Dickeyville and Dubuque

 

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday, but I had a topic, forgot it, and never came up with another one. It was a rainy, gloomy day, and I didn't do much after work except talk to Tiffy. Today, however, Travalon and I had quite an adventure. We drove west and stopped at Crazy Frank's Flea Market in Mineral Point, where I found one rosary and a small version of the peach-colored Beanie Baby Bear that I love so much. Then we went to the Dickeyville Grotto and wandered through it, and Travalon took a lot of photos.

This close-up shows the interesting mix of colored glass, sea shells, and other random things the priest used to make this grotto back in the 1920's.

And this is the gift shop, where my readers will be stunned to learn that I bought a couple of rosaries.

Then we drove to Dubuque and took a walk on the Riverwalk. 

I love this house across the river, in Illinois, but is that a person in the window??

At the end of the Riverwalk is the historic Star Brewery, which now contains a wine bar.

We sat outside and had a drink called a lemondrop, which was white wine with lemons in it. So good! Right near the brewery is the historic shot tower, where they used to make lead shot.

While we were drinking our wine with lemons, we kept seeing a woman walking a Percheron mare. Once we finished, we went back to explore, and here is the mare in her stall. She is one of the horses they use to give carriage tours of the town, but we didn't do that today. Maybe next time.

From a tower-like platform just past the shot tower, we could see this riverboat that is now a casino.

On the Riverwalk we saw this statue of a sailboat.

Here are some shots of downtown. You can see the steeple of their cathedral, St. Raphael's, which was also the name of our cathedral before it burned down. I went to Mass there once years ago, but today it was locked so we couldn't get pictures of the beautiful interior.

Then we rode on the Fenelon Place Elevator, which is like a very short train ride up the side of a bluff. Here are some pictures of that.

Do I look scared? Because I'm terrified!

Here are some photos from the top of the bluff.

And here are some shots of us going back down in the elevator.

Travalon made a video of us going down in the elevator:

And here is what the elevator looks like from further away, so you can see how steep it is.

Travalon went across the street to take pictures of the cathedral.

And here is the rectory next door.

And a cool old building just down the street.

Then we had dinner (alligator bites and catfish with shrimp creole sauce) at Catfish Charlie's, sitting outside on the patio overlooking the river. Travalon didn't take any photos of that, so you'll just have to imagine it. We even got hush puppies with our catfish! We both brought some home, so we get to eat it tomorrow too!

Famous Hat