Coaster Community

This trip centered around the ACE Preservation Conference, which included Velleyfair, Como Town, The Park at MOA and Arnolds Park.  To insure maximum comfort we rented a caddy and left Kansas City late Thursday morning.

On the way up we hit a restaurant that goes by the name Toot Toot.  If you’re ever traveling on I-35 you will find this magical place right near the Iowa Missouri border.  The actual town is Bethany, MO.  This is a great little buffet with multiple home cooked options.  The food beats most buffets without even trying and the atmosphere adds a little something extra to the experience.

Full of food we headed to Adventureland in Altoona, IA for a couple of hours of thrill ride enjoyment.  After about 3 hours we hit the road again and made our way to Minneapolis. 

We arrived in the Minneapolis metro area pretty late Thursday night so our first order of business was to eat.  We found a place called Dangerfields just outside of Valleyfair, which was just another couple of blocks from our hotel.  Since it was close to 9pm there weren’t many people left in the restaurant so we sat right down.  They placed us next to a window along the back of the dinning room.  This gave us a great view of the wildlife that this area has.  For the fist time in my life I saw a wild raccoon and there were actually two of them.  I think that they were friends.  There was another buddy that joined the group later and he was a lethargic possum.  He only stayed for a few minutes. 

I had the meal that I often use to measure a restaurants quality, the prime freakin’ rib.  Dangerfields passed the test.  It wasn’t the best ever but it was good enough that I would get it again.  The salad that came first was below average and but the meal came with a popover and until that day I had no idea what a popover was.  It’s like a muffin but it’s not and I’ll leave it at that.  For dessert I had a piece of chocolate cake.  It wasn’t the type of cake that I’ll have twice.

After the late night munching it was time to find the hotel and get some sleep.  The ACE event included a discount at the local Holiday Inn Express and at $110 a night it’s a hard deal to beat.  The rooms were exceptionally clean and the beds were plenty comfortable.  The hotel also featured an indoor pool, exercise room, free internet and a free continental breakfast.  I don’t know if free wireless access was available because I never tried to use it.  I have zero complaints about our stay there.

During an afternoon break from Valleyfair we decided to eat lunch away from the park and we chose an Applebee’s.  We haven’t been to one of these in several years because the food became almost unbearable.  I took the safe route and went with the chicken finger platter.  I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the meal and I will now consider eating Applebee’s even while on home turf. 

Saturday morning was spent at the Mall of America and the only notable experience outside of the park was the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  I wasn’t sure what to expect since it looked like an over commercialized wasteland.  This was another surprisingly good meal.  The caeser salad was tasty and the shrimp po-boy is a sandwich that I would consider getting again.

On our way out of town we stopped at the Ikea across the street from the ginormous mall.  We had never been in one and the wife wasn’t going to take no for an answer.  The crowds at Ikea were just as crazy as the mall but the layout of the store made it seem 10 times worse.  We quickly got lost, which quickly led to a desire to leave.  The wife wasn’t happy but she got over it.

Next stop Arnolds Park, IA.  If you’ve been to a lake community in the Midwest then you’ll be able to picture the Okoboji area that Arnolds Park resides in.  It’s a vacation spot with tons of lake activities.  If you like to drink and then play in a lake then you’re still in luck because there are bars o-plenty around Arnolds Park.  It’s such a popular destination we weren’t able to find a room within 30 miles of the park and we started looking 4 months before the trip.  We actually wound up staying in Spencer, IA.

On our way to the hotel we decided to eat again and finding a restaurant of interest proved to be quite difficult late at night.  We saw a handful of chains and the unique options were all closed at 9pm.  Just a few miles from the hotel we spotted Prime Rib (that’s the actual name of the place).  Since prime rib is the meal that defines the quality of an eatery we decided to give it a try.  This was a dark place that probably hasn’t been redecorated since the early 80’s.  We were 1 of about 4 groups still looking to eat this late so the place was pretty much empty.  Instead of a salad the meal comes with the salad bar and the salad buffet offered few choices.  As a side you could order hash browns and if you’re daring you can get cheese on them.  I’m daring so I went with the cheese option and a giant slab of prime rib, rare as they could make it.  The prime rib wasn’t bad at all, sure I’ve had better but I’ve also had worse.  The problem was everything else.  The wine was bad, the salad bar was sub par and the hash browns could have been made at Denny’s.  The service was good though and since the meat was good I would consider eating there again.  There just weren’t a lot of options in Spencer.

It was time for some sleep so we headed to the AmericInn.  It wasn’t as impressive as the Holiday Inn Express in Minnesota but it provided us with a bed and a roof.  It also included an indoor pool and a continental breakfast.  This breakfast included fresh waffles though.  Cups of batter stood by and waited for you to pour them onto hot waffle irons.  I didn’t actually try a waffle but they looked good.  The rooms were dated but clean as one could expect in Spencer, IA.  The air conditioner was a problem; it clanked and rattled all night, robbing me of my beauty sleep.

The next morning was the trip home.  Before we hit the road we stopped at the American Classic Café for breakfast.  This was your typical small town diner and included all of the usual breakfast items.  I had a cornbread and gravy dish that was a close cousin to the biscuit and gravy meal that most people know and love.  I liked the cornbread variation and will eat in the future if given the chance.

We had a 6 and a half hour drive ahead of us so we buckled in and made our way home.  There were two quick stops on the way though.  The first was the Dairy Den, which is just a few miles east of I-29 on highway 30.  A road trip without an ice cream stop is not a complete road trip and the Dairy Den hit the spot.  The menu is extensive so if you’re hungry for more than an ice cream concoction you can score a full meal.  The final stop was the Apple Barrel.  This is more of a truck stop than anything and the food left a little to be desired.  At least we were able to kill two birds with one stone.  We ate and we got gas (literally).  You’ll find it about half way between Omaha and Kansas City on I-29.