The weather has been very nice and unseasonable, if we make it to 80 degrees this late in October, we tend to take advantage of it. My GF wasn't going to waste the whole afternoon watching football and after a bit of the Arizona/Minnesota game we decided to drive down 151 to Dubuque. I've been thinking about going up there to let her see first hand what the big deal about the town but decided to spare her on the going to the record stores. I did that a couple days ago. And had better luck finding cd's at the Platteville Goodwill Store.
This time of year the fall foilage is perfect. To see the reds, yellow and greens of the trees overlooking the Mississippi is why everybody goes to this area this time of year. And it didn't disappoint although I may have missed the Platteville foilage by about a week. Dubuque still has CDs 4 Change and Moondog Music and Moondog had the latest Jayhawks and Cults at cheaper prices than Best Buy. Dubuque also has better Chinese Buffets, with Lucky Star next to CDs 4 Change, at least their macaroni and cheese is better made than Green Leaves. Nevertheless, I took a few pictures of passing trains across the Mississippi to which the BNSF line is always busy going from East Dubuque to Wisconsin. And the river has been quite down so it was easy getting to the edge of the riverbank and taking some pictures of the foilage in process.
On the second trip, Nicole seemed to be lot more interested in the Aquarium that is located in the Port Of Dubuque but we got there a little later than usual but she did manage to take some pictures of sea animals and seeing the beaver putting on a show with his little tricks and driving into the water and coming back up. We settled on going to the old Dubuque Star Brewery, that is now a sports bar. Nice to go take a look at but make no mistake it is a tourist trap. Gotta 12 dollar Star Burger, which had a great Bar B Q sauce to go with it. However I wasn't too impressed with the gay waiter who did a shit job waiting on us to the point he didn't get a tip. Look it's simple; I pay 2.75 for a GD Pepsi, I expect a refill or two. For that Flamer Boy got a tip due to the cost of the one time Pepsi and didn't bother to refill it. Basically most of the waiters and waitress sucked a lot too but Booji Boy got the wrath. Tip of the day Brandon, if you want a tip, fill the damn glass up with Pepsi. Still, The Dubuque Star Brewery and Eatery remains a go to place just to see their massive beer can collection in the ground floor. And of course the famous shot tower next to it which one should seek out when your in the Que City.
I think Nicole was fine with going there but I don't think she cared much for the hills and all these homes on top or on the side of the hills. If somebody tells you Iowa is flat, they never been to Dubuque. It's kinda like a mini San Francisco, with winding roads up and around the downtown area. Fun to see but not so much in the wintertime when your trying to get up those ice and snow covered roads that town is famous for. In this day and age Dubuque has actually been a better place to be in terms of record stores and oddities than Waterloo or Des Moines or even Iowa City although Davenport still has a Big Lots and Cracker Barrel. If nothing else, it was just a trip to get out of the house and at least showed the girlfriend that there's more to this place than just corn, cold and snow.
But if you do decide to go to Dubuque and the Port where the casinos and Star Brewery is at, bring plenty of cash. You're going to need it.
