I actually used to joke that we went from this.... 
to this.... 
It's a very stereotypical and unfair representation of Iowa, although I really did take that picture off the deck of our old condo. People here say that the state is confused with Ohio all the time and I find that amusing. Save my years in Chicago, I lived in Ohio my whole life and never once heard of it getting confused with Iowa. You can even buy shirts here that say "Idahohiowa". Unless they've begun selling them in recent years, I've never seen a shirt like that in Ohio. It may be a thing with the western states because a friend of mine used to live in Denver and she said people there always got confused too. Aside from lots of farm fields and Big Ten universities, Ohio is really nothing like Iowa. Maybe it's because Ohio is in the eastern time zone and relates more easily with the eastern states (or at least I did) but I never really thought of Ohio as a big farming state, nor did I really even think about states more west than Indiana, maybe Illinois. Maybe it's just me because we also only ever vacationed on the east coast or Florida and I had only ever been further west than Chicago 4 times in my life before visiting Bill in Iowa. I also think of Ohio as being filled with big cities - Cleveland, Cinncinati, Columbus, Toledo - and lots of people. Toledo, where I'm from, has a metroland population of 650,000. The Iowa City/Coralville population, where we are now, is 86,000. This isn't to say that Iowa doesn't have a million things going for it because it does:
Well, it's a townhouse but it might as well be our palace. We love, love, love, LOVE it. We were able to get in before it was built to customize it. I need to update these pics because we've decorated (very little) since these were taken. Did I mention that we love it?
We say that when we move, it will be one of the things we miss most because chances are very high that we will not live in a new construction building again until we build our big dream home one day. We also have no idea where we're going to end up. While we say we would move back to a city (Chicago) in a heartbeat, that's not really true. As much as we'd love to, we will most likely have a kid by then and don't want to raise him/her in a concrete jungle. People do it and good for them. It's just not for us. I saw too many women struggle on the el with strollers and that is not for me. Plus, the cost of a private school would be a nightmare. It would also be bittersweet because we would want to live as we did as young, fun, single, not a care in the world, early 20-somethings and life would actually be drastically different. I think that would make me depressed. Plus, we could never afford a place even half the size of our house now that we L.O.V.E.!
2) The Field of Dreams baseball field is in Iowa and about 2 hours from our house. Kevin Costner's band played there a few years back. We've never been though.
3) The Bridges of Madison County are in Iowa about 2.5 hours from our house. Also never been.
4) The German Amana Colonies are pretty cool. Amana appliances were founded here and they have cute little shops and restaurants. AWESOME all-you-can-eat-until-you-have-a-heart-attack breakfast - fruit, coffee, OJ, bacon, sausage, fried eggs, toast, potatoes and pancakes. YUM. Ashton Kutcher is from one of the colonies too.
5) Having a Big Ten university in town is pretty sweet. Iowa State (Big 12) is only a couple hours away.
6) Sales tax is low. We went from something like 10% tax in Chicago to 5%. Can't beat that.
7) It's really pretty and peaceful here. People think Iowa is flat and some parts are, but where we are is kind of hilly and the rolling fields are goregeous in the summer.
8) We have met some truly amazing people, some of whom I love to death and will be our lifelong friends.
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