Dubuque

If anyone jokes about Iowa, they probably joke about Dubuque, too. Doesn’t the name put pictures of pigs in your head? I don’t know why. I have never seen a pig in Dubuque.

In the maximum heat of the summer of 2007, my husband and I spent a day in Dubuque. It wasn’t long enough. My son came over from Platteville for the day and showed us around a bit. We toured the Mines of Spain – a strange name, coz I don’t remember any mines and the only thing Spanish about it was maybe that the heat felt like we were in Mexico. I guess there were lead mines in the area as early as 1800 and somehow or other at that time Spain owned the land around what would become the city of Dubuque, even though it was a Frenchman by the name of Julien Dubuque who settled the area along the Mississippi.

Ah, the Mississippi River. That doesn’t remind us of the French or the Spanish. That makes us think of Mark Twain, so we toured the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. Toured a riverboat, saw lots of fish, watched the otters play.

We finished our day by taking the Fenlon Place Tram to the top of the bluff overlooking town. Then we went to Olive Garden for dinner.