birthday weekend

so, i turned the big 3-1 this past sunday... crazy. luckily, i had taken the weekend off and spent it in Des Moines, with my lovely wife. i knew she had something planned, but i wasn't sure exactly what and it turned out to be a friggin great birthday weekend.

it all started on saturday morning with homemade pancakes, which were way good. after that, we drove to our first, of a few, activity... which turned out to be a trip to American Dream Machines, a large showroom full of restored classic muscle cars. holy crap, the place was amazing. muscle cars from the 60s and early 70s are my favorite period of american car, so it was a lot of fun walking around the showroom, looking at these classic cars up-close. we spent about an hour there, drooling over the cars that i would love to own (or at least, drive).

our next trip was to the Science Center of Iowa to view the IMAX movie 'Roving Mars'. it was a documentary all about the two rovers NASA designed and sent to Mars in 2003/2004. it was amazing to see outer space and the surface of Mars on such a huge screen; it was almost like being there. this was my first IMAX experience and i didn't really know what to expect, but i was really impressed with it and can't wait to see another one.

that night, we went to dinner at a local BBQ/creole place called The Flying Mango... man, it was !@#%$ amazing! we both had the beef brisket, which they slow cook for 24 hours. it was so friggin tender, you didn't even need a knife. it'll be great to live in a town where they can offer so much local variety, instead of relying on the myriad of chain restaurants, like here in Waterloo.

all in all it was a great birthday weekend and i have my lovely wife Sarah to thank for all of it.