Random Iowa

Another Sunday and another Iowa city as we took a tour of Madrid! The second biggest city we have visited so far required a little more time than usual in order to locate everything (some might say due to lack of preparation on my part!) but was still good fun, helped by the much improved weather from Saturday. Items of note included the centennial time capsule buried in front of City Hall (here's hoping I'm still alive in 2083 to see it dug up!), a tribute to the city's coal mining history, and an incredible Hindu temple along Highway 17. 9 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with three added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Madrid, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Madrid, Iowa article on Wikipedia

For today's trip we will be heading to the community of Madrid, Iowa ! This city of 2,264 (as of 2000) in central Iowa shares it's name with the capital and largest city of Spain! View Larger Map Flag of Madrid, Spain. Source: Commons / Valadrem One interesting note is that while the name appears the same the pronunciation is different, "MAD-rid" as opposed to "Mah-drid". This also applies to several other Madrid's in the Unites States. The Iowa Arboretum is located in Madrid, and we are looking forward to seeing what else is there to capture! What sights do you think we should look to document in Madrid? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links Wikipedia article for Madrid, Iowa (as it stands today)

After a busy week in real life I'm finally able to blog about our experiences in Sheffield! Having gone into this not knowing what to expect (Google Maps and Live Search were no help) we came away with a great impression of Sheffield, which seems like a very neat city. In particular I noted the striking military memorial, along with the preservation of historic city hall and fire station buildings downtown as private offices. It also appeared to photograph well, as we had the most pictures of any city so far to upload. The only real downside was the gloomy weather! 15 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Sheffield, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Sheffield, Iowa article on Wikipedia

For this week we will be heading to northern Iowa, and specifically the city of Sheffield ! With around 1,000 inhabitants and founded in 1855, Sheffield shares it's name with a city in northern England famous for its past as a steel producer and also home to the world's oldest football (soccer) club, Sheffield F.C. This amateur team was founded in 1857 and in 2007 played Italian professional side Inter Milan as part of their 150th anniversary celebrations in a match attended by none other than Pelé! View Larger Map Source: Commons / johnthescone The Iowa Sheffield however is believed to be named after a long time friend of the founder, as per the very neat city website. What sights do you think we should look to document in Sheffield? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links Wikipedia article for Sheffield, Iowa (as it stands today) City of Sheffield, Iowa website Wikipedia article for Sheffield F.C.

With the signs of winter fading (although both of us thought it felt more like fall than spring) this past Sunday we took a drive to Truro, Iowa. Truro is home to the Interstate 35 Schools, catering to students from the surrounding area, and there was ample evidence as we arrived that we were entering "Roadrunner country"! 7 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Truro, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Truro, Iowa article on Wikipedia