Road Trippin'

On Sunday my guy, the kids and I hopped in the car and headed to Galena....I asked if we could sidetrack and go to Dubuque cause there was this store called "Willows" that is always at the Sandwich Flea and has the BEST displays evah! Being the sweetie he is, he said absolutely! While in search of 4th Street, we perused through Main street Dubuque....FOUND Willows (did y'all hear me shout YAHOO!?!) and at the end of the street was this....

Fenelon Place Elevator Co. The SWEETEST lil' midwest OPERATING cable car I've ever seen! Fab story....back in the late 1800's, as the story goes...."in 1882, Dubuque was an "hour and a half town" in that everything shut down in town for that amount of time during the lunch hour. J.K. Graves, an area banker who was a former mayor and state senator, lived at the top of the bluffs. His office, however, was at the bottom. He would go home during the lunch hour, however the trip would take at least half an hour. He liked to eat then take a brief nap, but as he only had 30 minutes he found doing both impossible.

So he came up with the idea of building a railroad from the bottom to the top of the bluff. He approached the city for permission to build an elevator, which was granted. Graves hired John Bell, a local engineer, who built a funicular railway modeled on those in the Swiss Alps. Originally, the cable car, which was built for Mr. Graves' private use, was in a plain wood building, with a coal-fired steam engine boiler and winch. A Swiss style car was lowered up and down on two rails by a hemp rope.

The cable car operated for the first time on July 25, 1882. Graves would have his gardener let him down in the morning, pull him back up at lunchtime, let him back down after lunch and a nap, and finally pull him back up at the end of the day. Soon neighbors began asking Graves for rides."

Isn't that some AWESOME history?!

There were the most AMAZING views from the top....Here's a self portrait of my guy and I.....

While we waited for Willows to open, we went into this sweet lil ice cream shop.....

Peanut Butter filled Piggies (I have NO IDEA where my piggy obsession came from BUT I think they are just adorable!)

Iowa Pig Pops

And TA-DA! Me in front of Willows!

(be impressed it was my guys' idea to take a pic of me in front of the store...isn't that CUTE?!)

Now be disappointed as I am a horrible tourist....didn't take any pics inside the store....I was too enamoured to even THINK about a pic!

Cute sign on Main Street in Galena...and eat we did...HERE

Fried Green Tomatoes....http://www.friedgreen.com/index.cfm

It was DELISH!

Thanks for coming along! WHO knew Dubuque was such a cute lil City?!?! We WILL be going back! Maybe Fall? I bet it's gorgeous there that time of year!