Hey guys my wife and daughter are looking at doing a little 2-3 day trip and are looking at places close to KC to go to. What are the go to things to see in Des Moines? My daughter is 13 and is into music and shopping. What would you recommend they check out if they head up that way?
Thank you for any help

I love Zombie Burger and go there everytime I am in the DSM area.  I am not sure about shopping places.  There is a cool place downtown that is like an antique salvage resale shop that I have been too a few times, and they have in house coffee shop.  its a really neat place.  

I tend to more outdoorsy type stuff

Ledges State Park is pretty cool, been hiking there a few times.

What are you in to? What type of things would you be interested in?

I'm not sure Des Moines has much to offer that you don't already have in KC.

Ya I know it’s kind of the same city but just seeing if there was something unique or must see for my wife and daughter. They were going to come up just to have a couple day get away. Any good museums gardens the zoo? Where to stay? Any must eat places?

I can't believe I'm going to do this...  but if the Zoo is an attraction, at about the same distance from KC, I would suggest maybe visiting Omaha, as the Henry Doorly Zoo there is quite a bit better than the Des Moines Blank Park Zoo.

The Zoo in St. Louis is also fantastic...  but St. Louis in my opinion is not somewhere I could recommend as a safe place to visit.  Des Moines is fairly safe as long as you stay out of the area right round Drake University.  Luckily the Zoo is nowhere near that part of town.  To be fair, you need to be careful of parts of Omaha as well, but coming from KC, that's probably not a new thing as there are parts of KC, mostly on the MO side that aren't great either like Raytown.

It ain't that bad over by Drake. I haven't heard gunshots nearby in a few days.

I have yet to check out the zoo up here, but from what I'm told, KC zoo is way better. I want to go to the Omaha zoo sometime also.

Next time you return, there are a couple spots I recommend. I'd also recommend visiting Iowa City when there's a home game.. we're a top five team and it's a blast in and all around the stadium every Saturday. I'd say an Iowa home game trumps any places in DSM, plus I have some better restaurant recommendations when it comes to IC probably.

- Drake Diner: fun diner feel, pretty good food and your daughter would enjoy it I am sure
- Smokey D's: best bigger BBQ place in Iowa that I've had, stay away from Jethro's unless you're getting wings. KC bbq is better I'm sure but these guys have damn good ribs
- Jordan Creek mall: none of our malls are particularly great, but this is the only one that isn't dying and on its way out. Scheels for you, plenty of stores for your ladies. Stay away from the Outlets of Des Moines, as there are mainly just vacant stores there

I'd also recommend exploring downtown in general, Fong's Pizza is really popular with teens and young adults (Asian fusion pizza) and the farmer's market is downtown on Saturday mornings and has a lot of good stuff to offer.

Hope you were able to check out some decently cool spots!