Road Trippers

Café Mir is a special restaurant run by two brothers in a very small town called Fertile, IA. My mom introduced me to it probably about 3-4 years ago when she lived near Clear Lake. She asked my husband and I to meet there for dinner then because she read about it and one of the brothers bought some of her fresh herbs at the farmers market. Back then we drove the 1 1/2 hours to get there and took a walk around a bit before our reservation. The backyard of Cafe Mir sits on the Winnebago River and with a bridge that crosses over to a park making it a lovely place to walk before or after dinner.  The restaurant is in a small storefront with the front and back rooms set aside for dining and the kitchen and host area lay in the middle. It's quaint with an eclectic vibe; mismatched napkins and china that all look like they were pulled from various grandmother's cabinets. The food is exquisite in this charming spot, making it worth the drive. It's a little expensive but worth it especially for a special occasion. Because of all this I was determined to make it there again for dinner before winter is upon us. 

(Charles City, Winnebago River view)

My husband is happy to plan day trips especially when beer is involved and I'm happy to ride along as long as there are patios.  Saturday was a gorgeous day, lots of sunshine, too much wind but we didn't blow away. We loaded the dogs into the car (patios are so perfect) and headed north to St Charles City Brewing Company where we shared a flight of beers and hard seltzers. A Filipino food truck was parked behind the brewery so we felt obliged to sample a plate of noodles and an egg roll which were delicious and a perfect snack to tide us over until our 6:30 reservation. We soaked up some sun at their outdoor picnic tables and then took a walk along the river before piling back in the car for our next destination. 

Another 30 minutes or so we took a back road into Osage, IA to find The Limestone Brewing Company on Main Street. This place was a little more crowded but luckily most people were hanging inside which left the outdoor tables to us. There were a ton of fat tire bikes leaning up and down the street with most of the owners inside swigging beer, listening to live music, and eating pizza. Outside there was an eggroll food truck and two long picnic tables.  While the patio situation was not the greatest at least we had a place outside because only staff were masked inside and the place was packed because the beer was good and there had been some major fat tire trail ride earlier in the day. We shared a flight here as well, bought two crowlers, and headed back to the highway.

These two stops broke up the drive perfectly and we arrived at Café Mir 30 minutes before our reservation. Unfortunately the weather had taken a turn and it was pretty chilly walking the dogs around the park. It was toasty inside, the place was bustling, the tables were widely-spaced, staff wore masks, and I wore a mask it still seemed like the virus was a thing of the past for most others. I'm not of that mindset but I also have to live a little before we get totally locked down by the weather. I hope you did something thrilling with your weekend as well.