Face it -- it's always hard to stay in shape during an NLS conference. But your friendly cornfed librarians have a suggestion: bring along a pair of sneakers and hit the trail.
Downtown Des Moines is home to a number of paved trails, and because we're visitor-friendly, there's a map: http://www.seedesmoines.com/uploads/pdf/trail_map_downtown_web.pdf
Take a peek at the map, and you'll note that the Marriott is indicated by the number 1 in a blue circle, and that a 5 mile walk starts right there! It's a (mostly) lovely jaunt out to the popular Gray's Lake Park where you might spot heron or even an eagle. At the lake, you'll have a picturesque view of Downtown, perfect for snapping a souvenir photo. Turn around, and across the street is Water Works Park, home to one of the world's largest collections of flowering crab apple trees.
Collected by the late Arie den Boer, a renowned horticulturist, the arboretum includes approximately 300 varieties of crab apple trees. The annual crab apple blossom usually occurs the last week of April and the first week of May, but it's a lovely view any time of year.
If a 5 mile round-trip walk sounds a bit time-consuming, here's a secret: you'll cut about 2 miles off the trip if you don't walk around the lake itself. That will leave plenty of time to rest on a bench and enjoy one of Des Moines most popular parks. Just remember to hurry back -- you don't want to miss the session on BARD administration, do you?
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