We got up early this morning to start our road trip to Dubuque (one of our all time favorite cities to visit). We had planned to make a number of stops (popcorn store and then various wineries) on our way to Dubuque.
Our first stop was Rural Route 1 Popcorn. If you love popcorn (as my husband does) than this is the place for you. They have a huge variety of flavored popcorns (already popped) along with everything you need to make good popcorn at home (popcorn seeds, coconut oil, seasons, popcorn makers, etc.). They also have quite a large gift shop with all kinds of odds and ends.
Next on our list was four different wineries. Here is some info on each.
Spurgeon Vineyards & Winery near Highland, WI: This winery offered tastings for free and had quite a few wines I enjoyed. Most of the wines are on the sweeter end but they did have a good chardonnay and had quite a few really good fruit wines. The woman running the shop even convinced my husband (who doesn't drink wine) to try a few.
Whispering Winds Winery near Fennimore, WI: This is a winery I would not visit again. They did offer a free wine tasting but the owner was not very personable and not really interested in talking about his wines. The wines also were not of the same caliber as the wines I tasted at the other wineries.
Bauer-Kearns Winery near Platteville, WI: This winery offered tastings for a fee of $3.50 (the reasoning for the fee is that the owners found that a lot of college students would show up for a free tasting and then not purchase anything). It is an estate winery meaning that all their wines are made with grapes they grow themselves. Contrary to many wineries in the area, they had a fair number of drier wines including some reds.
Sinnipee Valley Vineyard & Winery near Kieler, WI: We almost didn't stop here as it was raining and we were both tired but I am so glad we did. This winery also offers free wine tastings. They grow all of their own grapes although also make a few non-grape wines. Their cranberry wine is excellent if you like a tart cranberry wine.
After our winery visits we headed to Dubuque to check into our hotel, the Super 8 in Dubuque. The hotel was very nice especially for the price we paid and it included a limited breakfast. Once it stopped raining, we went to check out Taste of Dubuque (an annual festival which includes local restaurants and music). We were greatly disappointed in the number of vendors and didn't stay long.
We decided to eat supper at Los Aztecas (in the same parking lot of our hotel) and unfortunately were disappointed. The salsa wasn't bad but nothing special and the chips were really thick. My husband said his meal wasn't bad (although nothing special) but mine was lacking flavor.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Dubuque Trip - Sunday, August 5, 2012
Our day started with a walk along the Port of Dubuque and then we headed to Crystal Lake Cave which is just south of Dubuque. This is a really neat cave that is quite a bit different than other caves we have visited in that there aren't any big open rooms in the cave. The cave consists of lots of narrow (and short) passageways along with many cave formations. The one bad thing about the cave is the tour guide who was lacking in any knowledge of caves and who rushed the tour. Plus off of many formations hung signs indication what the formation looked like. If they could get a good tour guide who really understands caves, this could have been an incredible tour because the cave itself was pretty cool.
From there we headed to lock #12 along the Mississippi River. We were able to see a 15 barge go through the locks which required it being split into two different groups as the locks are not large enough to handle something that large. The weather was absolutely perfect so we sat for a while and enjoyed a subway lunch on a picnic table where we could watch the lock. The one bad thing about this lock is that there was not an observation platform so we were viewing the locks through a chain link fence making it a little difficult to get good pictures but I did manage to get a few.
The next stop was lock #13 which has a free tour of the locks every Sunday at 1:00 p.m. For those with any interest in locks, this is a cool tour. Our tour guide was a park ranger who was pretty knowledgeable. He took us across the doors of the lock to get a closer look at both the lock and the dams. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me. This lock is also nice because it does have an observation platform so you can get a good look at the locks. Cormorants and pelicans were common at this lock and others we visited.
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| Crystal Lake |
From there we headed to lock #12 along the Mississippi River. We were able to see a 15 barge go through the locks which required it being split into two different groups as the locks are not large enough to handle something that large. The weather was absolutely perfect so we sat for a while and enjoyed a subway lunch on a picnic table where we could watch the lock. The one bad thing about this lock is that there was not an observation platform so we were viewing the locks through a chain link fence making it a little difficult to get good pictures but I did manage to get a few.
The next stop was lock #13 which has a free tour of the locks every Sunday at 1:00 p.m. For those with any interest in locks, this is a cool tour. Our tour guide was a park ranger who was pretty knowledgeable. He took us across the doors of the lock to get a closer look at both the lock and the dams. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me. This lock is also nice because it does have an observation platform so you can get a good look at the locks. Cormorants and pelicans were common at this lock and others we visited.
Our next lock was lock #11 in Dubuque. We decided to watch boats go through the lock from Eagle Point Park in Dubuque. This park has great views of the Mississippi River and of Illinois and Wisconsin.
For supper we stopped at Happy Joe's Pizza. You can't beat their taco pizza. To end our day we explored the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. This place was breathtaking even with the fact that it has been such a dry summer that flowers were struggling to survive. I can't imagine how beautiful it must look when there has been ample rain. If we lived closer I would visit regularly just to relax. Here are just a couple of pictures.
Dubuque Trip - Monday, August 6, 2012
Today we started our trek home with a stop at the Mining Museum and the Rollo Jamison Museum in Platteville, WI. This was well worth the stop and quite a bit bigger than we expected. The highlight was probably walking through the lead mine. You climb 90 steps into the mine and a very well informed tour guide explains the details of lead and zinc mining. They never mined zinc at this specific mine but it was very common after the Civil War for lead mines to turn to mining for zinc which was in much greater demand than lead at the time and so the museum has incorporated information regarding zinc mining as well.
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| Mine shaft where everything was hauled up and down - to the left is a torpedo which was like an elevator for the mine workers to get in and out of the mine. |
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| Supports for the mine |
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| Miners drilling (by hand) holes so that the blaster could fill the holes with gun powder |
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| The carts that ran along railroad ties that miners would fill with rock and zinc |
Then we took a ride on the train that was used in the Shullsberg mine. The train has been restored and the cars we rode in have been replaced.
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| Original cart |
The next part of our tour included the shaft building where everything entered and exited the mine and where zinc would have been separated from the rock.
In addition to the mine there was also a mining museum and a museum of Rollo Jamison's collections. This entire museum was well worth the two hours we spent there.
From there we headed home with a stop in Monroe for some cheese at Emmi Roth Kase and petits fours at the Swiss Colony.
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