A Month in Davenport
March 2024 in Davenport, Iowa | What We Did, Where We Ate, and Where We Stayed
Curtis’ assignment in the Quad Cities area ended up being his longest one so far — and thankfully, it also turned out to be his favorite from this spring season. Part of that was because he actually had a few days off, a two and THREE day weekend, and just those few days made it feel like we had a better balance of work and having time to enjoy where we were. For our month here, we chose to stay in Davenport in the Homewood Suites off of I-74 which made for a fairly easy commute for Curtis, and we had plenty of options for restaurants that we could walk to at night. Coincidentally, most of the people Curtis worked with were also staying at this same hotel, so we were much more social this month, going to several group dinners. Overall, it was a great experience and we hope to get the chance to return!
During our three day weekend, we actually drove over to my parent’s house and spent a night there. It was perfect timing because my sister had just had her second child so we were able to meet him for the first time. Additionally, all of my siblings were in town, and it happened to be another sister’s birthday. We had a great time celebrating and catching up with everyone over our short time together.
And since we still had a third day off, we were able to spend more time exploring Davenport. We drove downtown to go for a chilly walk along the river, admiring the city skyline, bridges, and the town of Moline across the river. It would be fun to stay downtown sometime when we’re assigned here again, we would just have to work out the logistics of parking.
On other days off, we mostly focused on walking more sections of the Duck Creek Trail which goes across Davenport and Bettendorf. Most of the sections went through suburban areas, so we would find a small park to start our walk and would walk to another before turning around.
As for food, our favorite restaurant this time around was Los Agaves Mexican, which was a short walk from our hotel, and we loved the burrito grande, street tacos, and daiquiris. We also enjoyed Pho Fusion (especially the curries), Bad Boys Pizza (because we had to try “Quad Cities style” pizza), Izumi Steakhouse for sushi, and China Cafe. We also joined some of Curtis’ coworkers who are more self-proclaimed “foodies” than we are for dinners at nicer places like Beef & Bourbon Chophouse and Duck City Bistro. We enjoyed the company and the fine dining experiences, though they aren’t places that we would choose to go on our own. We also enjoyed being able to have some Iowa staples such as Pancheros and Hy-Vee Chinese, and drinks from Big Grove Brewery.
We also really enjoyed the hotel where we stayed — the room was spacious yet cozy, breakfasts were good, and the staff was very friendly. Besides being close to restaurants and some shopping, it was also a quiet and comfortable place to walk Charlotte, and she seemed to enjoy our routines here.
At the beginning of April, our month here came to an end, and so we packed up and prepared for the last leg of this spring outage season. While the weather had been warmer at the beginning of March when we first arrived, the end of the month was much colder. We had arrived to Davenport during a storm, and we awoke on the day of our departure to snow flurries! Thankfully none of it stuck to the road or affected our drive. We said goodbye for now to this city which now holds some fond memories, and began our journey East.
