I-OWE-A An Apology

A few months ago I wrote about how my brother Broccoli was moving to Iowa for some on the job training. It seems (as I often do) I may have put my foot in my mouth and said some negative things about the state. I don’t want to go into all the details, but I may have referred to it as the “nothing” state. Recently it has come to my attention that I may have hurt the feelings of a few readers who shall remain nameless (it was Erin) and since this person (and Broccoli) took the time to create a fantastic Christmas gift for me I figured I-OWE-A an apology.

So here it goes:

50 Fast Facts about Iowa
**Ripley's Believe It or Not has dubbed Burlington's Snake Alley the most crooked street in the world.
**Strawberry Point is the home of the world's largest strawberry.
**The state's smallest city park is situated in the middle of the road in Hiteman.
**Scranton is home to Iowa's oldest water tower still in service.
**Dubuque is the state's oldest city.
**Crystal Lake is home to a statue of the world's largest bullhead fish.
**Rathbun Dam and Reservoir is the largest body of water in the state.
**Spirit Lake is the largest glacier-made lake in the state.
**West Okoboji is the deepest natural lake in the state. Its depth is 136 feet.
**Imes Bridge is the oldest of Madison County's six bridges.
**Iowa's longest and highest bridge crosses Lake Red Rock.
**Elk Horn in the largest Danish settlement in the United States.
**At 16 miles, East Okoboji is the longest natural lake in the state.
**Kalona is the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi River.
**The state's lowest elevation point (at 480 feet) is in Lee County.
**The Holliwell Bridge is the longest bridge in Madison County.
**Francis Drake was 66 years old at his inauguration and Iowa's oldest governor.
**Iowa's oldest continually running theater is in Story City.
**The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses the largest collection of Grant Wood artwork.
**Fenlon Place Elevator in Dubuque is the world's steepest and shortest railway.
**Wright County has the highest percentage of grade-A topsoil in the nation.
**Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids, is the largest cereal company in the world.
**The Saint Francis Xavier Basilica in Dyersville is the only basilica in the United States situated outside a major metropolitan area.
**Clarion is the only county seat in the exact center of the county.
**Dubuque is home to the only county courthouse with a gold dome.
**Cornell College is the only school in the nation to have its entire campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
**The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City honors the only man to die during the Lewis and Clark expedition.
**Maynard Reece is the only artist to win the Federal Duck Stamp competition five times.
**A bronze life-sized sculpture of a Norwegian immigrant family (circa 1860) is located on a six acre restored prairie site located at the east entry to Lake Mills on Highway 105.
**Iowa's only operating antique carousel is located in the city of Story City.
**Knoxville's National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum is the only museum in the country dedicated to preserving the history of sprint car racing.
**Iowa's only fire tower is situated in Yellow River State Forest.
**Sabula is Iowa's only town on an island.
**Herbert Hoover, a West Branch native, was the 31st president of the United States and the first one born west of the Mississippi.
**Mamie Doud Eisenhower's birthplace is located in Boone and includes a restored frame house, complete with summer kitchen and original furniture from the family.
**Van Meter is the hometown of baseball's Bob Feller, an Iowa farm boy who went on to greatness with the Cleveland Indians during the Golden Age of baseball.
**Born Donnabelle Mullenger in Denison, Oscar Award-winning actress, Donna Reed, started her career at the young age of 16.
**Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, John Wayne was the son of a pharmacist and grew up to become one of Hollywood's most popular movie stars.
**Meredith Willson, who played with the famous John Philip Sousa and the New York Philharmonic before launching his career as a famous composer and lyricist, is a Mason City native.
**Glenn Miller, noted trombonist and orchestra leader, was born in Clarinda located in Southwest Iowa.
**The town of Fort Atkinson was the site of the only fort ever built by the U.S. government to protect one Indian tribe from another.
**Campers and motor homes are manufactured in Winnebago County. They're called Winnebago's.
**Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are 100% formed by water.Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
**The highest double track railroad bridge in the world, the Kate Shelley Bridge, is located at Boone.
**Iowa is the only state name that starts with two vowels.
**The famous actor John Wayne was born in Winterset on May 26, 1907.
**Iowa State University is the oldest land grant college in the U.S.A.
**Decorah hosts Nordic Fest a three-day celebration of Decorah's Scandinavian heritage.
**The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of ballooning history.
**Sheldon High School Summer Theatre, the only high school repertory in Iowa and one of just a few in the nation presents a different play for each week in June and July

There I hope you can forgive me. I also hope you think I really read any of them cause I just copied and pasted them from another website and have no clue what they are about.