This morning we made sure to get up, packed, fed, and out the door in time to get an early start at the National River Museum and Aquarium. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to tour all of the exhibits, so we were there waiting when they opened at 9AM. The museum was a must-see on my list because of the tie-in to the mission of our tour (to see where the Mississippi River goes and what it does). There were a few interesting exhibits. I liked the turtle exhibit. I like turtles. Who doesn't? There were dozens of different kinds of turtles on exhibit with information about their various unique adaptations. There was also an exhibit about the development and evolution of steamboats and their use on the Mississippi. Finally, they have a diesel-powered steam dredge boat. The dredge boat has an enormous steam-powered pool vacuum attached to it that sucks up the muck from the bottom of the river and pipes it up on to dry land.
We left the museum around noon and stopped for lunch in Bellevue, IA and then visited Bellevue State Park. Bellevue State Park has a butterfly sanctuary (or really, just a butterfly garden). In any case, that was the draw for us. So, we stopped to see what we could see. There were some plants flowering, but not a lot of butterflies at the moment (I saw only two different kinds). The kids, however, discovered that the pond in the center of the butterfly garden was full of frogs and tadpoles. So, that pretty much made up for any lack of butterflies.
Next, we tried to go to the Havencrest Castle in Savannah, IL. However, the address we had did not lead the GPS to lead us to the correct spot. We wandered around in the van. We wandered around on foot. But, no luck. Finally, in a fit of desperation, I called Havencrest to see how I could find them. But, they were already closed for the night (by 3:45!), so, no luck. (As a consolation, I did find a golf ball embedded in the sidewalk. Almost as good.)
Desparing that everything on the River Road opens so late and closes so early, we continued on. With what little time we had remaining before 5, we decided to try the sights in Fulton, IL. We visited Heritage Canyon (replica and rebuilt buildings of an earlier day in the Fulton area) and the Dutch windmill. Heritage Canyon was impressive because of the number of buildings housed on the site (this was someone's personal passion, not put on by a historical society) and the number of artifacts (or antiques) in each of the buildings. One notable example was a dentist's office that was filled with old dental equipment (dental chair, various instruments, something that looked like it might be an old X-Ray machine). But all of the buildings were full of antiques appropriate to their purpose. I can't imagine how much time and money must have been required to put this exhibit together.
When we were done in Fulton, we visited Riverside, IA which is either 30M or 1H off the GRR, depending upon how you measure it. As we are measuring it tonight, it is 1H off the Great River Road. Why Riverside, IA? Because it is the future birthplace of James T. Kirk. Unfortunately we are missing Trekfest, which I believe is weekend after next. We saw the USS Riverside (which looks like it must be something they tow in parades) and a birthstone (? it looked like a headstone for a grave, not sure what you call the thing that marks a future birth site) for James T. Kirk tucked back behind one of the businesses. We heard rumours that there was also a marker at the future conception site for James Kirk which happened to be at the bar where we had dinner (the smoked Iowa Chop at Murphy's is fantastic, by the way, tastes like a bacon chop). It was supposedly under the pool table. However, I paid Ira $1 to go check it out and he came back with photographic evidence that it didn't exist.
Now, we are headed back to the GRR. We are sleeping in Davenport, IL tonight so we are near the sights we plan to see tomorrow.
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