Friday October 3, 2025 to Minneapolis/St Paul

Today is the beginning of our river cruise on the Northern part of the Mississippi, from St. Paul to St. Louis on American Cruise Lines "Melody". This is our third trip with the gang from D L. Evans Premier Club. (Previously we joined them for Portugal Douro River and Michigan U.P.) There are 37 of us in the group, a few of whom we've known from previous trips. Our "minder" for trip is our good friend Brecka Byers and her husband, Tyler.

We left home about noon and met our group for the 2.25 hr Delta flight to MSP. This airport is HUGE! At the airport we were met by a lady from the tour company, GoNext, who would be with us for the trip.We arrived at the historic St Paul Hotel a bit after 8:00. We look forward to seeing it in the daytime. 

It was too late for for a big meal so we went to the hotel dining room for a cup of soup and wedge salad, which was excellent. (Can't believe how expensive this place is!)

Tomorrow we don't leave for the boat until 10:30 so we'll have time to explore the area.

This is day 3 of the Trump-induced Government shutdown.

Saturday morning walk around St Paul

 

Early morning walk around downtown St. Paul. Bright sun; going to be a hot day! My walk/jog takes me past the old Courthouse, the Catholic Church, some interesting statues of famous people, finally to the Science Musuem with the LONG stairway down to the Riverwalk.

This city looks like its worth a future visit!

Nice breakfast in the hotel dining room. Bus to the ship leaves at about 10:30.

 restored Courthouse event center

Many stairs!

River Walk from science museum

Catholic Church

Saturday, on the River

After the usual safely briefings and getting somewhat acquainted with things, we shoved off at 2:00 and headed South; 90 miles to LaCrosse, WI. It is really hot....and windy! Not comfortable to be out on the decks.

Time to get organized in the cabin. It's a bit bigger than what we've had with Holland. Very nice balcony only for when its cooler! 

This afternoon, our on board "expert lecturer" gave a talk about the river and where we would be going. We were a little blah so we skipped the cocktails hour.

Dinner in the Dining Room tonight featured half rack of lamb, which was delicious! After desert, we went outside to see the ship clear Lock #4, one of 23 we'll go through. (Nothing like our clocks experience on the Duoro!) Followed by another talk about the lumbering industry in the 1800's.

The evening musical entertainment was a young lady singing pop songs to a recorded track. Meh. We went back to the room watch the Mariners play the Tigers.

Tomorrow we explore La Crosse.

Dredge

Sunday in La Crosse, Wisconsin

We woke up this morning at the Riverside Landing in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Weather is still clear and warm, albeit quite windy today. This city park is beautiful! It's very large with lots of lawns, trees, beautiful band shell, awesome eagle statue, and waterfront access. Places for pleasure boats to dock for the day. We will be here all day; in fact, not departing until 11PM.

My before-breakfast walk took me all over the Riverside Park, 1.5 miles. Quick explore though the International Friendshio Garden. Great views of the Mighty Mississippi!

Breakfast was a boring sausage sandwich at the Back Porch Cafe; too late for the dining room! After our showers we went out for a walk. I showed Sam the International Garden, which she really liked. We continued on the path, walked over the bridge over the Black River to the beginning of the Marsh Trails.

Lunch in the dining room. I had a Caesar salad with a big piece of Salmon. Sam had a half order of an Italian Sub.

Our afternoon excursion took us around town with a stop at the historic Hixon House, built by a lumber baron, banker, entrepreneur in the mid 1800s. Very interesting restoration!

Dinner with Idaho friends Donna and Frieda featured Prime rib, which we all thought was excellent.

Tonight's entertainment was Baseball! The Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2!

Tomorrow is a "Sea Day" as we head for Dubuque. Not sure what that will bring!

Hixon House

Monday "Sea Day"

Today was cloudy, cold and rainy most of the day. No worries, we were stuck on the ship all day anyway! We're continuing south and will dock in Dubuque, Iowa late this afternoon.

On board activities included a chocolate dessert "culinary lecture, a talk about wildlife on the Upper Mississippi, and an afternoon showing of "Field of Dreams" (we are after all, in Iowa!).

All our meals in the inning room today. Dinner was "rib eye" steak which was minimal and dissappointing.

Not much to see on the river today. Very little barge traffic, a few locks, several bald eagle sightings.We docked in Dubuque about 4:00, earlier than expected. A rather odd docking procedure, but I assume the Captain had a plan. 

Dubuque seems to be a very noisy place! Long frieght trains on both sides of the river; "tow boats" with long strings of barges make a lot of noise, too.

The weather is supposed to be good for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we'll explore Dubuque.

Tuesday Dubuque, Iowa

Yesterday's rainy weather is gone; this morning is cool and sunny! We spent the day in Dubuque, heading back down the river at 5:00 PM.

We spent the morning exploring the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium which is located a short walk from where the boat is docked. Its adjacent to Ice Harbor, which was originally home to the Dubuque Boat Works. This whole area has been redeveloped over the past 20 years.

It is a spectacular Museum! Quite an accomplishment for a small city of only 50,000 people! It combines river and local history with aquarium displays of river fish varieties. Very well done!

Back to the boat for lunch. A decent hamburger and a bowl of chili from the Back Porch Cafe. We got a report from Tyler who had just returned from an excursion to the Field of Dreams - he really liked it!

After lunch it was time for our excursion which would take us to the Methodist church, the Fenelon Place Elevator/Funicular and the historic Hotel Julien Dubuque.

The Methodist Church was awesome! Famous for its Tiffany stained glass windows. (Louis Tiffany 1848-1933. Charles Tiffany's son, he developed a unique method of embeding color in the glass, rather than painted on) It was finished in 1897. One of the coolest features was the very large "pocket doors" along the left side of the sanctuary. It was explained that they could be opened to make room for the bell choir which would be located in the hallway.

Next stop is the famous 4th Street Elevator. Its a funicular (or incline) built in 1882 by the local banker whose house was on top of the hill. He'd complained that it took so long to get home for lunch, he didn't have time for his nap. So built this incline and had his manservant pull him up and let him down! It was completely rebuilt in 1977, which further upgrades since. It costs $4.00 for a round trip ticket! 

The 2 cars, which work opposite each other, hold 8 people, very tightly! Once at the top, one gets a beautiful view of the city and the river.

Final stop on our tour is the historic Hotel Julien Dubuque, named after the city's founder. Built in the 1880s it was completely restored in thast 20 years. It's beautiful! The story goes that it was popular among "gangsters" from the 1920-30s. It is documented that Al Capone had a private suite on the 2nd floor!

Back to the ship in time for "sail away " at 5:00. After dinner, back to our room to watch baseball! First, the Mariners beat the Tigers handily. The, the damn Yankees won on a comeback vs. the Blue Jays.

Dubuque seems like a cool city! But once again, they have winter here!