Dubuque to Cedar Rapids Iowa
byMonday turned out to be far more productive than anyone thought given the previous day’s festivities on the Fourth of July. We hopped in the car and headed East into Dubuque for lunch at the Dubuque Star Brewery.
Located along the Mississippi and heavily populated by mayflies (aka fishflies) the old brick building that once housed the brewery is now home to a restaurant, winery, bar, and offices. It was kind of like Milestones’ lobby meets Steamworks or Yaletown Brewing. While our server didn’t know the difference between a Stella and a local wheat ale, the food and brews were delicious.
From there we headed over to Eagle Point Park where you could sit for hours on the bluff watching Mississippi river traffic flow up and down through the locks.
Even though it is mighty, from this vantage point the Mississippi was also peaceful and calm — almost mesmerizing as we peered down on the legendary waterway. The murky water churned as pleasure craft and river barges made their way through the locks with eagles circling above.
In the evening we drove to Cedar Rapids for a Kernels game. They play single “A” ball in the Midwest League and are affiliated with the LA Angels.
$2 hot dogs, “the best ballpark pork tenderloin”, ice cream cups the size of soccer balls, and every type of light American beer you can imagine was on tap at the stadium. Little boys would run down to the top of the Kernels dugout after every play and call for a player to toss them a game ball while a few inning in we had the “pizza slice” mascot races.
The air was thick and coated your skin as the puffed up rain clouds overhead sporadically released their bounty. Umbrellas and ponchos appeared in the stands while some spectators just packed up and left. The Kernels won 13-5 over Milwaukee.
Today we head to Illinois and then we round out the week in one of my favourite places, Iowa City.
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The bridge shot reminds me of the Clint Eastwood/Meryl Streep movie, Bridges of Madison County.