Tri-State Road Trip: Sunday

Sunday Travalon and I had breakfast at the charming bed and breakfast in Mineral Point, then we headed down the road to Dubuque. Our first stop was an island where we found not only the boat we would be riding on, but also this memorial display. We spent some time there to remember the whole reason for the long weekend.

Here are some photos from our boat ride. This is the bridge from Wisconsin to Iowa.

This is some sort of fancy bed and breakfast that looks like a castle.

And this, of course, is us! Someone offered to take our picture. People on this boat ride were really friendly, and a lot of them were from Wisconsin, so they cared deeply about the news that Bart Starr had just died. (The Iowans were all, "Bart who?")

This is a view of downtown Dubuque from the boat, including Town Hall.

And this is a view of the old brewery that is now a wine bar, and the shot tower, that are at the end of the riverside trail we have often walked.

We had seen something like a castle tower from the boat (and I took some blurry photos of it), so we thought we would try to find it since it was south of Dubuque and so right on our path. Travalon guessed it was in the Mines of Spain Natural Area, and in fact it was! It is the memorial to Julien Dubuque, the founder of the town, who is buried in it. I would love to have a final resting place in a giant rook overlooking the Mississippi!

Then we took a hike in the park on a trail called Horseshoe Bluff. As the name implies, it is a bluff that curves around so at first you feel as if you are walking through a canyon, until you get to the inside and can't go any further. Check out these amazing rock walls.

We drove down to Sabula, but it is sadly dead there these days. There was an ice cream stand going strong, but we had already had ice cream. Both the hippie pizza place and the diner where we had eaten in the past were out of business. The hippie who owned the pizza place died, but I don't know what the story is with the diner. We continued on to Savannah, Illinois and the famous biker bar, Poopy's, where we had dinner. Travalon had "poopfried chicken," and I had catfish, which was an entire fried catfish, fins and tail and head and all. During dinner a Credence Clearwater Revival cover band played. Here is a photo.

As the night wore on, a Guns N Roses cover band took the stage. Here is a brief video of them.

Tomorrow: our impromptu Father Mazzuchelli Tour!

Famous Hat