Technically, the most strange fact about the Quad-Cities is that it technically consists of five cities with East Moline being the fifth. If Silvis, Milan, or LeClaire became ambitious, they could make it six. Additionally, the Quad Cities is nearly 400k in population, but we do not have a big city feel, granted Geneseo, Viola, and Rapid City would likely disagree. There is quite a bit to do, if you keep your ear to the ground. Not only is there a family friendly bowling alley, but we have miniature golf, lots of parks, an excellent college orchestra, an art museum, and lots of parks and nature trails. It is also not uncommon for churches to be hosting events, and there are plenty of opportunities for political participation, if that is of interest. I am convinced the "small town" feel often misleads people to believe that we have nothing going on.
For me, the strangest thing about the greater Quad Cities is the population size. It really feels smaller than a metro with almost 400k. Honestly, the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids metros feel larger to me and their respective population sizes are smaller. The Peoria metro feels MUCH larger to me and it only has slightly more people. Perhaps it's because the population is more evenly spread out amongst The Cities and the metro sprawls for a long way. There's not really a central city that is the largest by far that has an exceptionally dense core with lots of tall buildings, like in most metro areas. Sure, Moline has some decently tall buildings, but it ain't got nothing on Cedar Rapids or Peoria! Another unique thing is that the Mississippi flows east-west through The Cities, not north-south. This unusual meander is shared with where I live, Muscatine! The river takes a turn back to the south after it flows past our downtown. Whenever something strange happens in Muscatine, a lot of us locals will say "it's the bend in the river." 😆 You could argue that Muscatine is an exurb of the QC, even though there's about 20 miles of countryside separating us. Our economies are very closely linked. So many people drive back and forth regularly for work and play. Myself included! Also, Hungry Hobo is a really strange name for a sub shop 😆 Love your videos man, and I love The Cities! It's cool to see my neck of the woods on RU-vid. Keep it up! I actually just walked on the I-74 bridge trail tonight; I love that trail! Another strange thing for me along that trail is the Bridgepointe tower/facility on the Moline side. It looks like a prison watchtower and I always feel like it's watching me no matter where I'm standing. I've always wondered what that Bridgepointe organization is and what they do. Their building looks sus, like some evil villain's lair. Haha!
