Actually, what I really like about Iowa is this: When I attended my friend's wedding in Nebraska, we had to hold the bachelor party in Iowa because they allowed nudity in the strip clubs. You know you live in a boring state when you have to travel to Iowa for fun.
The Iowa Writers Worksup, honing authors like Jane Smiley, T.C. B'Boyle, John Cheever, Philip Roth and what seems like half of the winners of the Pulitzer for Poetry.
A hotel in Decorah where apparently Laura Ingalls Wilder's father worked at for a time in town but then he skipped out on the bill with his family in the middle of the night.
The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, a week-long bicycle trip from the Missouri to the Mississippi. I think there were about 10,000 riders when I did it way back in 1988, and most of them, like me, treated it as a rolling, small town-to-small town party. Lots of beer and, unsurprisingly, corn. I'd never eaten grilled corn-on-the-cob before that, and it was a total revelation.
Another, not so exciting revelation: Iowa is not as flat as I'd been led to believe.
There's a little phone company in Iowa that did some very bad things, leading to a significant share of my billings over the past 4 years (and, just last week, a victory in the D.C. Circuit).
The smiley face water tower in Adair -- when my husband and I moved from Boston to San Diego, the smiley tower was where we pulled off I80 to have lunch, and the people in town were the friendliest people we met the whole trip.
Also the real Field of Dreams in Dyersville, and the Dar Williams song.
It was a fun read. I felt like it shows how reading can be something besides a solitary activity since I never had anyone to talk to about those books growing up.
i grew up in iowa and there is much about it that i love, although the Hy-Vee I worked at during high school would not be on my list. the winters are hellish but summers on lake okoboji with lots of friends and fresh sweet corn and tomatoes are lovely. i don't choose to live there now, but look forward to visiting each summer. the people are generally hardworking, humble, and eager to help you any way they can. plus, it's always a nice bonus to be able to personally meet every presidential candidate, if you so choose.
Big Creek State Park. We used to go there for family picnics. It's where I learned how to build a proper campfire, and how to make s'mores, and how to throw a boomerang. I insisted on having my birthday parties there, and my friends all seemed to have a much better time running around the woods than we did at Showbiz Pizza.
Birthplace of Meridith Willson and inspiration for "The Music Man"
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved from MI to CO, we stopped for a moment to check something on the moving truck. The night sky was lovely.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the story of Kate Shelley on the railroad bridge.
ReplyDeleteRadar O'Reilly.
ReplyDeleteActually, what I really like about Iowa is this: When I attended my friend's wedding in Nebraska, we had to hold the bachelor party in Iowa because they allowed nudity in the strip clubs. You know you live in a boring state when you have to travel to Iowa for fun.
ReplyDeleteNorman Bourlag was from Iowa. A fairly consequential fellow -- and not even a corn farmer.
ReplyDeleteThere's a cool hotel in Dubuque. Hotel Julian I believe? And a nice river walk.
ReplyDeleteThe Iowa Writers Worksup, honing authors like Jane Smiley, T.C. B'Boyle, John Cheever, Philip Roth and what seems like half of the winners of the Pulitzer for Poetry.
ReplyDeleteA hotel in Decorah where apparently Laura Ingalls Wilder's father worked at for a time in town but then he skipped out on the bill with his family in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteIt produced my best friend.
ReplyDeleteThe Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, a week-long bicycle trip from the Missouri to the Mississippi. I think there were about 10,000 riders when I did it way back in 1988, and most of them, like me, treated it as a rolling, small town-to-small town party. Lots of beer and, unsurprisingly, corn. I'd never eaten grilled corn-on-the-cob before that, and it was a total revelation.
ReplyDeleteAnother, not so exciting revelation: Iowa is not as flat as I'd been led to believe.
Fried bologna sandwiches from some bar in Davenport.
ReplyDeleteIt's the Hotel Julien. :) And I second the river walk.
ReplyDeleteTheir great private colleges.
ReplyDeleteit inspired this jaunty tune from the first musical I ever saw "State Fair"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HvI8OZpEuM
(2012 resolution--learn how to post videos into comments!)
Johnny Cash singing "Cavortin' in Davenport" on Big River
ReplyDeleteThe Iowa 80 Truckstop. It's like the Mall of America for truckers and RVers.
ReplyDeleteThe Dar Williams song, of course.
ReplyDeleteThe Dar Williams song, of course.
ReplyDeletei do love that song.
ReplyDeleteThe coffee kiosk in Iowa City where I learned how to drink coffee during a summer at debate camp.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to do RAGBRAI every year and my schedule never works. It's gotten bigger and bigger each year...
ReplyDeleteI moved to Cedar Rapids in June. Still thinking...
ReplyDeleteField of Dreams
ReplyDeleteAh, you read the same book I read last year! Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI had 12 as the over-under before somebody said this, and I would have taken the under. So I lose. Pretty song, though.
ReplyDeleteThere's a little phone company in Iowa that did some very bad things, leading to a significant share of my billings over the past 4 years (and, just last week, a victory in the D.C. Circuit).
ReplyDeleteThe smiley face water tower in Adair -- when my husband and I moved from Boston to San Diego, the smiley tower was where we pulled off I80 to have lunch, and the people in town were the friendliest people we met the whole trip.
ReplyDeleteAlso the real Field of Dreams in Dyersville, and the Dar Williams song.
Actually, the people here are very nice. And the summers are better than I expected. And we haven't had any measurable snow yet. And housing is cheap.
ReplyDeleteWondering which HyVee he worked at. There's probably a shrine.
You might have better luck if you asked me to name something I *know* about Iowa. *still thinking*
ReplyDeleteIn doing research, it appears that the HyVee was in Cedar Falls where he went to school, not Cedar Rapids where he's from.
ReplyDeleteA really wonderful road trip to Ames for an Ani DiFranco concert druing college in the late 90's.
ReplyDeleteAntonin Dvorak's American Quartet.
ReplyDeleteIs it ok that I like corn?
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun read. I felt like it shows how reading can be something besides a solitary activity since I never had anyone to talk to about those books growing up.
ReplyDeleteThat John Wayne was born in Winterset. That Ed Helms movie Cedar Rapids. But not that Clear Lake was the crash site of the Day the Music Died.
ReplyDeletei grew up in iowa and there is much about it that i love, although the Hy-Vee I worked at during high school would not be on my list. the winters are hellish but summers on lake okoboji with lots of friends and fresh sweet corn and tomatoes are lovely. i don't choose to live there now, but look forward to visiting each summer. the people are generally hardworking, humble, and eager to help you any way they can. plus, it's always a nice bonus to be able to personally meet every presidential candidate, if you so choose.
ReplyDeleteDiners where the waitresses still call me Honey and Sweety.
ReplyDeleteBig Creek State Park. We used to go there for family picnics. It's where I learned how to build a proper campfire, and how to make s'mores, and how to throw a boomerang. I insisted on having my birthday parties there, and my friends all seemed to have a much better time running around the woods than we did at Showbiz Pizza.
ReplyDeleteSo many fabulous things about Iowa:
ReplyDelete1. The fact that there's nothing halfway about the Iowa way to treat you when they treat you, which they may not do at all.
2. They can stand touching noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye.
3. They'll give you their shirt, and the back to go with it, if your crops should happen to die.
4. If you join them at the picnic, you can have your fill of all the food you bring yourself.
I'm ashamed I didn't think of it this morning.
ReplyDeleteA friend covering the caucuses just texted me, paraphrasing Field of Dreams "Is this Hell?" "No, it's Iowa."
ReplyDeleteMy mom's side of the family from Fort Dodge. Greetings fellow Sayre/Jaycox cousins!
ReplyDelete--bd
Iowa, John Linnell:
ReplyDeleteSilhouette on the moon
Flying around on a broom
Iowa
Is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She likes the conical hat
Matching black dress
And a cat
Iowa
Is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
"And if that broom don't fly,
I'm gonna buy you
a Dustbuster."
[Dustbuster noise]
Stirs a large iron pot
Casting a spell
On Vermont
Iowa
Is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She is a witch
She is a witch
She is a witch
The "Vanilla Gorilla" Brad Lohaus.
ReplyDeleteThe Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, where I stopped on my month-long circuit of the West in 2002.
ReplyDelete<span>Gotta give Iowa a try!</span>
ReplyDelete