Hannibal is a must see for every Riverlorian. For this trip, we used this quintessential river town as a jumping off point and only spent a few waking hours there. After arriving, we took a stroll around town and enjoyed the live music and active night life before making the climb up 244 steps to the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse. In daylight, I am sure this is a magnificent view. At 10:00 PM, all we accomplished were very sore knees the next morning.
Bright and early the next morning, we slowly made our way up to Le Claire, Iowa by taking the Great River Road. This route weaves in an out of river towns and gives glimpses of the Mississippi River along the way. My goal was to stop at as many historical markers and out of the way places as our time allowed.
In Keokuk, IA we toured the George M. Verity. The friendly volunteers were opening everything up for the day when we arrived and offered us a guided tour. This vessel is much like a smaller version of the William M. Black located in Dubuque, IA or the Captain Meriwether Lewis, located in Brownville, NE. Admission is $4 per adult and well worth the stop, even if just for a chance to stretch your legs.
Up the road about 30 minutes, we detoured through Nauvoo, IL. By this time, it was almost 10:00 and tourists were already roaming the streets and enjoying carriage rides. This historic town has been on my list to visit for quite some time, although we only spent around 30 minutes walking around. Since I am not Mormon, I felt a little out of place and would recommend various other historic towns for a visit over this one (see the Amana Colonies description in a future post). My favorite photo opportunity in town was this replica ferry boat once used to transport the wagons across the river to start their journey on the Mormon Trail.
Soon, we came to Burlington, IA and Muscatine, IA. While we didn’t get any pictures, I recommend a drive down Snake Alley in Burlington.
Finally, we made it to Le Claire with about an hour and a half to explore before boarding the Riverboat Twilight.
The American Pickers show seems to have made this a popular place for day trips. Normally, I try to steer clear of touristy places, but this town is well worth a few hours of your time. We did make a quick tour of Antique Archaeology, mainly for bragging rights. If you are looking for a warehouse full of antiques, look elsewhere as you will mainly find souvenirs now.
We purchased some flavored garlic olive oil and mushroom pasta at the Le Claire Olive Oil company before touring the Buffalo Bill Museum located right on the river and next to the dock. To be honest, I didn’t look at any of the Buffalo Bill exhibits as there wasn’t anything unique. Most of the antiques and artifacts are in every small town museum I’ve been through. We really paid the $5 to tour the Lone Star Stern Wheeler! This wood hulled boat was used from 1869 to 1889 and makes one imagine why most wooden boats had a short life span. One can easily dream about the constant creaking these boats would have constantly made. The museum has built an addition to house the boat and protect the wood from the elements, which makes it a great place to escape the summer heat.
The Buffalo Bill Museum also houses several model boats. As I am also a collector of dollhouses and miniatures, I snapped several pictures and below is one of my favorite.
Now it was time to board the Riverboat Twilight. Stay tuned for a future post!
Stacks & Packs 