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Post by Solar Stud on Mar 9, 2008 20:49:19 GMT -6
Well....hmmm....people sure listed a ton of shitty Iowa towns...so, which places have you visited that you like?
My hometown of Hampton gets a nod as well as Pella.
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Post by TBELL on Mar 9, 2008 20:56:58 GMT -6
Indianola isn't a bad place IMO.
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Post by MoHawk on Mar 9, 2008 20:57:21 GMT -6
I'll nominate my hometown of Grinnell. Great small town atmosphere, yet its just an hour away from all the important major cities in the state.
Iowa City of course.
Waverly is a pretty nice town...I never spent much time there, but the few times I visited, I really enjoyed it.
Pella is pretty solid...though if it didn't have Lake Red Rock it would be docked many points.
Not sure why, but I've always enjoyed Spencer as well. There's nothing very special about that town, but I've always liked it.
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Post by Solar Stud on Mar 9, 2008 20:59:49 GMT -6
I like the Davenport/Bettendorf area.
Any of those towns around Lake Okiboji are cool.
Iowa City of course.
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Post by TBELL on Mar 9, 2008 21:01:59 GMT -6
Forgot to add Iowa City. Here around the metro, I have to give the nod to Johnston. It's a pretty clean town and close to many good attractions.
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Post by Justhawks17 on Mar 9, 2008 21:04:10 GMT -6
West Des Moines is getting pretty nice. With the Jordan Creek area.
Iowa City of Course Kids.
Urbandale
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Post by TBELL on Mar 9, 2008 21:05:48 GMT -6
Scurvandale???!!? Are you kidding me Justin? HA!! I like that name...Scurvandale.
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Post by Justhawks17 on Mar 9, 2008 21:07:16 GMT -6
I gotta represent the "U" HOLLA
Its better than Skankney! : )
I do like the name skankney!!!!!! HOLLA
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Earl
Prostate Massager
Posts: 173
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Post by Earl on Mar 10, 2008 6:47:32 GMT -6
Waverly is a pretty nice town...I never spent much time there, but the few times I visited, I really enjoyed it. Good call on Waverly. It always smelled like chocolate cake from the Nestle plant there.....back when I was going to Wartburg. |
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Post by MoHawk on Mar 10, 2008 7:01:58 GMT -6
I went to BV in Storm Lake. The town of Storm Lake isn't all that awful...but the IBP and Tyson plants didn't make it smell very good.
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Post by 101 on Mar 10, 2008 8:01:38 GMT -6
This is easy. Bince Marshalltown has topped the list of the worst towns, then Grinnell must top the list of the best towns. College town, culture (okay....semi-culture), nice downtown, mid-way between DSM, CR and IC. Not everyone is related to each other. We have a winner.  |
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Post by 101 on Mar 10, 2008 8:01:58 GMT -6
Plus....me and MoHawk are from there. Can't be nothing wrong with that.
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Post by bucketochicken on Mar 10, 2008 8:04:10 GMT -6
Toddville!!!!
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Post by Gumbyhawk on Mar 10, 2008 8:11:37 GMT -6
This is easy. Bince Marshalltown has topped the list of the worst towns, then Grinnell must top the list of the best towns. College town, culture (okay....semi-culture), nice downtown, mid-way between DSM, CR and IC. Not everyone is related to each other. We have a winner. Grinnell?? NFW!!!!  |
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Post by MoHawk on Mar 10, 2008 8:14:53 GMT -6
Not only is the best academic institution in the state in Grinnell, the best pizza place (Pagliai's) and the most exciting form of basketball in the state is played at Grinnell College. Head to Darby Gymnaisum on a winter Saturday afternoon and see the Pioneers AVERAGE 113 points a game. Lots and lots of fun to watch.
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Post by 101 on Mar 10, 2008 8:16:41 GMT -6
You tell 'em Matt!
Gumby....you live in Marshalltown, or as you call it "little mexico". That taints your judgement right of the bat!
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Post by RynoHawk on Mar 10, 2008 8:24:42 GMT -6
Johnston, Mt. Vernon, Iowa City
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Post by Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Heywood) on Mar 10, 2008 8:26:06 GMT -6
I'd go with Iowa City, Grinnell, Boone (in that order).
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Post by Gumbyhawk on Mar 10, 2008 8:35:36 GMT -6
I've spent a lot of time in Grinnell.
It's "okay", but by no means the best town in the state.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 10, 2008 8:49:42 GMT -6
LeClaire is a pretty cool little Mississippi river town. They have an annual tug of war across the river with those Illinois homos.
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Post by NOTTHOR on Mar 10, 2008 8:51:46 GMT -6
1) Iowa City - not even close
2) Mount Joy
That's it.
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Post by Norm "racerhawk" Parker on Mar 10, 2008 9:40:07 GMT -6
1) Iowa City - not even close 2) Mount Joy That's it. Agreed. Mt. Joy! Mounds of joy, indeed. |
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Post by ignatiusreilly on Mar 10, 2008 10:59:04 GMT -6
I've only lived in 4 Iowa Cities:
Ottumwa
Cedar Rapids
Iowa City
Marion
I'd say your best small town is going to come from somewhere in the NE part of the state. Something situated close to a trout stream so growing up you could Opie Taylor your ass down to the fishing hole and catch rainbows for Aunt B to fry up. But then again a lot of people I talk to from those tiny NE towns say there ain't sh*t to do... and I'll buy that.
As far as the cities I've lived, here's how I'll rank them:
1. Marion
2. Cedar Rapids
3. Iowa City
... and at a distant
4. Ottumwa
And you might wonder how Iowa City can be ranked so low for a Hawkeye fan... well IC was great when I was in my early 20's. And it's still great now for going to Football/basketball games or just for getting out on the weekend. But IC also has extremely high rent and utility prices that are way over inflated. It's to take advantage of college kids and doctors have no trouble paying it. Also, half naked drunk girls are only mildly annoying due to their half nakedness, but drunken frat boys p*ss me off to no end sometimes. One of the reasons I quit partying there at around age 25 is because too often I'd end up slugging some drunk frat boy (hey, I'm no saint). That just spells trouble that I don't need.
Which brings me to numbers 1 and 2 on the list. Where's the best place to live and still be able to partake in the good things about Iowa City? Well it's 20 miles up the freeway in CR/Marion. Cedar Rapids smells funny. This morning it smelled like scones downtown, which is mildly pleasant. A lot of times it smells like Crunch berries or cocoa crispies. But sometimes it also smells like ass... a Cargill kind of smell. CR is a blue collar town. There aren't a lot of high-tech jobs here. But that's okay, because the more high-tech jobs you have the more urban sprawl that gets attracted, and I personally don't see that as a good thing. CR is just big enough to have all the urban sprawl crap of a big city (Best Buy, all the big hardware stores, chain restaurants you see in every city, etc), but it's not to the point of a city like Cleveland... or even Des Moines. There are still a lot of neighborhoods and if you look beyond the few people who think they're ever upper class high society (in Iowa... pfft), you'll find a small town blue collar feel. And if you're like me and like to get away to the countryside that can be easily done with the two big parks between IC and CR (coralville and mcBride), pleasant creek sp is about 15 minutes to the west. Backbone and all the iowa trout streams of NE Iowa begin only 30 miles north of Marion. Which is #1 on my list. I don't live there anymore, but I go there a lot. It's connected to CR. It basically has all the amenities available in CR, but only in a suburb feel, but not a suburb like you see outside a big city. It's an old town with a square. There's nothing overly nice about it. No uniform building designs or richly built houses (the nicest house are old restored victorians like you see in our best small Iowa towns). The #1 thing about Marion is the lack of crime. Everybody knows you don't committ crime in Marion. The cops are thick here. You don't even speed if you have half a brain. And if you've been drinking... you don't even think about crossing the border. You might think that sucks. But I get a nice peace of mind knowing that thieves and criminal shenanigans are a rarity in my neighborhood.
So I choose this area of the state because of its proximity to things that I love. Personally a little plot of land NE of Marion in the country would be my ideal place to live. Close to Iowa City, close to a little commercial urban sprawl that can come in handy for food/shopping/entertainment, close to the mississippi river, close to NE Iowa (the best part of the state).
The other choice people might make is West Des Moines. I was there on Saturday. It is really growing. They are throwing up buildings left and right. Nice buildings (if you're into buildings). Personally I don't like too many buildings. I will say that there is a lot of money being invested into that town. The things that don't appeal to me about Des Moines are that it is just too big for my small town Iowa tastes. And it's not really located in a good spot. It's situated in the middle of two of the flatest, most boring stretches of I-35 and I-80. But that's where the jobs are, but the jobs make the city and with more jobs it will just get bigger. If the money was right, I'd move there for a while, but I don't think I'd be happy being so far from the trout streams, Iowa City and all the other good stuff the eastern part of the state has to offer.
Dubuque, Davenport, Clinton, Burlington... they all appeal to me because they are old river towns and I'm from an old river town (Ottumwa), but they just don't make the grade. I don't know Western Iowa too well or even places around Okoboji, so I can't comment on that. But being that close to Nebraska can't be a good thing. I imagine western iowa is pretty flat and featureless like Nebraska.
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Post by Solar Stud on Mar 11, 2008 5:39:40 GMT -6
I'll give some love to Decorah.
Great small town, Luther college, vibrant downtown, good sports history, located in the most beautiful part of the state.
Nice place.
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Post by Hawkeyes1982 on Mar 11, 2008 7:49:36 GMT -6
only thing i'd change about Marion is the police, those cops will pull you over if your going 2 MPH over. I had window tint in my car and it was illegal, they made me strip it off right on spot on the side of the road. Talk about bullshit.
Now for the towns I like..
Iowa City
Solon
Cedar Rapids is ok
Marion- besides the cop factor
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