Random Iowa

A quick programming note, there will be no updates this weekend. Thanks for your understanding and we look forward to taking you to more random Iowa places in the near future!

Here are this week's pictures from a sunny and windy Stratford, Iowa! It was great to see several references to their famous namesake in the United Kingdom (not one I called out in the original post of course!), Stratford-upon-Avon, including a Tudorbethan style Library and the main street through downtown being called Shakespeare Avenue. 14 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with three added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Stratford, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Stratford, Iowa article on Wikipedia

For tomorrow's trip we will be heading to Stratford, Iowa ! This city of around 750 in central Iowa shares it's name with several other locations in the United States, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, as well as the area of London which will play host to the 2012 Summer Olympics! View Larger Map Stratford Shopping Centre. Source: Commons / Pedleysd What sights do you think we should look to document in Stratford? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links Stratford, Iowa website Wikipedia article for Stratford, Iowa (as it stands today)

Another week and another set of photos from a random Iowa city! This past Sunday we headed out to Oxford in eastern Iowa. Given Iowa's reputation for being flat I'm always pleasantly surprised to see how rolling that part of the state is when driving around No Rocky Mountains by any means, but still a nice change! Unfortunately our pictures did not turn out the best, which I attribute to a combination of the gloomy weather and windy conditions (hopefully you've seen by now that we can do better! :-)) but we were able to capture most of the major locations in town, including a neat view of the entire town as you drive to it from Interstate 80. 11 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Oxford, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Oxford, Iowa article on Wikipedia

This Easter Sunday we are heading to the community of Oxford, Iowa ! This city of around 700 people in Eastern Iowa shares it's name with the famous university city in the United Kingdom, along with towns in Canada, New Zealand and several other US states. The Iowa version of Oxford is notable in it's own right however, having been the focus of "The Oxford Project", a book combining photos of residents taken 20 years apart with their stories about life in a small town. View Larger Map Oxford University. Source: Commons / Wallace Wong What sights do you think we should look to document in Oxford? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links The Oxford Project Wikipedia article for Oxford, Iowa (as it stands today)

Due to a combination of bad weather and illness we did not venture outside today. To make up for that, here are photos from our visit to Rhodes, Iowa , a city of approximately 300 people in central Iowa. Sharing it's name with a Greek island in the Aegean sea , Rhodes was an extra stop back in February after visiting Melbourne. Cold yet sunny, we were able to get a few great pictures. Particular highlights included a tank (not sure if it was real life or replica!) next to the city park and a still standing (just!) hall for Eden Township from 1899 (Rhodes used to be called Edenville) 7 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with three added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Rhodes, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Rhodes, Iowa article on Wikipedia before Rhodes, Iowa article on Wikipedia after