One of the many great things about Iowa
 

There are a couple hundred tractors camping out a block from my place on the annual Great Iowa Tractor Ride.
One of the radio stations hosts and a bunch of companies sponsor a 4 day tractor ride around central Iowa...
Idiots
Out
Wandeirng
Around

That is awesome! Didn't House of Large Sizes (a fine Iowa band) have a CD called Idiots Out Wandering Around?

I didn't see many tractors in my Iowa City days.

When it flooded a few years ago, it was:

Idiots
Out
Wading
Around

is ME !!!!!

and Indianola...

The best thing about Iowa is the cheap drinks at Vito's on Thursday nights.

there were 2 bars in Des Moines for awhile that had a fued going so Friday nights were no-cover and free drinks from 8-11 at both places.
Now they're up to 2-for-1 bottles and no-cover before 10PM.

I'm DSM born and bred . . . you can do better, both in DSM and esp in IC.




Iowa is the best state in the union - trust me on that, then drink w/ me if you want to find the party.

Still on my to-do list: participating in the baloon festival. :D

Hmm. Havent seen the balloon show. Been to the balloon grounds though- Annual Harkin Steak-Fry was there last fall.

I was going to go to the post office on my way to work this morning but got stuck in standing traffic for 15 minutes as hundreds of tractors were turning onto the road.

that's what you get for living in Iowa! :p I remember once we were driving between Dubuque and Maquoketa, and I had to follow a tractor for a good 20 miles...NOT a happy camper.

hmm- if the tractor wasnt on the shoulder as far as he could go... he was being a jerk.
Otherwise- I'm assuming it's a busy road and thus hard to pass?

So was I :)! Totally love that event. Even when the ground is soggy :)

Heck, I love Indianola in the Caucus Season....ALL the candidates come here because we are rural, yet close to the urban area (and the air port!)

Come to the Balloon Classic!! It is a fun and colorful event. The first Saturday, 31 July this year is always the best. Arts & Crafts Fair, parade, food, balloons, music....quite the party :) for a small town.

Indianola...hometown of Joel West, the Calvin Klein Underwear guy and Casey Blake, of the Cleveland Indians (this week I think:)

It was on 151 or 61 - so fairly busy. The tractor was driving ON the road. It wasn't even a very big one either. I've gotten stuck behind them all the time on the way down to Clinton, but they're always nice and pull over.

Another reason Iowa rocks: Walcott Truckers Jamboree

Over 30,000 people watching the Trucker Olympics, the Super Truck Beauty Contest and other stuff. All at the World's Largest Truck Stop: The Iowa 80 Truck Stop.

http://www.iowa80truckstop.com/image...c.overview.jpghttp://www.iowa80truckstop.com/images/1999.gif
(in the right picture notice the watertower in the upper right corner- that supplies water for only the truck stop)

It's also the best wendy's on the planet. True story - it's amazing, and one of the few places with golden tee, wendy's, DQ, and wack ass truckstop trinkets.

Walcott's weird stuff.

Two words: Butter Cow.

http://img19.photobucket.com/albums/.../buttercow.jpg

(made for the past 40 years by a Pi Phi alum)

I *love* that Iowa I-80 Truck Stop!

I used to really like going to the Quilt Show in Kalona. And the All-Iowa Fair in Cedar Rapids, where the Midway Games consist of "Hit the Stop Sign with an Empty Beer Bottle." No lie. I have pictures.

I miss the Co-op food market in Iowa City. And the ice-cream stand right along the river. And Houseworks on South Gilbert.

I used to live above The Brewery/Fitzpatrick's on South Gilbert. Man, those were good times!

One other thing I love:

Corn Mazes.

http://www.theutechs.com/images/2003AmesMaze.jpg

Fitzy's is closed! too many violations, the brewery guys had to shut it down or lose the liquor license for the brewpub.

It's too bad - i live 2 blocks from there, it was the only 'normal' bar on S. Gilbert . . . now I have to hoof all the way downtown, or deal w/ massive amounts of hippies.

Argh! I can't believe Fitzy's closed. That's so sad! I really liked that place. It doesn't surprise me, though...the owner (who also owns The Brewery) was my landlord, and although he was a nice guy, he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I used to go to the Fox Head Saloon sometimes...super sketchy, but that's where my grad school chums insisted on hanging out. (I forget what street that was on. Big writerly hang out. They served good scotch!)

Yeah.. I skip the bars near UofI and ISU- I'd rather go to Des Moines for The Saddle, The Garden and The Frathouse any day over a campustown bar. Well- except for Welch Avenue Station.
mmm... Pissed-Off Japanese Minnow Farmers... best drink in Ames.

Umm... I've been to the Que bar. Three times now, to see the Nadas. But that's the extent of my IC bar experiences. Too bad, the ones in Cedar Rapids suck even worse.

Now, I liked the campustown scene in Ames, as long as you avoided Sips and Dean's List (before it was Big Shots) and got to Paddy's early. The two-block walk home was a godsend if we couldn't convice someone to come pick us up in the middle of winter! We usually frequented Paddy's, Micky's, Cy's, People's and occassionally MoJazz.

Yeah, the Que sucks - actually, not bad to see a show, but it's a pretty weak bar by IC standards. If you dig Mickey's in Ames, or People's, that's how the ped mall/downtown area shakes down (ignoring the Fieldhouse and the Union). IC bar scene >> Campustown

also - not to be a dick, ISUPhiPsi . . . but The Saddle? In Des Moines? Good bar? WHuh? OK, we'll split the difference and just say, if you're going to be 'like that' in DSM, at least do the Royal Mile. There, that's WAY better.

Cosign. The Royal Mile is the closest to a true pub we'll get in Iowa. Plus, they have real cider on tap and know how to make snakebites (the drink, not the shot).

I think the reason we don't go out much in IC is because the 30-min drive back to CR sucks. And the reason we don't go out much in CR is because almost all the bars suck. Damn, I'm getting old. What I wouldn't give for just one night out like we used to do in school.

The Saddle is the place to be in DSM on Tuesday nights.
The Garden on Fridays has 2 for 1 bottles and strippers.
The Frathouse sometimes has decent shows and good drink specials.
The Garden's 10PM show on Sunday nights is pretty good- Dena Cass rocks, Vanessa Taylor does pretty good even though she's a bitch to work with for shows in Ames.

I've only done the Royal Mile with fellow campaign staffers after campaigns have been done.

Yup *nod*, I am a true Iowan. Went to the State Fair almost every year (except this year :( ), and saw the butter cow many times.

Visited Ft. Madison for a wedding last week, and I was happy to see corn fields again. I am excited for a good year for us, the corn are already knee high by 4th of July! ;)

I love Amana Colonies, and the famous Kalona. I know a Amish barn in Kalona-Wellman town limit, and they sell really good Amish food, comparable to the Chat and Chew bar in Wellman. And talking about the area, have you visited the Cheese factory in Kalona? They sell better cheese than Wisconsin!

Man, I miss home.

VITO'S!!!

so, can any of y'all Iowans tell me about Sioux City?

Apparantly it's pretty close to Vermillion, SD and some people will load up and drive down there to party.

Just trying to explore all my socializing options once school starts up in the fall.

I might be making the trek to Ames this fall to see A&M play the Cyclones, that should be interesting.

Kitso
KS 361 points we're gonna hang on the 'clones

GO CLONES! :D
Too bad our SN Chapter went inactive long time ago.

Actually, the only thing I know about Sioux City is the shrine Catholic site - I forget what it is called, but it has two 30 feet steel statues of Virgin Mary and Jesus. Pretty cool to go there, and they also have a life size wood diorama of the Last Supper.

There is also Loess Hill in NW Iowa, suppose to be extremely fragile and unique - loess soils only can be found in Iowa and somewhere in China. State of Iowa has been trying to make this area as a national park - and it is still in progress.

How bout this highest point in Iowa? It is also in NW part of the state, I believe by the Ida Groove/Battle Creek area.

Sig Nu was just barely active my freshman year (1997) and closed soon after. Alpha Sigs bought their house and renovated it in 1999.

Cosign. I loved living close to the bars when I was in the house, even if I was only 21 for my senior year and the following fall before I graduated. I lived in Ames for two years after I graduated and we went to Paddy's so much that the manager asked my friend this May when we were all going to graduate. She looked at Barry and said, "Um, we've all graduated (from undergrad)." I was never a big fan of MoJazz or Sips. Went to Big Shots the summer before they went under because they had $1 pitchers.

I like the Royal Mile - we've had fun every time we've gone there. Unfortunately we don't go out downtown too much. :( We do go to Mickey's quite a bit in Urbandale.

The butter cow and other butter renditions are one of my favorite things about the fair. I believe this is the 150th State Fair this year.

AggieSigmaNu361, I'll be at the game watching us get killed I imagine. I love my Cyclones, but I'm also a realist. Our football team may not be fabulous, but we can tailgate with the best of them! :D

I'm from Urbandale - going to Mickey's is a rite of passage, and I'm required to go back every time I'm around.

I'm also a fan of Valley West Pub for cheap happy hour, Autographs for when we want to get f-ed and stumble home w/out the DD, and Cabaret for the nighttime.

Unfortunately, too many of my friends work/did work/date someone who works at Drink, so we end up there . . .

-RC
--Stormy's for life, yo

Sounds just like my cup of tea.

A&M's football team has been down the last couple of years, enough to prompt some people to make a shirt that reads: "College Station, Texas: A Drinking Town with a Football Problem"

I'm lookin forward to crusing the tailgate scene in Ames. The people in Lincoln last year were surprisingly benign.

Kitso
KS 361

Hee. ISU's only had about three years of being "good." Our sophomore year homecoming shirts had a passed-out Barney on the back with the words "What football game?" It royally pissed off some of the more proper girls in the house, but I still wear mine!

Heh. Drink. My husband had many a drunk night there courtesy of his friend who used to pitch for the ICubs.

If we felt like getting out of Campustown, we'd go to Whiskey River in downtown Ames or the Corner Pocket (but I didn't like it there).

the state fair in des moines is a good party scene.

Sioux City has a distinct odor to it. Comes from the rendering plant right near downtown. Otherwise I dont remember much of when I've visited except for drinking champagne while soaking in a hot-tub at a friend's parents' house.


Texas A&M vs. Iowa State: I believe that's our homecoming game. Come down and tailgate- if you see a guy in a gorilla suit mostlikely it's me and I'll have been drinking. :D

If it's Homecoming, I'll be there! I made my husband promise we would go this year after having to miss the last two years--one for his college homecoming and one for his brother's wedding.

Crop Circles Baffle Iowa Family
Spots Appear In Eagle Grove Oat Field

POSTED: 10:51 a.m. CDT July 6, 2004
UPDATED: 2:15 p.m. CDT July 6, 2004

EAGLE GROVE, Iowa -- An Iowa farm family is baffled over some crop circles that showed up in their field during the Independence Day weekend.

Saturday morning, Brenda and Mike Trevis noticed about a dozen spots in their oat field near Eagle Grove in north-central Iowa.

The crops had been pushed over and broken at the roots in various shapes and sizes.

"I don't know what to make of it," Mike Trevis said.

The family called the Humboldt County sheriff to investigate, but there was no evidence of a person or animal going in or out of the field.

"We talked to neighbors to see if there was anything different in their crops. This is the only one," Brenda Trevis said.

There is no weather explanation for the crop circles, and the family said they don't know who or what is responsible.

"We're kind of scared because we want to know what caused it," Brenda Trevis said.