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!

Fun In Dubuque

The Riverwalk took us right up to our hotel which was next to the Mississippi - and this was our view as we walked by the restaurant into the hotel! I LOVED those purple flowers!!

After getting checked into our room, we headed out for a walk!  The desk lady said to check out the convention center next door as there was a glass room that was really cool looking!!  She was right - it was!!

Here's a picture looking at it from the river walk.

What a peaceful scene!  We loved walking along the river and enjoying the "art" that was displayed!

This is one of the pieces of art - pretty unique and yes it was large!!

The next morning our stay included breakfast at the restaurant!  We got there plenty early as we wanted to catch the first shuttle - our breakfast was great and we noted they had frappes for later!

We DID catch the first shuttle for our sightseeing and the first stop was St. Luke's United Methodist Church!  This church has quite a history behind it and a parishioner gave us a short presentation before we checked out all of their windows!  This church has 8 large Tiffany windows and nine small ones - they are absolutely gorgeous!!

This window is Christ and the Children.

This beautiful window is in the balcony and depicts the unknown author of the Book of Job.

This is of David, King of Israel.

I love these this grouping of 3 windows - imagine sitting in church and looking at them every Sunday!

Of course Patty and I had to check out the organ (since we both used to play for church) and this one was enormous!!!  I can't imagine playing on 3 keyboards!!  But one of the ladies in our group is a current organist and she gave us a sampling - gosh, was she great!!

This is outside the church waiting for the shuttle to come for our next stop!  Patty and I raced down the street as we thought we saw a coffee place but it was just a tea store!

And then we were off to the Fenelon Place Elevator Company!

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!!

Freedom Rock Tour

Patty and I left early on a Monday morning for our mini Iowa adventure!!  After a stop for frappes, we were ready to start the first phase of our trip - Freedom Rocks!!

Our first stop was Emerson in Mills County!

Next was Corning which is in Adams County.

This is in Creston, Union County.

I loved their welcome center in Creston - what a unique idea!!

Next on the list was the town of Murray in Clarke County!  The rock below was our favorite of all we have seen!  What an emotional painting - brought us to tears!

They had a beautiful display of flags!

Next was Ottumwa which is in Wapello County.  The location of this rock was SO disappointing.  There was no parking because it's right off a main drag - we parked in a strip mall and walked to it.  Surprisingly enough, there was a beautiful park right across the street so the location of this one was hard to figure out!

Ottumwa had a great place to eat!!  Patty was driving and I was trying to find a "unique" place to eat and I came upon Appanoose Rapids which not only sounded cute but had great reviews!  It was a GREAT place with wonderful food and the atmosphere was fun!!

It had a cool bar down the side and check out that ceiling!!  If you ever get over that way, I highly recommend it!!

And our last Freedom Rock of the day was actually out in the country but the town listed for it is Grandview in Louisa County.

Although this rock was one of the smallest and strangest shaped one we had seen, the surrounding area was well done and extremely interesting to see!

I loved how the county sold bricks for their pathway where you could put a persons' name, the dates they served and what branch of the service that they served.

WOW - one amazing day seeing all of these wonderfully painted rocks!!  But we reached our destination of LeClaire and were ready for the 2nd portion of our trip!

Iowa Family

After an early morning departure from our motel (shouldn't we have gotten a credit on our bill for leaving before the appointed check out time?????) we headed west!  Stopped at a cute diner for some breakfast and couldn't find any "special" coffee so went onto the next town!  Jessi had texted me that she had found some GREAT coffee there and as soon as we got off the interstate there was a Scooters that was pretty easy to get to so we just went through their drive-in (easily said but not done since we were pulling a boat!!).  Because I get whipped cream on my coffee, it's usually very drinkable immediately so I took a big swig and oh my gosh - burn - burn - burn!!!  If I could had spit it out I would have - needless to say it's the hottest "special" coffee I've ever had!!  Unfortunately it wasn't even that good!!  And of course I remembered that everything at our elevation in Colorado cools off SO fast and it doesn't do that in the midwest!

We made it into Patty and Leonard's late afternoon - always good to see them!  And that evening Jim and Brenda came by and we all went out to eat over in Woodbine!  What a great meal with wonderful drinks and dessert!!  We had a quick farm meeting back at the house and enjoyed visiting.

I was thrilled that church was in the South Church on Sunday!  Although it was a sad day for most of the members as it was their interim pastors' last Sunday, I thoroughly enjoyed the service, especially listening to that old pump organ that I used to play!  And it was great to connect with some of the people attending!

Glenn and I headed to Onawa for a picnic with his family late morning!  Besides Todd's and Neal's being there, all 3 sisters came along with his mom!

Here is Chance and Maggie - cute as buttons!!

Glenn's mom Lolly enjoyed seeing everyone - her health is great but she suffers from alzheimers.

Jen, Neal and the two kids!  The kids were excited to go fishing with Papa the next day!

Glenn's 3 sisters:  Deanna, Geri, and Sheri along with his mom.

This is Amber (Todd's girlfriend), granddaughter Nedelle and Todd.

There is ALWAYS an abundance of food when we get together - the sisters make some awesome salads!!  The weather held and even though it was hot, there was a nice breeze!

Late afternoon Glenn and I headed to the store so he could buy groceries for his fishing trip and then we headed back to Soldier and enjoyed pizza with Patty and Leonard!!  Glenn packed his stuff up and Patty and I packed for our mini Iowa trip the next day!