Des Moines
The last few days have been stereotypical for February in Iowa. Those of you who have never visited. . .it's exactly what you're imagining. Snow. About 6 inches of it and since it's been a couple of days since it fell, it is a dingy brownish black along the sides of the streets and driveways. I about killed myself shoveling Tuesday. I believe there is an age limit on shoveling and it's something like 30. I actually had to sit for about 1/2 hour to catch my breath after doing my driveway and the long stretch of sidewalk behind my house. The fact that when I was shoveling the temperature was right at 0 degrees made it worse for sure. So there ya have it. Winter in Iowa is about a week of below 0 weather followed by a warm-up of a few days into the 30's or even 40's which is promptly followed by another snowfall. And then the cycle repeats, for about 3 months.
All of this might make you think I hate Iowa but quite the opposite is true. At least we don't get the amount of snow the people in Ohio and New York are getting. We are always a couple of degrees warmer than Chicago and Minneapolis. We don't have earthquakes, forest fires or hurricanes. There is the occasional tornado but there is an old Native American legend that Des Moines itself will never be hit because 2 rivers cross here. As far as I know, Des Moines has never had a real tornado hit although a few of the 'burbs definitely have but before I lived here.
Overall, Des Moines really doesn't suck as much as some outsiders believe. We have several Starbucks. The members of Slipknot all still live here. (Personally I'm not a fan but am strangely proud they are from Des Moines). The McCaughey septuplets are here too for whatever that is worth. Compared to the rest of Iowa there is an incredible amount of diversity--racially, socially, economically, religiously, etc. I spent the first few years that I was here wanting to get out, but the city has grown on me and when I think of where else I'd like to live the list is short.
