Dubuque, Iowa

First day of travel.  We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.  It was partly cloudy and cool for the entire trip.  Beautiful sky and clouds all the way across Eastern Nebraska and Iowa.

This looks like an interstate but it is actually just a federal highway and definitely a “road less traveled”.  Traffic was light.

We made a quick stop in SAC City and noticed the Raccoon River was fairly high.  There has been a lot of rain across Iowa resulting in some minor flooding of fields and most of the rivers are high and in some cases at or slightly above flood stage.

Lunch was in Fort Dodge at a Perkins.  One of our rules of travel is to generally not eat at a place we have at home.  We don’t have a Perkins so it was on the “approved list. But one is coming to Norfolk, so it was a chance to sample.

After checking into the motel in Dubuque, we drove down to the river front (Port of Dubuque area).  It has been rebuilt and is well worth visiting if you are in the area.  Question of the day:  What is the purpose of a “shot tower”?

The rail bridge across the Mississippi river has been here for year.  It has a section that pivots so the river barges can pass up and down river.  Just across the river on the Wisconsin side the tracks enter a tunnel.  You can see that in the following picture.  The Mississippi River is high also.

The old Dubuque Star Brewery (1898) has been converted into shopping and office space.

Stone Cliff Winery has a tasting room in the brewery (right corner in the picture).  Of course we had to try some of the wines.  It was very comfortable tasting room.

The river front has a nice walkway and includes art work that you can view as you stroll along.

Dinner was at Champps americana.  It consisted of a Gyro sandwich and a bowl of chili.

Tomorrow, on to Madison after exploring Dubuque a little more in the morning.