The mighty Mississippi

We love long weekends. It was nice to have vacation and then just one full week before another three-day weekend! Saturday we spent relaxing at home, with a little shopping and running thrown in. We wanted to do something on Sunday, but were up in the air about what that something would be. We talked about catching some fun stuff around Madison or going to Milwaukee.

But then I heard an ad on the radio for the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque. I first heard about it last summer, I think, and then forgot about it. It looked really cool, we decided to check it out today!

Of course Allie loves fish so we knew she'd love it.

There were plenty of fish to see! Another big hit for her was the RiverWorks exhibit, where she could play in the water.

The museum is actually two buildings. One was about saltwaters and the other was the fresh water.

 Allie felt right at home and plopped down in front of one of the big tanks.

She also made friends with turtles.

There were so many features here! Another fun part was the Riverboat Museum. Above, Allie and Dada were lifting cargo.

Outside were some wetland areas that were pretty cool to look at. There were also some other intersting river history things that we'll save for our next visit.

It was a nice relaxed day. We weren't in a hurry to get there. It was a nice relaxed trip and then we took our time looking around. All of us were exhausted by the time we left, especially Allie. She did sleep in the car a bit on our way down, but not at all on the way home. She was a trooper though.

One of the things we liked best about this trip was that it wa just so easy. It was a straight shot down highway 151, which goes right next our house. It was such a pretty drive with the hills and the countryside. I snapped a few pictures through the dirty windshield. We saw this letter "M" on the side of a big hill outside Platteville. I'm not sure what it stands for, I'd guess its a farm name.

This was a great trip all around. It was only an hour and 10 minutes. For the price it was awesome. The same museum in Milwaukee or Chicago is double the price (this one is $15 for adults). We still love Milwaukee and Chicago. But we'll definitely come back to the river museum!