Sightseeing/Back Down The River

The shuttle picked us up at the church and our next stop was the Fenelon Elevator!!  This elevator came about in 1882 when a banker who lived on top of the bluff and worked at the bottom, decided it just took too much time to take his horse and buggy around the bluff to get to the top!   So he hired an engineer to design and build a one-car cable car, modeled after ones over in the Alps!

The operator is at the top of the elevator - when you go into the little building, a loudspeaker comes on and the lady on top tells you to get in and then to pull the cord when you're ready!!  Trust me, it's a TIGHT fit!!

We pulled the cord and the little car started moving up the tracks!

There were 8 of us in the cable car - and we all laughed the entire trip up the hill!

When you got to the top, you unloaded and then paid the $3.00 fee!  The views were outstanding!

The elevator actually burned 3 different times and was rebuilt each time!  It was opened to the public in 1884 for a nickel a ride!

The Fenelon Elevator has been described as the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway, 296 feet in length!

We hopped on our shuttle one last time and went to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium - the admission was included in our riverboat cruise so that was nice!!  We didn't spend a lot of time there as a lot of it was things Patty and I had already seen!!  But we did enjoy strolling through it and the outside exhibits were very nice!  We had to stop and visit with Mark Twain!

We walked back to our hotel and grabbed some yummy frappes and then just watched the river for a while before we headed back to the river boat!   Here is one more piece of art along the way!

Our trip back down the Mississippi was just as relaxing!  We sat along the side of the boat this time and moved around more!  Our snack in the afternoon was fresh baked brownies with ice cream!  SO GOOD!!!

This is my favorite picture from the entire trip!!  I grabbed a guy when there weren't many people up front in the rockers and asked him to snap a few pictures of us - they turned out great!!

When we departed the boat, all of the staff were in a line so we could thank them and shake their hand!  As we went by the bartender (who we really enjoyed) he handed me a long package and told me it was for "us" and to open it when we got to our car!  It actually looked like a loaf of french bread but it was light!!  When we got to Patty's car, we opened it and found 2 wine glasses with the insignia of the Riverboat Cruise!  A perfect remembrance of our trip (along with the Christmas ornament I bought!!)

One last stop - the American Pickers building in LeClaire!!  Luckily there was someone else looking at the old car so they took our picture as it was way past regular hours!!

We stayed in Davenport that night at a very nice motel - and were pleasantly surprised at breakfast when there was a lady making fresh omelettes!!  After packing up the car and grabbing coffee, we were on the road again for our final journey to home!