Iowa Moomba Owners!!

[strickland7]

Anyone own a Moomba in Iowa? Let's hear from you and where you ride/boat at. Maybe we can get together before the boating season ends here. If not, we can put together a MO/IA jamboree for next season?? Anyone interested?

Kip

[kaneboats]

Maybe you Iowa guys can tell me where to get some good eats in Des Moines. I'll be there Sept 8-10. Thanks!

[zabooda]

Cruise to the Amana Colonies. Also, you can't leave Iowa without a pork tenderloin and a Maid-Rite.

[cutnh20]

Kaneboats,

Tons of great eating establishments. Traveling alone or with the family? If you'd like send me a PM of where you will be at and I'd be happy to give you more specific info of sometihng in the area. I live in a suburb and work downtown Des Moines and eating out is one of my pastimes... :D

[kaneboats]

It's a regional conference so I'll be with a group from work. We're staying at the Des Moines Marriott - Downtown. Thanks!

[cutnh20]

Downtown is good. Number of good places with lots of variety. Here's my top picks:

Couple of Microbreweries: Court Avenue Brewing Company and Raccoon River are both good - all around fare - nice atmosphere. Court Ave sometimes has live bands in the bar.

Centro is good for Italian and Steaks and good chops as well - has a nice patio area also.

801 Steak and Chop has great steaks - pricey though (at least for Des Moines).

Splash is good seafood but if you're from a coast you can better seafood at home - can't beat midwest for steaks and pork chops!

If you have a minute - this might help: www.downtowndesmoines.com

[kaneboats]

This is very helpful. My boss and I usually like to find a casual place like a microbrew so those suggestions are very helpful. I'm kind of looking forward to it. Thanks!

[cutnh20]

As to the original post. As has already been stated - we are in the Des Moines area. Usually go a local resevior Saylorville. Not great for skiing but it's only 5 minutes from home. It gets crazy busy on the weekend afternoon/evenings. Not a great family atmosphere in my opinion and almost unsafe at times. I guess that's why we have weeknights and early mornings.

MO/IA jamboree for '09 sounds like a blast!

[strickland7]

Yeah I know what you mean about Saylorville, too many boats for me. I usually go to Red Rock, tons more room and you can always find a calm cove. I live about 30 min. from both. If we had a IA/MO reunion, I think Lake Rathbun would be a great spot. Personally I think it's the nicest lake in the state.

[cutnh20]

Been to Red Rock a few times and it is nice. If it weren't for proximity I'd go there over Saylorville anytime. But I can be on the water on Saylorville in 10 minutes.

I like Rathbun as well - beautiful lake. I'm interested to see what the new lodge/resort they are building there will do to it. I'm hoping to make it there next summer to check it out.

[kaneboats]

Forgot to get back to you guys. Thank you so much for the advice. First, the folks from my company that got there before me went to Centro the first night. Some liked it and some didn't. The night I arrived we went to a reception with only minimal food. So my boss and I went to Racoon River afterward. It was a great casual atmosphere, decent food and a couple of pretty darn good beers. I liked it.

The second night we went out with a few people from our conference and tried Splash. A couple of us tried the deep fried lobster. Tell you what-- it was very good and I was impressed. Can't go wrong there. The corn was excellent too. The third and final night we did a big staff dinner at 801. We were all very satisfied and my large fillet was perfect. All the sides we shared were good and the wine list is excellent.

So you guys really steered me right. I got my corn-fed beef and had good seafood too. Got to try a microbrewery (my favorite pastime) and the people were fantastic. If you Iowa Moomba owners ever head down south you have a host to come visit. Thanks again!!!

[Iowa05LSV]

We're from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area so we boat at the Coralville Reservoir. Like Saylorville, it's really busy on the weekends. We tend to ski/board in the evenings or early mornings.

There about 3 other Moombas in our local area and if you head up to North a bit you find a lot of Moombas on Lake Delhi (home of B&B Sports).

[zabooda]

Ah Delhi, our family had a cabin there and I learned to ski when I was 6. The weekends were busy there in the 1960's where you usually skied in the morning or evening. Across from Freddy's beach on Junior's farm (not the Paul McCartney one).