MY FAVORITE MUST FALL JOURNEY!

      Being the second week-end in October,  it was supposed to be the perfect time to few the fall foliage in northeast Iowa. We were a week early possibly, but, this was our week to go and away we went.

     It was October 10th and we we were first headed straight to the Mississippi River and heading north on the Illinois side up highway 84. The whole idea of heading this way was to stop at a little quaint cafe for a mid morning breakfast in Albany. That was going to be my high point of the morning along with going through the Palisades State Park just north of Savannah. The Cafe was closed for good. How could they! My trips foundation was built around this destination for breakfast and a close-up view of Old Man River. 

      Well, second choice was at Fulton, Illinois and a BBQ lunch outdoors at the Fulton Meat Market near the River, sitting outdoors on a sunny yet cool day. It wasn't according to game plan, but, a very enjoyable lunch.

     From there we headed up to Palisades and across the bridge just north of Savannah and over to the island town on the Iowa side of Sabula.If you never been in this little river town you must check it out sometime.

      We headed north to Dubuque along scenic highway 52 which we had taken before only the other way going home one time. There are very few homes, farms, or buildings of any kind along this stretch.  Just a lot of beautiful rolling hillsides and lots of beautiful trees.

      Once north of Dubuque, we crossed over into Wisconsin and traveled the rest of the way to Prairie de Chien along the Great River Road. We had never taken that route before and actually got onto some county roads which took us through some state park area. It was very scenic looking back across the river and beautiful bluffs on the Iowa side near the Balltown area of Iowa just north of Dubuque.

      After arriving in Praire de Chien and not finding accommodations, we just decided to
head down through McGregor and view what we came to see in the first place-Pikes Peak and the amazing and beautiful overview of the Mississippi River. I never get tired of that view. The foliage, I have seen better, but, it is always worth the trip. I will always say that is one of the top 20 views in all of the USA!

     From there we decided to just head home. We did view one of the most colorful sunsets that evening that either one of us had seen for some time. Lots of deep reds across the entire western skyline and with the setting made for spectacular silhouettes of farm building sand scenery.  Until next year. We will be back!