Iowa Girl on the Go

When I hit the “publish” button on my most recent blog, I was surprised to learn that it was my 100^th blog post. So then I figured this was a good excuse to talk about some random stuff.

Random note No. 1: I’m shocked by the fact that three people have contacted me wanting to use photos from my blog. I am not a professional photographer, so I didn’t expect this. The first one was a request was from a young woman named Traci from New Orleans who wanted to give her fiancé a print of the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island for a wedding gift. She said, “I tracked you down from the information on your blog – the power of the Internet is amazing (and scary!), isn’t it. I have been searching and searching for a black and white photograph of the Cyclone Rollercoaster at Coney Island when I finally stumbled upon yours. It is by far the best I’ve found – and I’ve done a lot of looking!” Of course, I immediately sent her a high-res file so she could print it for her sweetie. That experience made me smile for a week!

The second person was the special sections editor from the Cedar Rapid Gazette wanting to use my photos from Kalona, Iowa. And the third request was just this week from a woman who works for the Department of Cultural Affairs wanting to use my photo of the High Trestle Trail bridge at sunset for the cover of one of their publications. Well, sure! I’m happy to oblige.

Random note No. 2: This one is called “why I’m such a slacker.” If you’re a regular reader, I hope you’ve noticed that I’ve become a very lazy Iowa Girl blogger. I’m attributing it to my extra workload at the office. I’m traveling to all 50 states to do stories on Iowa State alumni. While in a way that gives me lots of fun things to write about, it has also kept me from doing “regular” Iowa Girl stuff. Because when I’m not on the road, I’m catching up on work, writing stories and editing photos from the last trip, planning the next trip, etc. I knew when I started this project that I’d be working nights and weekends to keep my head above water – and that I also would not be able to trot around the state doing fun Iowa Girl stories. I mean, something’s gotta give. So bear with me.