Dubuque

It’s Dubuque, Iowa for todays offering. Dubuque sits on the mighty Mississippi and, as many towns and cites along the water have done,  has an active revitalization program in progress. In the Port of Dubuque the river walk offers a nice place to take a lunch time stroll with sculptures to add some interest along the way. The Star Brewery is now home to several businesses including Stone Cliff Winery where Tommy went for a wine tasting. Tommy is definitely a beer kind of guy, but every once in awhile he tries a wine. He found one here that he liked enough to bring home.  The courthouse is on the National Register of Historic places. The 190 ft high central tower is a focal point in the city. During WWI several pewter statues were taken down and melted to aid in the war effort. Shot Tower, now a historical land mark, was the George W. Rogers Co that produced lead shot until 1861, then it was a lookout tower until 1911 when it caught fire and was completely gutted.         The town clock was erected in 1873 and moved to the downtown mall in 1971.       But the neatest place we saw in Dubuque was the Fenelon Place Elevator, also known as the 4th Street Elevator.                        

   This is the worlds shortest, steepest scenic railway. It is 296 ft long and rises 186 ft from 4th Street to Fenelon Place. Oh the views of 3 states, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa from the top were fantastic.            The railway was built in 1882 by a banker who lived up on the hill but worked down in the town. He had an hour and a half for lunch and it would take a half hour to get home and a half hour to get back to work by horse and buggy. The banker liked to have a half hour lunch and a half hour nap before returning to work. So, to solve his dilemma, he built this railway. The cars have burned down on a couple of occasions but were always rebuilt. The railway is not only a tourist attraction but is actually used by the towns people for everyday life.

We read about this apple orchard that offers 23 varieties  of apples and apple anything is Tommy's favorite. So a quick trip there was in order.    I saw they had Honey Crisp apples and you can’t find them everywhere so I was happy. Well I  thought Tommy was going to have a heart attack when we gave the woman a $20 bill and she gave him back $3 for change. Ouch! $17 for a small bag that held maybe 8 apples and one of them was really little. They better be the best apples I have ever eaten!