City Lifestyles
Posted by CityBlogIA on May 28th, 2007
What are the lifestyle opportunities in and around Mason City, Iowa. Are there hiking clubs, biking trails, civic clubs, golf clubs, local arts and theater, lakes, streams, fishing, boating, camping or other types of lifestyle opportunities?
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Hello Friends,
Many of you may have seen the flooding in Iowa on the news recently. There were tornados and the flooding had just started while I was there for a visit. It was difficult to see how many people are impacted.
There is a lot of talk about “midwestern values” in our current presidential race. Every region has wonderful people. The midwestern people do treat others fairly with an openness that is rare these days. People still exchange phone numbers before email addresses. When I was in the grocery store a farmer gave the woman ahead of him in line $2.00 to pay for her groceries rather than see her pass on an item. She refused the money and he insisted and said, “Pass it on”.
My theory is that the need to survive harsh winters and settle in new areas originally made the residents of this region reach out to neighborhood farms. Everyone pitches in. California suburbs are more about privacy. There is a tendency to come home to a gated community, close our garage doors and live private lives. Community is something to work at. Downtown San Diego has it. You know your neighbors because you are out among them daily at various watering holes such as our 24 hour grocery store. Iowa may not stay up all night but the communication light is on.
On of my favorite places to eat in Iowa is called “Pies ‘N More” in Mason City. They do not have a website. They exist as businesses always have - by word of mouth. It is a local diner inside of a modest shopping center. People flock there for lunch and of course homemade pie. Instead of a counter, they have a “community table”. It seats eight people. The conversation at the community table would be an interesting segment for the CBS Sunday Morning program. The local people talk about everything.
This visit the main topics were the tornado season, the tomato crop, California and economics. The changing climate is a constant concern in a farming community. California came up because of my visit. One of the women at the table enjoys going to Sea World with her brother and his family. They live in Mission Beach.
Everyone else had questions about how expensive is life in California. Is it nicer to live there than in Iowa? Is it always warm? The cost of living in California was a surprise to some people at the table. Regardless given the opportunity they all wanted to visit during the winter to escape the grey winter skies of Iowa. None of them plan to move outside of Iowa.
Gas prices were another big topic. Gas was $3.69. That has been tough to swallow. Gas is another dollar higher and climbing in California. The people in Mason City have taken to carpooling. This is a big life style change. One young nurse told me, “We have to do it”. Together they will work together and survive the weather and the gas prices.
Interestingly no one was that interested in the presidential election. I asked. They do like the references to Obama’s midwestern values. I was told, “They have already been here” and that was that. The people of Iowa are more concerned with daily expenses and sticking together. It seems that our economy has bought us an early and a long winter…
Cheers,
Colleen K. Cotter
Cotter & Associates
Keller Williams Realty
www.mySanDiegoAgent.com
Auction Properties to consider:
1. Bridlewood community in Poway 92064, 3/2 1867 sq ft. Opening bid set at $353,000 valued at 800k. Plan on this one having competing bidders but the property is still a great deal up to 600k, maybe even higher. The current owner owns a pool and spa company and put in a 50,000 gallon salt water pool with beach style entrance, waterfalls, hot tubs, etc.. Extremely nice house.
2. La Mesa/Mt. Helix area, 5/4 3980 sq ft, Opening bid already set at $545,000 valued at 850,000. Home is in an brand new development and looks like it’s never been lived in.