For several years I have attended the lecture series called SmartTalk in Des Moines. The SmartTalk series consists of different female speakers, usually once a month, and there are many different cities that hosts SmartTalk. It is always very interesting and usually entertaining. Well, Tuesday night Arianna Huffington spoke as the Des Moines speaker for February at the Civic Center, and since I’m not traveling this winter like I usually do, I decided to make it a special night by staying in town for the evening at the Embassy Suites. I had some Hilton Honors points earned so I applied those for my stay so I did not have to pay quite so much so it was fun to pretend I was rich for the night!
When I arrived and entered the room, I could not believe how big the suite was so I tried to take a picture that represented it. That room at the end is where the huge bed was. The picture at the top of the blog was the view out my window and that is the Iowa Capitol building in the background. It, of course, was much more impressive in real life since the gold dome was much more visible. I had a girlfriend come over, and we got caught up with all the news of our lives before the event while enjoying the manager’s reception where you can have free drinks down in the lobby. We just brought our drinks up to the room. Here is a photo off the sixth floor balcony of the lobby area.
We walked across the river to get to the civic center and enjoyed listening to Arianna Huffington. In the picture below you can see the river and the band shell that is right down by it where they hold concerts occasionally.
When I got up in the morning, it was so nice to just leisurely get up and go to a great breakfast that came with the room where they have a chef make you up almost anything you want along with the usual buffet line! I especially enjoyed getting in the car and, instead of my usual 1.25 hour trip to work, arrived at work within 5 minutes!!! Just what the doctor ordered. I’ll leave you with a picture out my bedroom window in the morning.
Jody's Journeys 
Wow…you have a longer drive to work than me. Mine is 50 minutes. Oh well—we’re blessed to have what we have!
It does get tiring, but I will say it is pretty much all country driving on a nice 4 lane so not as bad as many people that commute. Just keep telling myself I’m lucky to have a job, and I get to see wildlife most days of some sort even if it’s just a hawk.