Three Faces of Iowa

Spirited Dubuque
Dubuque sits on the eastern edge of Iowa, on the Mississippi River, a good five-hour drive from the Twin Cities. With a population of 62,000, as well as several colleges and a university, it offers enough to see and do to occupy families or history buffs for a four-day weekend—at least. And the bluff-laden scenery is stunning, rivaling anything you’ll see in southeastern Minnesota.

Modern-day attractions give credence to Dubuque’s boast that it’s a “Masterpiece on the Mississippi.” From the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino to the Park Farm Winery in nearby Bankston to the Tabor Home Vineyards and Winery in nearby Baldwin, the city offers perhaps the most diverse attractions in Iowa.

But the less flashy attractions honoring Dubuque’s roots, which date back to the 1780s, are worth visiting too. For dramatic scenery, don’t miss the Julien Dubuque Monument high atop the city. It’s part of the Mines of Spain—the area’s original moniker—State Recreation Area. The Fenelon Place Elevator, “the world’s shortest, steepest railway,” recalls an era when the city shut down for ninety minutes every day at noon so workers could go home for dinner. A former mayor lived on top of the bluff, and it took him so long to get home by carriage, he built a cable car straight up the steep hill. The attraction, which has endured several fires over the decades, is open from April through November. From the hilltop, you can see three states; bicyclists also use the lift.

Don’t miss the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium or the Dubuque Museum of Art. The city also offers numerous galleries, a dinner theater, symphony orchestra, and Five Flags Theater. We started our visit with a strictly-for-tourists trolley tour—a narrated, one-hour ride through the city. Catch it at 4th and Bluff Streets downtown daily at 12:15 p.m.

Traveling without the children? Dubuque claims more bars per capita than any other city in the nation. I had the family in tow, so the Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark was more our style (866-690-4006). The “25,000 square feet of wet fun” here didn’t rival anything my kids experienced in Wisconsin Dells, but it sufficed after a long day of sightseeing.