Road Trip Diaries Day 9: Iowa's Coolest City

     When we finally got to Iowa after our twelve hour trip, we spent our night getting a little drunk off wine and whiskey with our friend Katie and her roommate Katy. It's tempting to call them "the Katies" or something like that, but as they discussed, pluralizing names that are spelled differently is quite a challenge, so I will refrain. Anyway, today was laid-back and full of shopping, much as Iowa City is.

In A Nutshell: Overview of Day 9
Route: Ha! We didn't have to drive anywhere today!
Miles traveled: We walked a few, but that's it.
Hours in car: None! Isn't it glorious!
Coffee consumed: Caitlin: 1 cup today, 11 total. Cortney: 0 today, 5 total. Combined: 16.

This was my lunch. 

Food highlight of the day: White-chocolate strawberry cupcake from Fair Grounds Cafe. It is a very vegan-friendly coffee shop and cafe, with a full food menu and a plethora of desserts :-) The place also has plenty of tables and chairs for working at laptops or chatting with friends, which is what I spent a lovely few hours doing.

The front room at Fair Grounds.
There is also a back room. 

Quote of the day: Random fortyish man in bar to girls in bathroom line: "Does anybody here no who Walter David Thoreau is?"
Girl 1: *shrugs*
Katy: "The writer?"
Random Man: "Well you're on the right track."
Cortney: "Yeah, he wrote Walden."
R.M: *throws hands in the air exaggeratedly* "Ah! At last! There is hope for the world!" *proceeds to complain about how his friends are shallow and uneducated*

Seriously, man? You're trying way too hard to be smart. And all of the women in that line were preoccupied with the fact they had to pee.

Iowa City: Outpost of Civilization
     After driving across so much of the wild west, where people ride motorcycles without helmets, speed limits weren't introduced until 2005, and fireworks could probably blow your house up, Iowa provides a stark contrast. Upon crossing the Iowa border, the speed limit drops (Caitlin and I had gotten very used to 75 mph speed limits), the roads get better, there are actually cops to pull people over, and in Iowa City, there is a determination to be lawful, liberal, and hip. It seems as though Iowans have made it the mission of their state to welcome people back to civilization- the be the frontier of the East Coast, in a way.
     When Katie announced that she was moving from California to Iowa City to start her engineering PhD (my friends are all smarter than me, I'll admit it), she kept insisting to the nonbelievers that it was actually a pretty cool place. And it is! As I delightfully updated my Facebook for the first time in a while, I believe I called it "an oasis of vegan food and WiFi."

Part of the main shopping district

     Iowa City is home to the University of Iowa, a huge and excellent university where both of my parents actually did their medical residencies. It therefore has both excellent hospitals, and a large and diverse student population. Along with students come coffee shops, used bookstores, vintage clothing, and a lot of cool things within walking or biking distance- you know, all the things that make a place hip. Katie, Katy, Caitlin and I (*sigh* I was the only non-Katie/Katy/Caity) spent our day ambling around the cute pedestrianized downtown area, buying vintage clothes we didn't need and admiring the beautifully painted benches that decorate the broad brick walk.

Of course we couldn't resist Revival, a cute little shop that must have come into being when a ladies' boutique and a thrift store fell in love and made beautiful, stylish babies. Shame on me, I bought more clothes when I barely have enough money to feed myself for the rest of the trip. But the prices were so good! Surely I couldn't pass them up!

Next door to Revival is an equally cute little shop called Soap Opera, a shamelessly adorable shop that sells pretty smelling things. Imagine if Bath & Body works used all natural ingredients and sold handmade items instead of mass produced ones. You can find a soap in any delightful-smelling variety, and not be too concerned that the wonderful smells come from artificial chemicals. We had to leave this place before we really did spend all our money.
     To those who do not enjoy reading of girly shopping adventures, my apologies, but perhaps you'll be relieved that our next stop was a place called The Haunted Bookshop. I did not ask the story behind the name, but this little converted house filled to the brim with books definitely seems old and interesting enough to be haunted. I spent perhaps half an hour at at a small round table reading a book from the perspective of Jack Kerouac's first wife, Edie Parker. My inner Beat Generation nerd was so happy. Iowa City students, hipsters, and booklovers- thank you.
     So, Iowa City is hip enough to feed vegans and interest Beat nerds. But it also has a certain venerability to it. The vibe is very different from a coastal city- the brick buildings remind me of gentrified country living, and the air is heavy with humidity and the sound of cicadas. It does not have the bustle and grit of a city like Portland, but rather has the grace and style of a place like Virginia. I feel like Thomas Jefferson or somebody of the sort could live here. Iowa City is trendy and fun, but without the edge that comes with being in a larger city or on the coast. Perhaps the heat and humidity slow it down a little, give it a slight midwestern drawl and even a dash of Southern charm that floated northward.
     I'm both happy and amused to see how well Katie fits in here. She's always had family in Iowa, and I can tell the place suits her. She even has an Iowa accent now. Funny to see where people end up- how being born somewhere doesn't necessarily mean that that is the best place for you. We can adopt the personality of the places we go. It's why some people love San Francisco and some people hate it. Why some people dream of New York while others dream of a place in the country. And why I now have a friend I think of more as Iowan than Californian, even though we grew up in the same town. Best of luck with the PhD, Katie, and happy shopping!