One thing we wanted to do in Red Wing which we were unable to do yesterday was visit the Pottery Museum. Since it didn't open until 9:00 AM, we decided to meet for breakfast at 7:30 instead of our usual 7:00 AM. Breakfast at the hotel was slightly disappointing, the City of Red Wing still has some Covid rules which prevents the Hotels from serving a hot self serve breakfast. This had not been a problem in the more rural areas of Minnesota. There was plenty to eat, we just missed the hot eggs, bacon, waffles, etc.
After breakfast, I went for a walk and was delighted to find a nice park only about a quarter mile from the hotel. I was able to get in a brisk 30 minute walk before coming back, loading up and getting on our way.
Problems began almost immediately. Although it was only a 5 minute drive to the Museum, we twice encounter road closures which required detours. The 5 minute drive became a 20 minute drive, but the Museum was worth it.
These are the largest jugs I have ever seen, no idea how you would pour from one...
This gentleman is Jay Carlson, a 74 year young volunteer at the museum. We enjoyed talking with him not only about the pottery but the area history and his experiences. In our talk, we discovered that the Barn Bluff we hiked up yesterday was once owned by his great-great-grandfather who immigrated from Sweden. The city now owns the bluff.
After leaving the museum we decided we would go visit the levy where river cruise ships dock, since it was on our way out of the city. Red Wing is the northern most port where boats of any size can dock. Well, as it turned out we were again foiled by road closures and another 5 minute drive became 15 minutes.
A lady at the Museum told us they were excited that River Cruises were starting back up. They have a two year contract with Viking Cruises for pottery demonstrations for the travelers. It will mean a great deal to the area financially.
Carl doing one of the things he enjoys most...
We finally got started with our days' travel. I usually do the navigating and was shocked when I began studying the written directions for the River Road Route (since you can't just put it in Google maps) and it showed the distance was almost 100 miles farther than we had thought. As a result we felt the need to cut our stops to a minimum. (as it turned out, the written directions were incorrect)
We did take a short break at an overlook near Goose Island. At this juncture of the river it is more like a lake. Quite wide but shallow.
A little further down the road past the "island" the river really opened up into what is known as Lake Pepin.
We arrived in Dubuque, IA around 4:00 PM. After a brief rest we went out for dinner. Our first choice was the Texas Roadhouse which was only about a half mile away but the wait was over an hour. We then tried the Olive Garden and were able to be seated in about 15 minutes. The meal was good, plans are made for tomorrow, the blog is written and it's time for bed. :)
Until tomorrow...
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