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Iowa

Riverside, a small town in the heart of Iowa, has proclaimed itself to be the future Birthplace of James T. Kirk, the fictional character in Star Trek.

The town has completely embraced it. Their motto is “Where the Trek begins.” There are pictures of the original Star Trek crew hanging from the light poles and their sidewalks are stamped with the USS Enterprise spaceship.

sidewalk stamp

Riverside is a very small town of less than 1,000 people so it is not too hard to find the birthplace marker. It is located on Main Street behind a small hair salon. It sounds a bit scary that you have to walk down an alley between 2 buildings but it is actually really nice. Take a look:

Birthplace sign on yellow building

There is also a place in town, “The Voyage Home Riverside History Center”, also known as the Star Trek Museum. It was closed when we were in town, however, we read that it “houses Star Trek themed exhibits and memorabilia, including a time capsule; a Star Trek themed bathroom; and an exhibit about the women of Star Trek. The museum features a veterans display and a room dedicated to the history of Riverside.”

After visiting Riverside, we drove about 30 minutes north to West Branch, Iowa, Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States.

This is where we found both the Presidential Library and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

We didn’t really know too much about this president. However, after 2 short movies and walking through a museum dedicated to his life and presidency, we learned a lot. Honestly, I think we learn more by visiting these places than we ever did in school.

The Library and National Park Visitor Center are both located on the same campus a short walk from each other. Also on this campus are the home Hoover was born in, the blacksmith building his father worked in, several other homes from Hoover’s neighborhood.

Hoover’s birthplace
Hoover’s outhouse
Neighbor’s home

This is also the final resting place for both Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. The grounds were beautiful and very peaceful.

jj

Who does what here? Honestly, it’s really a good collaboration. We both decide where to go and plan the trip together. Once at our destination, Jeri takes most of the pictures and edits them for our website, though Joel has a much longer arm and is better at taking our selfies. Once the pictures are done then Jeri writes the posts and Joel edits them before they go live. Joel is also the IT guy when things go wrong (but what could possible go wrong when a computer is involved?)

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