Lowell's Blog
Updates from the road

Frankie loves a road trip

Tuesday Aug 2nd… In search of cooler weather, we headed to the tri-state area north on the Mississippi river where Dubuque Iowa anchors Iowa, Illinois & Wisconsin on the Mississippi in a unique rolling mountainous area of the country. Actually we didn’t get to  spend much time in Dubuque since we stayed in the near by historic mining town of Galena. Galena parallels the history of our beloved Telluride with a lead mining rush about 25 years before the gold rush. Like Telluride it was a major commerce area that fell in to it’s lowest point in the early 1970s when Chicago artisans started buying up the store fronts and creating the historic art community it is today. Galena has lots of shopping and a very interesting historic past. There’s even a ski resort here.. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area click on this link for a map view  Dubuque

 

Galena is full of great restaurants. Our first night was Italian. We ran for the restaurant since the weather was just as hot as Gallatin. Crazy it’s hot this far north. We eat and drank until the sun went down and the temp dropped.

Good news, waking up the next day the hot weather was gone giving us the conditions we hoped for..

A little history… Mining started here around 1788 and went into full swing in the 1820s.  Galena was a major commerce area by the time of the Civil War starting in 1861. General/President Ulysses Grant called Galena home bring lots of military history. This gives you a little background on the photos that follow. We couldn’t resist the photo right at the history museum. Frankie looks good in a bonnet don’t you think??

 

 

 

Galena’s river connected paddlewheel riverboats to the Mississippi.

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Oldest properties in town.. Dowling House… Blacksmith Shop

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Grant’s house on the ridge above town.. Grant painting in the museum.

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Galena was subject to serious flooding and is now protected by a levee and flood gates at the entry of historic old town. I didn’t see Lucky.!

 

Lunch as we leave town on the 3rd day at Vinny Vanucchis’s outside dining.

Learning about Galena’s history was a nice treat to better appreciate everything we saw.

 

 

Here’s a few images to give the flavor.

 

 

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CountrySide

Northwest of Dubuque the rolling hill areas are picturesque with farms and crop fields everywhere.

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The view from Balltown where you can see 3 states of nothing but GREEN.

 

 

Two of the most prominent structures in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mississippi

Dubuque river front. We had a nice lunch in old town Dubuque.

Heading north in Wisconsin destination Cassville where there’s a small 4 car ferry and hopefully some photo ops…

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No luck.. The ferry was not in operating that night. Eating at the only restaurant in town they were very surprised it was not open. A cargo tug motored by while we checked out the small ferry.

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More river community photos..

We found a cool little river town call Sabula. It’s Iowa’s only island city. The island has a beach and a campground. It also has a harbor with boat docks and storage for storing some boats during the winter. Because of its proximity to Chicago (three-hour drive), Sabula has become a popular vacationing destination during the summer months.

The city campground looks to be a place to spend some  time next year. Frankie want’s to catch the beach store open with the pink chairs. They weren’t open but Frankie got a quick view and wants to see more.

 

 

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Iowa Farm

 

Final stop.. Visit the Volk farm near Cascade Iowa. We meet Jerry and Mary Volk at Egg Harbor above GreenBay on the Wisconsin Door county peninsula three summers ago. They came to Cholla that winter season to visit us and have invited us to visit ever since. Cascade is on our way home to Gallatin and visiting their farm was one of the main reasons for our trip north.

Jerry and his grandson Hunter were are host for our Cascade visit. Check out the flowers. Beautiful place and great hosts.

 

 

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Jerry and Frankie with her huge hibiscus flower.. Neely’s in heaven, they have a Blanca golf cart.

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Jerry’s dog Chance escorts the farm tour.

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Hunter was a good tour guide taking Frankie and Neely for a complete farm guided tour. To say Hunter liked to talk would be an understatement. He met us in the drive as we arrived and was with us until we departed the  next day. Thanks Hunter for your company.

Homie and Diesel had a perfect spot looking west with an awesome view and a patio with a hot tube.

Shortly after arriving we were having a cold beer (adult beverages as Jerry calls them) and enjoying the nice weather and view over the mass fields of corn to the west.

 

Jerry and Hunter took us in to Cascade for dinner at the local restaurant that has probably been in Cascade for the past century. Lots of locals meet to socialize. Jerry is the grandson of an Irish immigrant and proud of his heritage. He was raised here and knows everybody in Cascade. We got a quick tour of Cascade before heading back to the farm for the sunset and a relaxing session in the hot tub watching this sunset.

 

Thanks so Much Jerry… Come back and see us in Cholla sometime soon.

 

Friday morning and the weather back in Gallatin has cooled down just as we plan our return. Nice little 4 day get away…

I’m finishing this blog Tuesday Aug 9th as  I’m taking Frankie to the KC airport to fly to Phoenix for a week. Neely and I will stay Gallatin and finish up a few remaining projects and enjoy the Jameson Picnic an annual community festival in the small town where I attended school before moving to Phoenix. I’m sure I will see a few old classmates and relatives.

Until the next Update…  Stay Cool.