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Down by the banks of the Mississippi |
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...where the frogs are painted all so trippy...Today is March 22. Last wkend I had
the pleasure of traveling to Dubuque with my friend Jess. The mighty DBQ is her
hometown, plus her mom used to be a travel guide on the trolleys, so they know all
kinds of cool history and lore. We left Friday the 17th. Our first stop was
Independence, so we could get an icy creamy treat from McD's. Then we continued on
to Dyersville, where we toured the National Farm Toy Museum. We both
found ourselves remarking "I had that!" or "My brother had one of those!" One of
the coolest things was where they had 16 (and 64) toy tractors lined up in front of
a full sized tractor so you could see why it is 1/16 or 1/64 scale. Jess kept
saying "tratter" instead of "tractor" but she couldn't really help that.
After the museum, we wanted to see the Field of Dreams while it was still
light out. I have only seen that movie like once, but I still wanted to see it
since it is important to IA. You can walk around on the field and sit on the
bleachers. When the souvenier stand is open, you can buy an endless array of items
with "Field of Dreams" on them. Once we were done there, we headed back into
Dyersville to look at the Basilica. (We didn't go
inside, just drove past) At the Toy Museum, Jess had grabbed a bunch of brochures,
and I was reading the one about the Basilica (in the official reading-y voice that I
stole from my dad) and said that Lutherans were not allowed in the Basilica or on
the grounds. I guess I should have used a more fakey fake voice because as it was I
was taken too seriously ;-)
Friday night after supper (grilled cheese and tomato soup) Jess and her mom and I
went bowling at Bowling
Beyond. Diane, a former league bowler, beat us handily. I also played some
World Cup Soccer pinball because I hadn't played pinball in a long time. (I was
probably inspired by the antique wooden pinball machine Jessica's family had in
their basement). The next day, Jess and
I went to the River Museum and
saw the exhibits and animals. The otters were sleeping, shh, don't wake them.
There were also manta
rays and giant fish and some turtles. We had our lunch in the museum's cafe
and then looked at some more exhibits, and the boats outside. (added in
later) I almost forgot to mention this, but I saw an old building that said
"Uneeda Biscuit" so
then I started singing the "Rock
Island" song from the Music Man. (honestly it makes no sense if you read
the lyrics, much better to hear it performed. It's supposed to make the sounds
of a train)
Later we walked
down the riverwalk and snuck into the convention center. They were hosting the American Massage Therapy Association of Iowa
convention. The convention center is connected by a skywalk to the Grand Harbor Resort which has a nifty
waterpark inside. After that we headed to Eagle Point Park to enjoy the
spectacular views. After that we drove around some more, crossed the river into
Illinois (East Dubuque), went north to Wisconsin, and then back across the river to
Iowa again. For supper we went to Breitbach's which is
the oldest still operating tavern in Iowa. When we got into Balltown, we actually
drove a little past the restaurant first to check out another great view of the
surrounding areas. For our meal we had the salad bar and buffet, followed by pie.
That night when we got back home, us girls watched "Walk The Line." Jess I know had
seen it before, I hadn't, not sure about her mom.
Sunday AM Diane fixed us pannycakes. I couldn't believe it. Then we went to
Galena, IL, for one because it is a cool town
but also because I was wanting to
visit an antique store of some kind on my trip. I did not find anything too
exciting (the 3 piney items there, I already had: S&P, jelly jar, and fridge
magnets). I did get an old metal "Scotch Style Tape" container, which randomly
contained 2 8mm film reels. Galena is an old mining town-turned-quaint, touristy
place. It actually reminded me of places like Idaho Springs in CO, oddly enough,
also mining towns. Go figure. Galena had a CRAZY long "old main street" which is
all like boutiques and restaurants and shoppes. Yes, shoppes.
After a late lunch (hamburgers on the grill and homemade potato salad) it was time
to be on the road again. Per Jess's decision, we took a different route home. I
think it was a good idea, so we could see something different. On the way there, we
had taken Jessica's brother Kevin's truck. It had a CD player but no CDs, and no
antenna for the radio. Luckily we had a lot to talk about since we hadn't seen each
other for awhile. On the way home we took her mom's Cavalier, which had a
fine-working radio. We also played the alphabet letter game, which was inspired by
an earlier convo while we were nearing the antique store back in Galena. I said how
on family trips it was always good to see ANTIQUES because then you could get a Q
for the alphabet game.
So that's pretty much it for a trip write-up. I also wanted to mention that Dubuque
had recently ended a public art project called "Who Let The Frogs Out," where local
artists painted these big frogs in different styles, and they were sponsored by
local businesses. Many towns have done similar public art projects, like Toronto
did in 2000 with the Moose. (I have a pic of myself in front of a moose painted up
with the Canadian maple-leaf flag). I was curious to find out just how many other
cities had had projects like these. Between these
two sites you can see quite a
few examples. Oddly, both omit Racine, which in 2006 will be doing this
kind of thing for the 5th time! I wonder if DSM will ever do a project like that,
or what they would choose. Big shoes would be kind of cool, or maybe Raccoons since
I don't think anyone has done Raccoons, and for the Raccoon river. For strictly WDM
they could have a train and some train cars, for some V-Junk heritage
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