Going Up...

With the brewery slowly disappearing in the rear view mirror, the we headed west through the hills of western Wisconsin under the direction of Lish.

As the rain and the curves in the road steadily increased, the anticipation of the next stop slowly grew. Would we be heading into the northern woods or to the plains of Iowa? We would soon find out.

But first, the "womenfolk" of Mineral Point drew our attention. If you were the wife of a hungry miner looking for lunch how would you let him know when it was ready? Smoke signals? Dinner Bell? An elaborate system of pulleys and ropes? Nope, the women of Mineral Point used a much easier system - which also lended it's name to their neighborhood -Shake Rag. To signal their husbands they would simply shake rags to call their husbands home.

After this short side trip we continued to head west. As the Mississippi drew near we all now knew that our next destination would be in Iowa.

Slowly we weaved our way up the hills of Dubuque, our next stop was still a mystery to all but Lish. As we entered an eerie neighborhood the concern grew. "Who is getting shot?!?" quipped Beets, as we pulled up to a small house well over a century old.

As the travelers piled out of the car, it finally became clear where our next local was:

The Fenelon Elevator Company.

Built in 1882, The Fenelon Place Elevator was the brainchild of J.K Graves, a former mayor and state senator of Dubuque who lived on the top of the hill, but worked on the bottom. With the completion of the elevator Mr. Graves' commute went from a 30 minute buggy ride to a 3 minute elevator trip.

As the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway, it has carried over 8.5 million passengers over the past 127 years and has also appeared in such theatrical thrillers as F.I.S.T.

After each paying our $2, we all loaded in to the elevator. After a slow descent we spilled out in to downtown Dubuque.

As we wandered the streets, everyone was very impressed with the numerous coffee shops and boutiques that lined the streets. Although tempted by an elementary school's production of the Ugly Duckling at the Grand Opera House, we knew our time was running short in this fair city.

We quickly made our way back to the elevator and Lish pulled the cord to signal the operator we were ready to make our ascent.

As we all squeezed back into the car, we all agreed we were 2 for 2. As we head south under the direction of Chris, we hope to make it 3 for 3!