Midwest & Philly

I win the award for taking the longest amount of time between blog posts! My blogging is near its end my friends and fellow blog readers, thanks for staying with me through it all. Let's get to it. After I left Badlands I was on my way to Iowa City and after spending the last few weeks in tiny western towns, I was ready to stay in a place that had "city" in its title. Driving from South Dakota to Iowa City was mostly hours and hours and hundreds of miles through flat corn field terrain. I did pass by the exit for Corn Palace which is apparently quite the attraction and one that was advertised throughout most of my morning on the road. Sad to say, I didn't stop because I wasn't sure how far away the Corn Palace actually was from the highway. Knowing that I had many more hours to go and corn to see through my car window, I decided against it, but I still slightly regret that decision. Driving through this part of the country you can see the sky for miles, without too many unobtrusive views. There are the occasional spam of religious billboards but that just makes it more interesting. Iowa City is a quaint mid-Western college town that is home to the University of Iowa and was awarded by UNESCO as being named the only City of Literature. Being an avid reader myself, I thought this was quite cool. I had some great and cheap (love those mid-Western prices!) food while I visited and got a feel for what college life must be like here.

After my time in Iowa City I wanted to continue my grand tour of mid-Western college towns and stayed in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a day. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan and is double the size of Iowa City. Ann Arbor has a lively and fun downtown which reminded me of some smaller New England cities. I enjoyed going to the farmers market, walking around University of Michigan's campus and exploring their city. I also had some delicious food while I was visiting, I especially enjoyed Hut K Chaats which serves health conscience Indian street food. The chef and owner, Dr. Mahaveer Swaroop Bhojani was a researcher of radiation oncology at U of Michigan but decided to leave to embark on creating healthier Indian food for Ann Arbor. Pretty awesome! After I left Ann Arbor I drove to Columbus, Ohio to stay with a close friend Abby from grad school. Abby gave me a great walking tour of the city, which is the largest in Ohio and is home to Ohio State University. Columbus is super friendly, has delicious food with young and hip neighborhoods. In a artsy locally made store, I found a Breaking Bad Heisenberg bowtie that I got for my brother and that definitely raised the Columbus bar!

After I left my friend and ate my weight in all kinds of delicious food, I was on my way to my last stop on my trip: Philadelphia. Philly is a city I've been wanting to visit forever. I was able to stay in a beautiful part of the city, with a good friend's sister and her boyfriend. I had one full day to explore and boy, did I. The humidity seemed to follow me from the west coast and it was a pretty sticky day but I didn't let that deter me.  I went to see all the historical highlights like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed), and ate the most delicious steak and cheese of my life at Jim's Steaks. I loved walking along the old Georgian style homes in downtown, exploring and getting lost in artist Isaiah Zagar's Magic Gardens, finding the LOVE statue,  and the highlight was going to The Barnes Foundation which is an impressionist art lovers dream. It was so nice to finally meet you Philly and I can't wait to go back!

Magic Gardens