Iowa City/Coralville, Iowa

[johnnYYac]

Tell me what you know...

[ericm]

The Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team is always one of the best in th country, and is pretty much equal to Iowa City as what Penn St. Football is to Happy Valley. 

That's all I got. Well that, and it's not exactly a hotbed for concerts. 

[Crispy]

What is this about? About all I can tell you is that my town, Stillwater, Oklahoma, is almost the counterpart to Iowa City in terms of college wrestling (wrasslin'), except we're better because we have the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (which I have never set foot in, after 18 years here), and like 40 national championships. And yeah, no concerts.

[johnnYYac]

Wife job possibility.

[Crispy]

Hoo boy, man, you may be heading to a worse concert desert than the one I live in, as you would be going to Des Moines (at best) or Chicago to see notable acts. Although you'd likely get some good college and local stuff. I imagine the worst part would be the culture shock. You ever lived anywhere west of the Appalachians?

[mjk73]

It's about a 3 hour drive to Chicago from there. That's a plus.

[johnnYYac]

My wife is very unhappy with her job.  We're currently about an hour from my mom, my dad, my brother, and my sister, plus their assorted spouses, etc.

My wife's family is in the Plainfield/Bolingbrook, Naperville region of Illinois.

She has found a job of interest in Coralville, Iowa, about 3 hours from Plainfield, IL.

After 10 years in New Hampshire, its only fair to move closer to her family's neck of the woods.  I'm up for anything, and a college town has some perks.  Some midwester peeps would suddenly see me a bit more often, I suppose.

Its all early-stage conjecture. 

Thanks for the info and insight.  Keep it coming.

[johnnYYac]

Fuck, some of these states are fucking HUGE!  12 hours to Red Rocks!  7 hours to Louisville!  9 hours to Stillwater (so you're safe, Crispy). 

[manonthemoon]

Been to Iowa once, for a Dan Gable Wrestling Camp in the late 90's and all I can say is it is flat.  And of course there were a series of tornados that touched down <5 miles from us when were making our way out there. 

[Hawkeye]

Yac, you're speaking my language now.  I'm from the Dubuque, IA area...about 1.5 hrs from Iowa City.  Hmm, what can I tell you...I really haven't "hung out" in Iowa City a WHOLE lot, but I do know a few things, and feel free to ask me more as needed.  I have friends that live there, and I can certainly find out for ya! 

1) John's Grocery in Iowa City has one of the best beer selections I've ever seen...and I now live in Asheville, supposedly "Beer City USA."  Good food selection there too.
2) I've seen a few good shows in IA City...Dan Deacon comes to mind at the moment, but there were a few more.  Also the Quad Cities (IA/IL) are only an hour or so away...that area has a combined population of at least a couple hundred thousand.  They have concerts there, though not sure how many are that great.  I did see the Black Crowes and Umphrey's McGee there.
3) Hawkeye sports are HUGE in IA City...wrestling, football, basketball particularly.  Tailgating for Hawkeye football games is a lot of fun, or at least it used to be.  I've heard they've cracked down on public drinking quite a bit, but it used to be a free-for-all!  Pretty much anything goes.  I saw a 30 person beer-bong.
4) LOTS of bars.  It is a college town.
5) IMO, people in Iowa are EXTREMELY friendly and helpful, particularly in the smaller towns.  Living in Asheville now, people are friendly, but tend to keep to themselves a bit.  Iowa people (again, particularly small town), seem to actively seek others to hang out with...probably because there's not a lot to do, lol.  Great place to raise a family, as crime rate is typically very low.

Don't count out some of the smaller IA towns as far as other "metro areas" to visit.  Cedar Rapids, Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Quad Cities are all worthwhile areas to visit.  There is even skiing in Dubuque...albeit not great, but hey, you can ski in Iowa!  Also Madison, WI is not that far away, probably 3 hours.

It is fairly flat the further west you go in Iowa...if you get around the Mississippi River it gets hillier.  Some areas have huge "bluffs" overlooking the river..."almost" mountainous in some cases.

Sometimes I wish my wife were more receptive to moving back to Iowa, but I like Asheville too...we'll see!  Let me know if you have any more questions, I've gotta be more familiar with Iowa/that area than almost anyone on here.

[Penny Lane]

i've heard great things about Iowa City and I can't find the article, but a while back i read some rankings thing where they were one of the up and coming hippest cities..with one of the highest quality of life rankings..(or i saw something on 60 min, etc)

it wasn't this, but here..

http://thegazette.com/2012/08/23/cnn-money-iowa-city-and-cedar-rapids-among-the-nations-best-places-to-live/

[pawpaw]

Some areas have huge "bluffs" overlooking the river..."almost" mountainous in some cases.

I liked this part!

I'd imagine that Iowa City is a nice place to live, for a lot of the reasons that Hawkeye has given, most of all the good people.

Good luck with everything, JY!

[walterfredo]

my sister lives in Des Moines.  It's a nice place to visit, but....

[capt. scotty]

The only time I was in Iowa City, Jim James decided to fall off stage during my first Jacket show, so Im not too keen on that town.

I lived in the Quad Cities (Davenport, IA) for 6 months for school and either it or Altoona, PA is the worst place Ive ever lived. The best thing about it was probably the 5 cents refunds for bottles and cans. Daytrotter is based there so maybe there's something you could do with them.

But hey, happy wife, happy life so good luck if you move out to the flats!

[mjk73]

And there is no reason to go to Omaha, ever. Trust me on this one. Go to Chicago or Minneapolis for visits instead.