des Moines, Clive, Urbandale, and Johnston. Cranes and construction sites dot the downtown area, where more than $1 billion worth of new development is under way, including construction of a new science center, events center, and public library. In the suburbs, new homes, apartment complexes, and a huge new shopping mall are sprouting in what were once cornfields. The Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers meet downtown. East of the Des Moines River are the state fairgrounds, the state capitol complex, and the East Village, a newly vibrant commercial area with chic renovated brick buildings. To the west is the business district, a tight cluster of office buildings connected by indoor skywalks that shelter pedestrians from harsh weather. Surrounding downtown, especially to the west and north, are old leafy neighborhoods with elegant homes, comfortable middle-class areas, pockets of urban poverty, and some lively commercial streets, including Ingersoll and Beaverdale Avenues. During the weekday Des Moines bustles with state government and insurance company workers. (With more than sixty insurance companies, this is the world’s third largest insurance center.) On weekends and at night, areas of activity include the Court Avenue entertainment district and the Sherman Hill National Historic District, plus West Des Moines’s Valley Junction. In the summer the city comes alive with outdoor farmers’ markets, festivals, ball games, and concerts. The above description is an excerpt from "Fun With the Family in Iowa." Whether you're a first-time visitor or a long-time local resident, this chapter from the Fun With the Family Series will help you find fun and engaging activities that the entire family can enjoy at great destinations throughout the state, suitable for “kids” of all ages. This chapter includes Des Moines, Newton, Colfax, Prairie City, Altoona, Polk City, and Perry.
© Copyright Betsy Rubiner published by Insiders' Guide all rights reserved.


This travel guide comes from:
Fun With the Family Iowa Guide Book