Our MOILIA photo trip
We enjoy taking short back-road driving trips throughout the Midwest. Our latest photo excursion was along the Mississippi river in Illinois, Iowa, and back home to Missouri.
Our first night was spent in the Quad cities with a visit to the Rock Island Arsenal and other historic sites. We crossed the river and ate dinner in East Davenport Village, a lovely hamlet right on the river. There are a handful of shops and restaurants with a ball field right in the middle of it all. That’s what I call a village.
From there we followed Hwy 84 along the river up to Hwy 20 where the rolling country begins and headed into Galena. This is beautiful country and one of the former homes to president Grant. Some of the images from his home are on this post. We ate lunch at the Market House restaurant and I had the best gluten-free desert ever. It was a lemon poppy cake with ice cream and lemon mayo cream sauce. I can still taste it! If you’re ever in Galena and need a place to eat, try the Market House.
Next stop was Dubuque, IA. Why Dubuque? Why not? We’ve never been there. It’s a nice river town going through transition and has old Americana charm mixed with touches with modernity. We even paid our two bucks and rode the 4th Street elevator. (photo below) Following the river on Hwy 52 we came into Bellevue, IA. This is one of the most well kempt and picturesque small towns we’ve seen. It looks like a setting fresh out of the The Sound of Music. I was expecting to hear Julie Andrews belt out in song!
From there we headed back down the river and stopped at the Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village. We love places like this. So does my camera. There were 22 buildings that date back to the early 1800s. All were kept in great shape and contained many relics and tools of the by-gone trades.
We heard a lot of nice things about Leclaire, IA so over we went. This is home to Antique Archaeology – you know them as the American Pickers. Mike says, “hello.” The local visitors guide said AA was instrumental to the revival of this small town just north of the Quad cities.
Out last overnight stop was in Muscatine at the Merrill Hotel – which was right on the riverfront. Lovely place, but $16 for a small bag of cashews is a bit much. I’ll stick with my bag of Planters for $1.99.
After three days of driving we were pretty tired, so the next night would be in our own bed!
I’ve included some of my snaps below. Usually when I’m “seeing” a composition a metaphor pops into my head. That’s just kind of how I go through my photographic process. And, most of those are sacred by nature. Whether you identify any or not, that’s entirely up to you. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the post and pics. Images that are for sale will be in my Galley 3.
Thanks for reading,
Hal
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