"James in Ames" a Ames Travel Page by jpaustin

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Ames is home to me for now because I'm a graduate student in Creative Writing and English at Iowa State University. I'm also a freshman English instructor (something which should have its own home page). Ames is located about half an hour north of Des Moines on I-35 and has a population of about 50,000 (not counting the university, which populates around 26,000). Not a flashy town, to be sure--it features the normal amount of franchise restaurants, movie theatres and the like. One curious fact: unlike most cities and towns I've been to, Ames simply ceases to exist once you reach the city limits. There is no fade-away or sprawl--you simply make a turn at the right time and you go from being in town to driving among the cornfields and dairy farms. I live on one of these edges--behind my apartment is a small forest, and beyond that a dairy farm.