Iowa City/Coralville, Feb. 2009, Part 2

February 7, 2009 – After a leisurely loafing around in the confines of my hotel room I am ready to face the world today. All in all, I'd rather be drinking whiskey with Kirch, my brother of a different mother, but I do hope to revisit Kubby at her shop.

Upon reaching the bus stop I had the urge to pee. Morning diuretic, plus coffee, plus a mile walk, plus a 20 minute wait for the bus all added up. Good thing, Iowa City has a downtown mall with public toilets.

From there I made my way over to the Hamburg to see if I could do a repeat of the previous morning's meal, but as to be expected, a queue was forming out the front door.

I split that scene, no matter how desirous I was for an omelet, and went around the corner to George's Buffet [see review].

Conversation at George's Buffet revolved around one lucky dude whose daughter got him a pass for the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs. That was the high note. A more sobering tale about one of the barkeep's alcoholism catching up with him kept things in check. I felt sorry for the man, even though we had never met. This is the kind of place George's Buffet is. Beer, cheeseburgers, humanity. A shame I can rarely find the latter drinking in my neighborhood.

Sated with beer and food, I venture downtown to seek my fortune but not before scoring a fresh drip decaf at the coffee shop on the corner of Linn & Market.

I had a happy belly indeed from George's, but curiosity compelled me to try a new eatery downtown called Mesa Pizza [see review].

I popped back by Kubby's bead shop looking for Karen. She was not in but I took some quality time browsing through the wares. I eyed some stone circles for the making of a new necklace, but with money being tight, I opted out of a purchase.

As a waltzed down Dubuque deciding what to do next, a familiar voice called from behind. It was Vicki Siegel and a friend, moseying about the boutiques. I hooked up with the duo while they tried on various items of clothing. Her friend had a hair appointment so I continued on with Vicki, acting mostly as a purse valet and clothing rack.

Afterward Vicki and I drove about looking for a hair salon with an open chair to no avail. The boys called once they got into town. We hooked up with Chris, and went back to her room at the Sheraton to chill. I cooled my heels briefly and left, but shortly returned to retrieve her car keys and reclaim my cell phone left behind in the back seat.

I returned to George's Buffet for some time-killing brews and scoped out the conversation of fellow barflies. It was mostly chef shop talk. It reminded me of newspaper shop talk, but lacking fear and insecurity.

With some time to kill before Vicki's birthday party at The Motley Cow, I decided to take leave of George's and grab a pint or two at the Fox Head.

At the Fox Head I run into one of the conversing chefs from George's and struck up a three-way with him and the barkeep. Turns out he's a chef at The Motley Cow. The chat, however, kept me occupied and I lost track of time. I got away and popped in on the gathering at the Cow.

This approximates my Motley Cow experience.

The digs in the Motley Cow were fairly swanky and abuzz with a full crowd. I came upon the birthday party seated along a long, seamless row of tables lined up together. I quickly surveyed the situation. It was less of what I would call a party, but more of a sit-down formal dinner with lots of faces I was unfamiliar with. There were a few people seated about the table whom I knew, but at the time they were invisible to me. I saw no open seat and to top if off I experienced a flash of claustrophobia. I quickly made my introduction, followed by “I'm leaving,” and out the door I went.

I lamented on ditching Vicki's birthday party while quaffing more pints back at the Fox Head instead. I stayed there for awhile, engaged in more conversation with other patrons. Feeling my limit I leave and snag another decaf at the coffee shop I had stumbled upon earlier and head back to the Cow to see what was up.

I was most surprised to recognize faces in attendance which I had so blindly missed earlier. I chatted away with the Siegel boys, youngest Chris, and eldest Jim with his better half, Marissa. We hung out for a bit and went around the corner to George's, minus Chris, for more talk and more brew. More stragglers from the party followed us over, Vicki settling down to another table to chat up with friends, and Steve taking a seat with us. After a final glass of LaCrosse Lager we bid Steve adieu, and I score a ride home with Jim and Marissa on their way back to Cedar Rapids.

We three make out way to the car to find it under a tree full of shitting crows. Bolting like crazy we get inside without taking any hits, and pop by John's Grocery for some liquid and grub before being whisked off to my hotel.

Back in the confines of my room, I channel surf the limited number of cable channels I had to peruse while eating a pint of John's New York Potato Salad and some Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The salad was good with perfectly cooked fry-cut chunks of potato.

I tried getting some sleep, but resorted to watching a few Internet-streamed episodes of Hogan's Heroes before I was able to go down.
February 8 – I awoke, cleaned up, packed by luggage, took a walk around the 2008 flood damaged neighborhood adjacent to the hotel, grabbed a snack, and retired for a morning nap while awaiting the arrival of Yvonne and her four-legged companion, Okie.

I awoke with a start from the ringing of the hotel phone. Yvonne was downstairs with Okie in tow. I finished up the last of my packing while she took Okie out for a pee break.

Together we go over to Iowa City and snag breakfast at the Hamburg. As expected, there was a small crowd waiting for a seat. We bide the time with a brief walk around the neighborhood, come back, wait some more, and finally get seated.

We both order up the Eggs Florentine with a side of home fries and coffee. Everything was good and we left in good spirits and with some eggs and toast for Okie to enjoy. Okie scarfed his breakfast with dog-like efficiency: pounce, chew, swallow.

Yvonne got some quality time perusing Prairie Lights Bookstore while Okie and I walked the streets looking for some grassy patches for him to pee on.

After Yvonne her fill of books we drove about looking for the New Pioneer Food Co-op, where we browsed the aisles and found some good values in wine.

The road back home awaits.
 

Photos from the Picasa Web Album: Iowa City & Coralville, February 2009.