I spent a recent weekend on a mini vacation to Des Moines, Iowa which is about 150 miles away from Omaha, Nebraska (where I live) with my husband and another couple.  The theme of the weekend was primarily Blues (music) as it was the Central Iowa Blues Society festival in which they had 12 different regional blues bands on 7 stages throughout Saturday night.  The secondary theme of the weekend however was Beer.  Our friends are really interested in craft beers and I have to admit, I am too!  So we went to Des Moines a day early to explore the restaurants and bars downtown before the Blues festival started.

I discovered probably the best thing I have ever eaten:   tator tots with jalapeno (just a little) wrapped in bacon and deep-fried, then covered in cheddar cheese with ranch dressing to dip in at a unique bar called El Bait.  It had over 100 beers (good ones!) on tap.  The atmoshere was fun.

We ate at a German restaurant (German beer was consumed) and later hung out at at lounge that looked like a English pub (British beer was consumed).  The blues venue was great….we heard alot of great music.

However, the weekend had a new theme when a snowstorm/blizzard came through the region.  It started snowing Saturday afternoon and continued until Sunday afternoon.  We knew that the roads were terrible all the way home, so we decided to stay put in our cushy hotel and stay an extra day.  Soooo on Sunday the theme was snow & tatting.  When my three comrades decided to spend their Sunday afternoon napping, I grabbed my tatting and went down to the hotel lobby to watch people, the snow and tat.  I met a woman who was a knitter/quilter and got her excited about tatting.  I even pulled out a tapestry needle I have in my tatting bag (that I use to sew-in thread ends) to give an impromptu lesson on how easy it is to needle tat.  I happened to have a copy of Handy Hands catalog and so I pulled out the ‘how to needle-tat’ directions in the catalog to send home with her.  Hopefully she will become a new tatter!