While it sounds like we missed some amazing fireworks here, this past holiday weekend presented an important opportunity to make a return trip back to my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, to see my father. Due to COVID, it had been over a year. We did see the Macy’s fireworks display on TV and saw some from our hotel room, but some videos of the Crystal Lake fireworks were spectacular!
This also presents an excellent opportunity for an extra special introduction as the first of the Over the Line articles. While McHenry County is an amazing place and it is certainly the primary focus of McHenry Life, even we acknowledge that there is a world outside of McHenry once you cross over the line…or in this case, several county and even state lines!
It also presented an opportunity to share some very special things. Nearly every trip back to Des Moines involves at least a quick run through the Des Moines Art Center and a meal, if not several, at Tasty Tacos.
Original building and main entrance to the Des Moines Art Center, designed by Eliel Saarinen.Outside view of the original Eliel Saarinen building and the Richard Meier addition of the Des Moines Art Center.Outside view of the I.M. Pei building addition of the Des Moines Art Center from the rose garden, Des Moines, Iowa.Tete de Femme (Head of a Woman) by Pablo Picaso at the Des Moines Art Center.Study After Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Francis Bacon at the Des Moines Art Center.Don Manuel Garcia de la Prada by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes at the Des Moines Art Center.Portraits de M.E.P. … et de Mlle L.P. (Portraits of Edouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron) by John Singer Sargent at the Des Moines Art Center.The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover by Grant Wood at the Des Moines Art Center.Rocher du Lion, Rochers a Belle-Ile (Lion Rock, Rocks at Belle-Ile) by Claude Monet at the Des Moines Art Center.Bridge in Snow (Brooklyn Bridge in Winter) by Childe Hassam at the Des Moines Art Center. Still one of my favorites!Automat by Edward Hopper at the Des Moines Art Center.Torse Gerbe (Sheaf Torso) by Hans (Jean) Arp and paintings in the W.T. and Edna Dahl Gallery at the Des Moines Art Center.Man and Pegasus by Carl Milles in the Maytag Reflecting Pool at the Des Moines Art Center.Between by Joan Mitchell at the Des Moines Art Center.Light Over Gray by Mark Rothko at the Des Moines Art Center.Holy Red by Alexander Calder at the Des Moines Art Center.L’homme au Doigt (Man Pointing) by Alberto Giacometti at the Des Moines Art Center.Untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Des Moines Art Center.Wall Drawing #601, Forms Derived from a Cube (25 Variations) by Sol LeWitt at the Des Moines Art Center.Thudarkages by William T. Wiley at the Des Moines Art Center.Basin by El Anatsui at the Des Moines Art Center.Basin by El Anatsui, closeup, at the Des Moines Art Center.Water Woman by Wangechi Mutu and other in the Cowles Sculpture Court at the Des Moines Art Center.Untitled (Hoover) Deborah Butterfield at the Des Moines Art Center.Flowers (Black and White) by Andy Warhol at the Des Moines Art Center.The Great Pyramid by Roy Lichtenstein at the Des Moines Art Center.
The Des Moines Art Center is still, amazingly, free to the public and features a wonderful collection that might surprise many. While I’m sharing just a small sampling here, a number of these have been in the collection for decades and were some of the first works of art I was introduced to growing up. And if the art isn’t enough, the buildings feature amazing architecture and also are part of a wonderful park and rose gardens (though not looking their best due to the drought conditions).
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Tasty Tacos is more than a few restaurants…it’s an institution. Founded in 1961 by Richard and Antonia Mosqueda, it is still family-owned and operated. Their flour tacos may be unlike anything you’ve ever had…fluffy flour shell, seasoned beef and beans, lettuce, and shredded cheese, to which I highly recommend topping every bite off with their homemade hot sauce! I’ve been known to eat there multiple times over a weekend trip home. Now if I could only figure out how to get one to open in McHenry County!
Bonus: And then Jill pulled a special surprise. After a recent childhood memory recollection of a very unique candy bar, which we discovered is actually still produced, she happened to pick some up on one of our stops on the way to Des Moines. The Twin Bing from Palmer Candy in Sioux City, Iowa, is perhaps a rare known treat even in Iowa! Everyone should try one at least once!
Figure by Isamu Noguchi at the Des Moines Art Center.Ocean Park No. 70 by Richard Diebenkorn at the Des Moines Art Center.Yellow Blue by Ellsworth Kelly at the Des Moines Art Center.Whirl by Kenneth Noland at the Des Moines Art Center.White Flame – 1946, No. 1 by Clyfford Still at the Des Moines Art Center.Tennyson by Jasper Johns at the Des Moines Art Center.Skylight within the Richard Meier Building addition of the Des Moines Art Center.Stairs within the Richard Meier Building addition of the Des Moines Art Center.Untitled (For Ellen) by Dan Flavin at the Des Moines Art Center.The Blind Leading the Blind by Lousie Bourgeois at the Des Moines Art Center.Landschaft (Landscape) by Gerhard Richter at the Des Moines Art Center.Untitled by Anselm Kiefer at the Des Moines Art Center.Three-way Plug, Scale A (Soft), Prototype in Blue by Claes Oldenburg at the Des Moines Art Center.Wall of Light Red Night by Sean Scully at the Des Moines Art Center.Three Cairns by Andy Goldsworthy, Iowa limestone, lead, and steel sculpture at Greenwood Park, Des Moines, Iowa.Path through Claire and Mile Mills Rose Garden at Greenwood Park.Yellow roses at the Claire and Mile Mills Rose Garden at Greenwood Park.Red roses at the Claire and Mile Mills Rose Garden at Greenwood Park.Bronze turtle at the Claire and Mile Mills Rose Garden at Greenwood Park.Tasty Tacos…50 years of “nada es impossible.”Three original flour tacos from Tasty Tacos.Tasty Tacos hot sauce…about 5-6oz left of the 12oz.Twin Bing candy bar wrapper from the Palmer Candy Co.Twin Bing…the unique combination of chocolate and chopped roasted peanuts surrounding cherry nougat; created in 1923. A bit more melted than normal!
How about you?
Okay, so apparently, I can’t take a squared-off photo! But let’s forget that for now. So, when you need or want to get out of McHenry County for a bit, where do you like to head?
President and Founder of Identity Developments, LLC, the parent company of the McHenry Life website. My hope for McHenry Life is to create a resource and destination for the residents and businesses of McHenry County alike. A place where residents can discover new places to explore, fun events and ways to spend time, and then share those experiences with others. A place where businesses can connect with existing and potential customers, and not simply market their businesses, but share their own unique stories.
