Paddling around Fountain City

There are thirty-three river towns located along the Wisconsin Great River Road.  I have paddled by these towns, driven through these towns, stayed overnight in these towns, gone on day trips to these towns, camped by these towns and frequented the restaurants & bars in these towns. I love all of them.  Fountain City is one of my favorite though. The town is so narrow there is just enough room to drive through the passageway between the river on one side and towering bluffs on the other. We were paddling out to a sandbar for the weekend with friends.

Now I have to admit something. I don't love camping. I didn't grow up camping. I didn't grow up with a large love of nature. I didn't dislike it.  It just wasn't a big part of my childhood.  Over time, I've learned to love the great outdoors though. Hiking & biking and short paddling trips have really grown on me. I always feel better after a blast of fresh air and the smell of dirt and evergreen. 

And sand.

We paddled up to our sandbar and made ourselves at home.

Time to check out the digs.

We sat in the sun and talked. We swam. Mike cooked. We ate a great meal. As Cathy and I kept sipping away at our wine, we asked for more "just to wash the rest of this food down." Yes, more please.  Just to wash down these snacks.

We watched the sun drop.

I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, 

before joining the night and the stars.

--Edward Abbey

So night descended. And the sky turned orange. A barge rumbled by.

 Then the sky turned black. The moon shone and the stars sparkled and gave us so much light.

A paddlewheel glided by, illuminated by the yellow glow of twinkling lights, reflecting off the quiet river in front of us. We watched in awe.

and then morning came.

One of the things I like best about camping on the river is watching the river wake up. The sun quietly rises, the birds begin making noise, fishing boats slowly start motoring by.

If I'm lucky my husband rises before me and I wake up to the smell of camp coffee. If not, I scramble up & grab my camera to capture the whole scene. The river is still the wild west in some ways, particularly at night. Most out of season weekend nights are fine but the party boats are a large part of the scene.  So loud music and the sounds of partying break the reverie and remind me of the public nature of a river or a campsite. It's all of ours. We don't get to pick our neighbors. 

But the morning belongs to the birds and the fishermen.  And sometimes to the photographers.

He's a river rat. I just follow him.

We packed the kayaks. We paddled back to civilization. We zoomed back home. And we dumped sand out of our shirts, our shoes and our bags. We live in a river town and we take a little bit of the river home with us each time.

The Great River Road to Dubuque

We set off for Dubuque along the Great River Road, a historic byway of the Mississippi River.  Rather than building a new road, the existing network of rural roads and then-fledgling highways that crisscrossed the river, became the Great River Road back in 1938.  Nearly 3,000 miles long, the Great River Road runs through 10 states along the Mississippi River (http://www.experiencemississippiriver.com/great-river-road.cfm).  We watched eagles flying, tundra swans swimming, and made our way through 15 different river towns on our way to Dubuque.  Our first stop was Potosi Brewery in Potosi, Wisconsin.  Founded in 1852 and recently refurbished into an excellent brewpub restaurant, this place had personality.  Apparently, the brothers that founded this company had a traveling bar that would pull up to county fairs and give away beer!  Oh, and that beer was good.

And as we were finishing lunch, in walked our neighbor.  This place is popular.

We continued on our quest for the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

There are six aquariums and a 3-D theater with a great river documentary.  Unfortunately, the alligator was sleeping when we were there.

These images are kind of disturbing.  Probably should have used a little flash, the animals wouldn't look quite so scary.  I had no idea beavers were this big.

Mike communes with his hero.

Indeed.

The rest of our trip involved gluttony. Also walking, I felt like I walked my feet off. 

Remember when we would complain about Christmas cheer starting right after Thanksgiving?  It isn't just retail starting right after Halloween anymore.  I do love the lights though.

Chilly. Time to stop somewhere for a drink.

 This place was original.  Crazy art on the walls, good music, cozy, like a grad. school hangout.

And then we were off to Crust, advertised as an italian kitchen + bar.  This was a casual low to medium priced dinner place (also lunch), mostly pizza, good atmosphere, not particularly crowded.  They overcooked my pizza but made up for it with large mounds of spinach on each slice.  I'd go back.

We woke up with the morning sun and grabbed coffees at Jitterz.  Mmmm...warmed up a chilly walk through the early morning streets of Dubuque.

We had a perfectly old-school breakfast at this townie breakfast joint.  We stood out.  The people eating here likely eat here every day or every weekend and order the same thing every time.  Your basic bacon, eggs and toast, local people living their lives, city photographs on the walls, basic and efficient service.  And this is what I'd say about Dubuque.  They are old-school, not trying too hard, nothing fancy, some nice restaurants and boutiques mixed in with old buildings and a city that doesn't look like it's changed too much over time.  

Elevator to the bluffs.  This is the Fenlon Place Elevator, operating for over 100 years and rebuilt several times due to fires and mishaps.  I'm glad I didn't know about this history before climbing aboard.

View from above.

Goodbye Dubuque. We like you, you're easy to be around.