What do you miss/appreciate about Iowa?
- Thread starter RezClone
- Start date
I've lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon, Minnesota, and now West Virginia. The big cities don't have the kindness Iowans have. Minnesota and, believe it or not, West Virginia to a greater degree are the only people comparable to Iowans.
A friend pulling into the farm unannounced with an icy cooler full of cheap beer. Then spending the next couple hours sitting at the picnic table in the shade of an oak tree, talking about a whole bunch of nothin'. A light breeze with a hint of hog manure...cicadas buzzing in the background....
HuHot, Taco Johns and less traffic. Beyond that I'm happy in Florida and don't see myself ever returning to Iowa.
My wife has an uncle who when he'd visit would require sweet corn and Maid-rite sandwiches.
I'll give him the sweet corn, but not sure on the Maid-rite.
I'll give him the sweet corn, but not sure on the Maid-rite.
As someone said I miss AE products. I miss being able to drive to ISU games and get there in less than 30 minutes. I miss cheap drinks at bars. I miss being close to extended family.
I've been all over. Lived overseas. Lived in California. Chicago. Did the East Coast rat-race for 25 years. I love Iowa. It is gorgeous and uncrowded - you can be ~completely~ alone for a while if you like.
I missed AE products and Fareways meat counter. I lived a number of years ago where Kroger and Walmart were the options and the meat suuuucked. You could get a good steak at the butcher shop but it was double the cost of the grocery store.
Also, gas stations/convenience stores. Casey’s and Kwik Star are so far beyond Marathons, Shell, Circle K, etc when you travel as much as I did.
Also, gas stations/convenience stores. Casey’s and Kwik Star are so far beyond Marathons, Shell, Circle K, etc when you travel as much as I did.
Pancheros, Zoey's in Marion, and Happy Joe's. People out here have literally never heard of taco pizza.
All of my out-of-state relatives and friends have to get Maid-rites when in town. Of course, this is Marshalltown where the real Maid-rites are
Backbone State Park from when I was a little kid and it was still maintained as a traditional jewel of a park with the lower level picnic grounds and shelters.
Redbuds and ground cover blooming in the spring on campus.
Outside of that, not much. Moved away a lifetime ago and I don't have much in common these days with 21st century Iowa.
Redbuds and ground cover blooming in the spring on campus.
Outside of that, not much. Moved away a lifetime ago and I don't have much in common these days with 21st century Iowa.
This is what I hear from people all the time when they travel here for business or have never/rarely ever been to Iowa is "the people here are really nice." That is one thing I that those of us who have lived in Iowa all our lives take for granted is that for the most part people here are kind and helpful whereas you don't always get that from people that live in some of the bigger East and West coasts cities. We don't have some of the high stress issues here that probably wear on folks in other places like horrible traffic or even higher inflated prices on goods, services, and housing that we take for granted here that probably make their personality and moods different.
Just had a vendor at work the other week from California and he was raving about how nice people were here compared to where he was from and how the local restaurants and bars were a fun place to hang out for someone out of town because not every place in the country you can go out find people who will just welcome random chat with a stranger at the bar or even the people he was dealing with at the work place seemed more patient and kind than in most places.
I have family who live out east and cheese balls are the first thing they eat when they get back here.
