Laurie arrives!
As I suspected we are the sole occupants of this arts and crafts mansion on a bluff in the wood high above the Mississippi on the outskirts of Dubuque, which is a little spooky but also kind of fun because we wandered through all the bedrooms, admiring the heavy wood craftsman furniture, the pretty bedspreads and elegant rugs, the little window seats and well-appointed living spaces. I can add the Four Mounds estate in Dubuque to my list of sort of creepy inns where we have been the sole occupants. Others include a b&b in Mendocino with Dirck and an inn in Eureka Springs with Francine. My sister Laurie is being the good sport tonight.
I picked her up at the Quad Cities airport where the Megabus/Windstar from Chicago dropped off and we drove up the Great River Road along the Mississippi, which I haven’t traveled in years.
Dubuque view
Fenelon Place Elevator, Dubuque
It was grey, chilly and still brown on the ground but there were sights worth seeing including huge barges and riverboats on the river, the hipster Antique Archaeology store in LeClaire (owned by the folks who have the popular American Pickers show on the History Channel); the view of the lock and dam from on high at Bellevue State Park, the old stone church and cemetery and Way of the Cross in the tiny Luxembourger village of St. Donatus and the one of a kind Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque.
Baby Benji — my cousin’s so sweet four-month-old son- was the highlight of (and reason for) my trip to Venice but I was reminded of how cool and pretty and pricey this seaside community is. I loved strolling along the narrow pedestrian-only lanes of the Places, “walk streets” each lined with usually small (but sometimes large) houses, some old bungalows and cottages (my favorite) or sleek flat-faced modern newcomers, most with gorgeous overgrown foliage and lush colorful flowers. (Nowita, Marco, Amoroso Places)
I had a delicious (but almost $20) Niçoise salad and green apple lemonade ($4 but u was relieved to learn, after-the-fact that the refill was free) at trendy Superba Bar and Grill. I drove around until I found Rose Street, which I decided was the emerging area I visited a few years ago. It appeared to still be emerging.
I also wandered a little along Abbott Kinney, window shopping and people watching and since I happened to park around the block from the superb ice cream shop Salt & Straw, I decided it was a sign from above and had a large (almost $5) scoop of “freckled woodblock chocolate,” which was delicious although I didn’t really understand the name. (I choose it in part because it was the rare chocolate flavor without salt as a touted ingredient.)
“Mister Ed” fans take note: you can see Mr. Ed’s descendants up close and personal, in the small backyards of the Rancho area of Burbank, where residents (and day trippers) on horseback are so common along the wise suburban streets leading to Griffith Park’s more rugged Cowboy-esque terrain that some of the buttons to push at the crosswalks are high enough for riders to reach.
Road trip Day #1 from Albuquerque! The theme was Pueblos. First stop the Pueblo Culural Center in Albuquerque, a pleasant southwest adobe building with interesting exhibits on the history, art and culture of the Pueblos, primarily in New Mexico. Good gift shop and nice looking restaurant too. Then we drove about an hour west through flat range country with giant buttes. mesas and other-worldly rock formations rising from the ground like strange abstract sculptures. Tumbleweeds blew, rather than tumbled, across Interstate 40. Unfortunately, Acoma Pueblo was not open to visitors when we arrived. Winter hours. But we could see a few adobe houses atop the Mesa where about 15 families still live. Off season was not a bad time to see it (from a distance, if not up close and personal) because you could get a sense of the isolation. It’s way out and up there. We drove on a two Lane highway up to an overlook atop a rock outcropping where a few native Americans were selling pottery from their car.
TakeBetsywithyou 