Mississippi Riverboat Cruise

After we arrived in LeClaire, we checked into our motel and rested a bit before heading out to find where we would board the boat in the morning!    The directions were so easy and we were only a mile from the place to get on!  Also in that area was the LeClaire freedom rock which sits in Scott County.

Posing by the Mississippi River!

After looking around we decided to walk a block up which was the "tourist" section!  Found a great Mexican restaurant where we sat outside facing the river - they had wonderful guacamole to eat and I had the best raspberry/peach margarita I've ever had!!  We also tried to find the coffee place that I had found online but it had closed up and hadn't reopened yet!

The next morning we headed down to the dock, grabbed our luggage out of the car and boarded the Twilight Riverboat!  As they checked you in, they give youe your assigned deck and we were thrilled to be on the top deck!   I saw rocking chairs in the front of the boat so immediately put a couple of our jackets on them to save them!!

Before long we were on our way!!  What a peaceful, relaxing journey up the Mississippi!!

There were about 26 of us on the top deck and we were assigned tables to eat at!  Patty and I had a table to ourselves which was nice!  It was air conditioned inside so if you got too hot out in the sun, you could come in and sit at your table!  The food was simply amazing!!

We would meet several barges on the river.  And the captain would come on the loudspeaker and give you lots of info along the way!  There was a trivia sheet on every table and we soon discovered that the captain gives all the answers in his information speeches!

 We were served breakfast as soon as we got on the boat which was delicious - biscuits and gravy, orange juice and lots of sweet rolls and cinnamon rolls!!  YUMMY!!  About mid-morning they said it was time for snacks!  No bag of peanuts here - fresh fruit and pickle cream cheese roll ups!

There were lots of inlets along the way - some towns set right on the river - and a couple of small islands populated by seagulls!!

We also went through 2 locks - since the river was so high (about 10 ft higher than normal), hardly any water had to come into the lock for us!  One time we had to wait for a barge to go through but the other time was really fast!

The lower two decks were a lot bigger than the top deck - and the lower deck sported afternoon entertainment!

One of the bridges that opened for us to come through!

We had fun just basking in the sun, listening to the captain to fill out our trivia game (we came in 2nd as we missed 2 questions!) and visiting with the bartender who was quite the character!!

Dinner was delicious and this was our dessert - red velvet cake!  I expected just a slice of cake with frosting - this was amazing!!!

The boat actually arrived in Dubuque late afternoon and as we left the ship, we picked up our overnight bag on  the dock and headed up the River walk to our hotel (which was all included in the price!)  The River walk was beautiful and we couldn't wait to get out and explore!!