It's a beautiful day for a drive.

The naysayers who claim Iowa is an ugly, boring (flat) place have not driven through the Loess Hills of western Iowa. My fellow med student friend Natalie and I took off for a 100+ mile drive along the scenic byway this afternoon, passing wooded fields, tiny ponds tucked in to hillsides, old barns of various colors, farmers harvesting, herds of Red Angus cattle, and flocks of goats and sheep. We stopped at a tiny state park where the Mormons supposedly camped on their trek out west, and we even passed a wedding taking place at a scenic overlook in the Loess Hills State Forest ... twice.

But perhaps the most amusing was to see claims to fame small Iowa towns make on tiny billboards as you enter the city limits. Take for instance Onawa, Iowa, which claims to have the "widest main street in the USA." Out of curiosity, who measures and verifies these things? It was indeed wide, but I'm not certain I would go so far as to erect a sign. I am sure that some gift shop was selling t-shirts or even patches with this title, but we didn't wander around long enough to find such a store. Nonetheless, it was a sunny, 80+ degree October day ... a beautiful day for a drive.