Did you know there there is a fossil park nearby? You don’t have to wander out to Colorado’s dinosaur park to see fossils, they are right in Iowa at the Devonian Fossil Gorge. This gorge was created by flooding in 1993 and was expanded by the floods of 2008. The flooding washed away soil, trees and roads to reveal a 375 million year old fossilized ocean floor. You can start at the park entrance and walk around with thousands of fossils at your feet.

For another great nature setting visit the Gazebo on the Green. Iowa City is lucky to have such a large botanical garden outside of a large metropolitan area. There are fifteen formal themed gardens with a 22 acre prairie. The variety of gardens are Crabapple Alee Garden, Grove Garden, English Perennial with a gazebo, French Allee, Moon Garden with all white flowers, Arbor Garden with a sixty five foot arbor, Water Garden, Rose Garden, Perennial Cutting Garden, Southern Courtyard Garden, Herb Garden, Grass Garden, Cottage Garden with charming English country cottage and the Le Grande Finale Garden. Take a break for tea time with three different teas at morning, lunch and candlelight. A beautiful location for wedding, portrait and nature shots.

Another great nature photography location is Coralville Lake with bald eagles spending their winters by the lake. January and February are the best months to go with lots of eagles roosting in trees. Last year 30 bald eagles were counted just below the dam at Coralville Lake. The best way to see or captures the eagles on film is to sit in your car below the dam with field glasses, binoculars or a good zoom lens. The eagles will generally just sit in the trees but every once in a while one will swoop down to the water with talons extended and catch a fish. That is a sight well worth the wait. Other great eagle watching locations nearby are River Junction Access and by the Iowa River Power restaurant in Coralville.

Take a look at the bald eagles in a warm car from Billion Auto. They are the Iowa City Honda dealer for the Eastern Iowa region.

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The Cyclones nickname first came about in 1895, after Iowa State routed Northwestern 36-0, to which a Chicago Tribune reporter remarked that Northwestern would’ve had more success playing against a tornado. Iowa State immediately adopted the name, which was also fitting given the area’s propensity for tornadoes, and created Cy the Cardinal to be their mascot. Their logo has undergone several revisions, with the most recent version of a graphically intensive and busy logo of a half-cardinal, half-tornado, a style of logo popular in the 1990’s, being scrapped in favour of a more distinguished logo featuring a capital I superimposed over the word State, in a new font type the school is calling cyclone.

During a men’s football game at Jack Trice Stadium in 2005, Cy the Cardinal famously took a backseat as the team’s mascot when a real tornado touched down in Ames, Iowa, very near to the stadium. Fans were evacuated to the parking lot or the nearby Hilton Coliseum until the danger had passed. Iowa State would use that as motivation is the game, as they would upset the favoured Colorado Buffaloes 30-16.

Iowa State competes against Kansas State, the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska, Baylor University, Oklahoma State, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Texas. Iowa has won 14 conference championships over the years, but none in more than a dozen years, as the school has slashed funding to its sports programs.

Iowa State has few major rivalries, with the most notable being their clashes with the University of Iowa, in which the Cy-Hawk Trophy is put up for grabs. The trophy features both schools mascots, Cy the Cardinal, and Herky the Kawkeye, emblazoned on the front of the trophy, with a football player running with a ball atop it, much like the Heisman Trophy.

One sport where Iowa State receives national attention is their wrestling program, which has won 8 national titles, and produced a number of world class wrestlers and Olympians. Most recently, Cael Sanderson, the current head coach of the Iowa State wrestling program, won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens following a four year collegiate wrestling stint in which he went undefeated with a record of 159-0. Cael has led the current program to three straight conference titles, and a 2nd place finish nationally in 2007.

Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school football coach of 25 years. His love of the game of football is reflected in his words and memories of growing up in the South and playing football in the back yard with his brother, cousins and neighborhood friends. His biggest thrill is watching former high school players he has coached play at the college level. His favorite pastime is watching college football on tv and attending the games in person every chance he gets. Freddie Brister is ah big fan of Iowa State and college football. Check out his Iowa State Watch or his Alabama Belt.

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