Any updates on the Cedar Rapids front? Thanks.

Not much in Cedar Rapids, eh? We ended up staying at the Kirkwood, which is Kirkwood Community College's culinary program's hotel. Really nice place. Drinks were 2-for-1 in the lobby bar at 4:00, so we had what ended up being $4 prosecco splits. Bartender was creating the signature drink for the evening: a sage manhattan made with herbsaint and he gave us a taste. Good!

For dinner we went to Ced-Rel, an old-school supper club/roadhouse. The dishes are delivered on airplane-style carts -- nice touch! The relish tray included the usual celery, carrots, pickles, cheese spread and freshly battered onion rings and fried chicken livers. Now that's a relish tray! The fried chicken main was really good -- Lasalle county-worthy, in fact. Dinner came with tossed salad, potatoes and baked beans. All in all, a really good meal (although at $20 for a half chicken, kind of expensive).