CRUISING THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI
We have taken pleasure in Viking River Cruises in Europe several times. This year we chose to try an American Cruise Line tour. We sailed the Upper Mississippi River on the “American Serenade.”
The Historic Hotel of America’s “St. Paul Hotel” began our adventure with an overnight stay and dinner. Much to our surprise and delight, we “bumped” into our terrific Florida friends, Cam and Mercedes Snyder. What fun we had enjoying Happy Hours and many dinners together that week.
The American Cruise Line ships are designed for comprehensive river exploration. While each ship has the largest-in-appointments, their low guest capacity makes each of their riverboats the smallest on the Mississippi River. These ships are able to remain running in both high and low water.
The next day we sailed away on the mighty Mississippi, the object of history, art and folklore that has been capturing American hearts for generations. The river is an astounding 2,350 miles long.
From Minneapolis to Granite City, Illinois, the Mississippi contains a series of 29 locks and dams. They were constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1932 to 1940. This day we passed through locks #4 and #5, and the following day we docked at La Crosse, Wisconsin … lovely city. We set out on the “local loop” to hop on and off! We visited the Dahl Auto Museum to study beautifully restored classic Fords. The next stop was to the antique center in the 100-year-old concert building. Following lunch, we joined a group and boarded the LaCrosse Queen paddlewheel.
On day 4 of our trip, we enjoyed a quiet day of cruising the river that was essential to the development of our country. As Americans started to move west, the fertile banks of the river attracted settlers. In passing through locks #10 and #11 we also saw several barges. In order to safely navigate and control their movements, barges are pushed rather than pulled to their destination by towboats. The typical cargo of these flat bottom boats is grain, coal, salt, petroleum products, rock and steel.
Dubuque, Iowa was the port of call for the next day. The excursion to Dyersville, about 26 miles outside the city, was “soooo” much fun! Think “Field of Dreams” … “If you build it, he will come.” Released in 1989, this movie inspired millions and became an Academy Award nominee for Best Picture of the year. We explored the baseball field, the magical corn field (with a Ghost Player conversation) and toured the farmhouse in which the movie was filmed.
Returning to Dubuque, we experienced a ride on the Fenelon Elevator built in 1863. This funicular cable car took us up to see a stunning view of the city.
The sixth day we took it easy and then hopped on the Davenport local loop. We found the Mississippi Spoon Gallery, which contains the world’s largest collection of antique and souvenir spoons. Every spoon tells a story and this museum boasted 38,162 spoons! As a “spoon collector” I am very thrilled with my collection of 350 but this array of multiple spoon collections was amazing!!
Up next was Mark Twain Day in Hannibal, Missouri. There we visited the Mark Twain riverboat, the Becky Thatcher house, Twain’s boyhood home, and the Laura Hawkins house.
Our final day was all about Lewis and Clark. Making port in Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis, we walked in the famous explorers’ footsteps. We toured the historical museum site, dedicated to the planning and journey of these two great explorers and their corps of engineers. The special highlight there was in admiring an impressive cutaway of their 55-foot full scale replica keelboat.
This American Cruise Line journey down the upper Mississippi certainly enlightened us concerning historical events in our own country, and in the future we look forward to another to taking another to continue our education.
