Sometimes the reason you plan a trip ends up being only part of the story.
We headed to Des Moines primarily because our 15-year-old son loves anime and wanted to experience GalaxyCon Des Moines. None of us had ever been to GalaxyCon before, so we really didn’t know what to expect.
What we ended up with was much more than a trip to a convention.
There was a birthday dinner detour through Kansas City, an unexpectedly late arrival, a beautiful boutique hotel, gardens and sculptures, mother-daughter shopping, tea and coffee stops, Bloody Marys at breakfast, some interesting discoveries around downtown Des Moines—and an afternoon immersed in a world of cosplay, artists, celebrities, voice actors and video games.
It was a quick trip, but it reminded us that sometimes the best part of traveling is seeing how completely differently three generations can experience the same destination.
Our Des Moines Trip Started With a Detour
Before we ever made it to Iowa, we took a detour.
We had to wait for our son to get out of school Thursday before leaving, and Thursday also happened to be my husband’s birthday. Instead of driving directly to Des Moines, the three of us headed to Kansas City for his birthday dinner at Grünauer, an Austrian and Central European restaurant in the historic Freight House.
It was a beautiful evening, so we were able to sit outside on the patio. The restaurant was cozy, the service was wonderful and everything we ate was delicious. We also appreciated the gated parking area behind the restaurant, which was convenient and made us feel comfortable leaving the car while we enjoyed dinner.
It meant we’d arrive in Des Moines considerably later than originally planned, but it was worth it.
Meanwhile, Mom Got a Head Start on Des Moines
While we were still making our way north, Mom had already arrived in Des Moines and started exploring on her own.
Her first stops were much more her speed: art, flowers and outdoor spaces.
She visited the Des Moines Art Center. Mom readily admits that she’s more interested in flowers and landscaping than paintings, but she still enjoyed seeing the museum. She especially liked the sculptures and being able to sit outside at the café, relax and watch the water.
Then there was the rose garden.
The weather happened to be wonderfully cool that day, which made walking through the garden especially nice. Mom also noticed how shaded it was and how many places there were to sit, slow down and simply enjoy the surroundings.
Later, she met up with my cousin Danny for an evening of window shopping and an arcade.
Mom hadn’t been in an arcade in years.
She loved it.
For a little while, she said it was simply fun to feel like a kid again.
And then came something she hadn’t planned for at all: September 11 fireworks.
Those unexpected moments are often the ones you remember.
A Very Late Arrival at the Surety Hotel
While Mom was already enjoying Des Moines, the rest of us didn’t pull into town until around 1:00 in the morning.
At that point, sightseeing was definitely over for the night.
We checked into the Surety Hotel in downtown Des Moines, where Mom was already staying, and headed to our room.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I really got to appreciate the hotel.
The Surety has a boutique feel that immediately distinguishes it from a standard hotel.
Near the reception area is a cozy, almost library-like space with a long communal table, chairs on either side and vintage-inspired lights. The next morning, I saw people sitting there drinking coffee and reading.
There’s also a fireplace area and comfortable seating throughout the lobby.
And then I discovered the coffee bar.
As someone who will happily hunt down a latte in practically every city we visit, having specialty coffee right downstairs was a definite bonus.
The lattes were delicious, too.
Mom thought the rooms were somewhat small, but they were very nice and exceptionally clean. What impressed her most was the staff. She couldn’t say enough about how friendly and helpful everyone was and how often they offered to assist with anything she needed.
That’s the kind of service you remember long after checking out.
Parking at the Surety
We used two different parking options.
I parked in the surface lot across from the hotel, while Mom used valet parking. Both paid self-parking and valet were available during our stay.
Parking prices can change, so rather than relying on what we paid, I’d recommend checking the hotel’s current rates when planning a stay.
For this particular trip, staying downtown worked extremely well.
Friday Morning: Mom, Me and Des Moines
Friday morning belonged to Mom and me.
The boys slept a little later and eventually went off to find their own lunch, so Mom and I headed out together.
Our first stop was Pappajohn Sculpture Park.
We walked around, took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful morning before breakfast.
I loved seeing the public art incorporated into the downtown landscape. I was also fascinated by something considerably more practical: the bridges.
There seemed to be bridges everywhere, and I thought it was so interesting that some of them actually had parking spaces on them.
Downtown parking gave me another surprise. We encountered metered spaces where drivers were required to back into the parking spot.
It may not make anyone else’s Des Moines highlight reel, but these are exactly the odd little details I notice when we travel.
Breakfast and Bloody Marys at HomeGrown
After our walk, Mom and I headed to HomeGrown for breakfast.
Mom ordered pancakes.
I went in a completely different direction with a steak breakfast and gluten-free bread. I couldn’t tell you the exact name of what I ordered now, but I can tell you that it was good.
And because Mom and I were enjoying a day out together, breakfast also included a couple of Bloody Marys.
It was a pretty good way to start a Friday.
Wandering Through the East Village
After breakfast, we headed to Des Moines’ Historic East Village.
There wasn’t a strict itinerary. We walked, looked around and went into places that caught our attention.
Honestly, those are often some of our favorite travel days.
Our Unexpected Stop at Indie House
One place we’d heard about was Indie House.
We walked in expecting more of a traditional retail store and quickly realized there was much more going on.
Indie House is an interior-design studio, and we learned about the larger projects they work on involving design, flooring, tile, layouts and other elements that go into creating a space.
We ended up talking with Lisa for a while and getting a little tour and explanation of what they do.
It wasn’t exactly what we’d expected to find when we walked through the door—which made it more interesting.
Mom Found Tea. I Found Coffee.
Then we found Gong Fu Tea.
This was Mom’s stop.
There were so many different teas that she kept smelling one after another, trying to decide what she wanted.
She eventually bought quite a bit.
Perhaps a little more than intended.
When I asked her afterward about that part of our trip, she admitted she had overspent on tea because “it just looked so wonderful and smelled so yummy.”
Fair enough.
Mom had her tea.
Now I wanted coffee.
We wandered over to another little shop that wasn’t exactly the traditional coffeehouse I’d been picturing. It was more of an ice-cream-sandwich shop that happened to serve coffee, including combinations of coffee and ice cream.
They didn’t have all of the specialty drinks I normally look for, but they had a latte.
Sold.
One More Unexpected Stop
Our wandering eventually brought us to Eden, where we ended up getting a tour of the spa.
The emphasis was primarily on skincare and facials, although there were also massage and body treatments. It was different from the traditional muscle-focused massage experience I normally associate with a spa, with much more emphasis on skin and overall body care.
Again, it wasn’t somewhere we’d necessarily planned an entire trip around.
We simply walked in because we were curious.
And that’s one of the things I enjoyed most about that morning.
We weren’t rushing.
We weren’t checking attractions off a list.
We were simply spending the day together.
Mom later told me that one of her favorite parts of the entire trip was just shopping and walking around with her daughter, stopping for coffee and tea and enjoying the day.
I feel exactly the same way.
Then It Was Time for Our First GalaxyCon
After exploring the East Village, we headed back to the Surety, freshened up and got ready for the main reason we’d come to Des Moines.
GalaxyCon.
This was our first GalaxyCon, and we had no idea exactly what to expect.
It was so much fun.
There was artwork everywhere, vendor booths, food and drinks, celebrities and voice actors, video games and gaming competitions, elaborate costumes and people celebrating just about every corner of pop culture imaginable.
Our 15-year-old son especially loved it.
He’s a big anime fan, so while I couldn’t necessarily identify every character or celebrity walking past us, he knew exactly what he was looking at.
That made the experience even more fun for me.
Meeting People He Recognized
One of the biggest highlights for our son was getting to meet some of the actors and voice talent he recognized.
Among them was Daniel Lasker, who plays Mr. 9 in Netflix’s live-action One Piece. We also met the actor associated with Mr. 7, another Baroque Works character that my son knew immediately.
I, admittedly, needed some explanation.
But that’s part of what made this trip special.
I didn’t need to know every character.
Watching our son walk into an environment filled with things he genuinely loves—and seeing how excited he was to recognize the people, characters and references around him—was enough.
The Artists Were Incredible
Mom and I found plenty to enjoy, too.
I especially liked seeing all of the artists and the incredible variety of work being displayed.
Some of the art was whimsical. Some was dark. Some was fantastical. And some was wonderfully strange.
Booth after booth looked completely different.
There’s also something special about seeing artwork while the person who created it is sitting right there. You can stop, look closely, ask questions and discover artists you might never have encountered otherwise.
And Then There Was the Cosplay
The cosplay was probably one of the most fascinating things for those of us experiencing a convention like this for the first time.
Some people wore relatively simple costumes.
Others looked as though they’d spent an enormous amount of time creating theirs.
And then there were costumes that made practically everyone walking past stop and look.
The creativity was impressive even when I had absolutely no idea who the character was.
Fortunately, I had a 15-year-old nearby to help.
A Break at Buzzard Billy’s
Eventually, all that walking made us hungry.
Fortunately, Buzzard Billy’s was just down from the convention center, so we could walk over, sit down for a proper meal and then head right back to GalaxyCon afterward.
Of all the places we ate on this trip, Buzzard Billy’s was my favorite.
It was convenient, but it didn’t feel like we were simply settling for whatever happened to be closest to the convention. The food was genuinely good, and after spending hours walking around GalaxyCon, sitting down with food and a drink was exactly what we needed.
Then it was right back to the convention.
Three Generations, Three Different Des Moines Experiences
Looking back, I think that’s what I like most about this trip.
We all went to the same city, but we experienced it differently.
Mom loved the rose garden, sculptures and outdoor spaces. She had fun being a kid again at the arcade, bought entirely too much tea and loved spending a day walking and shopping with her daughter.
Our son was in his element at GalaxyCon. Anime, actors, voice talent, video games, artwork and cosplay were all around him.
And I found myself somewhere in the middle.
I loved our hotel, the food, my morning latte, wandering around the East Village with Mom, the downtown architecture, those interesting bridges and even the quirky parking spaces.
Then I got to experience GalaxyCon largely through my son’s enthusiasm.
It turned what could have been simply a trip to a convention into something much more memorable.
Was Des Moines Worth the Detour?
Absolutely.
But this trip felt more like an introduction to Des Moines than a complete visit.
We barely scratched the surface.
There were places we didn’t have time to see, neighborhoods we didn’t fully explore and plenty of reasons to come back.
But that’s okay.
Not every trip needs to include everything.
Sometimes you drive somewhere because your 15-year-old wants to attend an anime convention and discover that Grandma loves the rose garden, Mom loves the food and coffee, everyone has fun at GalaxyCon—and somehow it all works.
Those are exactly the trips we hope to find with Worth the Detour.
The destination matters.
But the people you’re exploring it with matter even more.
Planning a Des Moines Weekend
If you’re considering your own quick trip to Des Moines, staying downtown worked particularly well for us. We were able to combine GalaxyCon with restaurants, public art, shopping and other areas of the city without making the weekend feel overly scheduled.
Check current event dates, business hours, parking information and hotel rates before traveling, since those details can change.
And perhaps leave a little empty space in the itinerary.
That’s where the tea shops, arcade games, unexpected tours, fireworks and other little surprises tend to happen.