Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

I don’t know his name, but everyone in Iowa has heard his voice. As the YouTube ad above shows, the man who does the voiceovers for Adventureland’s radio and TV ads has been doing it for a long time. Last … Continue reading →

While going through one of my piles of mail*, I leafed through the Iowa 4-H Foundation’s summer newsletter. It was there that I found out — and this still may be news, considering the only external coverage was a blurb … Continue reading →

This kind of snuck up on me (and perhaps others) in a pair of trips to different Fareway locations recently: I knew the Boone-based grocery store chain is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, but didn’t know that the “Economical … Continue reading →

You’d think there would be some code in GPSs and online direction programs like Apple/Google Maps to override a “shortest possible” path to stay on a highway, or at least a gravel road. All roads aren’t equal, even when they … Continue reading →

Sioux City Journal: Woman makes tables shaped like states So far, Sturgis has made maps in the shape of the United States, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Which states she makes depends on which states customers order. Iowa’s state shape … Continue reading →

April 2, 2018: The Younkers at Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids remained after all the interior of the mall was demolished. That’s when the “Open During Construction” banner was put up. Off camera, across Williams Boulevard, is a Toys “R” … Continue reading →

The number of my former co-workers who remain at The Des Moines Register has taken a hit this year. No fewer than four (that I know of) have checked out in six weeks. That includes columnist Kyle Munson, whose last … Continue reading →

When Mother Nature gets off the sauce, or as tired of winter as we are, but not without 3 to 4 inches of snow first. Exactly five years ago, it was the other way around.

April 1, 2018: Through the window on the first floor of Sears at Waterloo’s Crossroads Mall. The new Sears Roebuck Department Store, twice as big as the old and sparkling with the innovations of a “more modern and fashionable” head … Continue reading →

July 23, 2015: When RAGBRAI had a noon stop in Vinton, the south-side front door of the courthouse was open. A procedure once reserved for only the biggest county courthouses in Iowa is trickling down to at least one more. … Continue reading →