(45) Clayton County 6.29.2024 & 7.1.2024

We did a little “sneak peak” of Clayton County on Friday to take a picture with the world’s largest fiberglass strawberry in Strawberry point.

We also had to snap a picture of Elisha in the ladybug to commemorate the last time we were in Strawberry Point when he sat in this same ladybug when he was about 18 months old 😊

 

Also on our way to our Airbnb in Marquette, we couldn’t resist taking a picture with “the Pink Elephant” outside of the Casino Queen Marquette.

We started our “official” time in Clayton County on Saturday, the 29^th, in McGregor. We headed straightaway to Pikes Peak to enjoy some morning views of the Mississippi River.

After some hiking we headed back down to McGregor to peruse the main street. There were so many fun shops, antique stores, boutiques, and food along the main street. Here’s just a few:

 

The Paper Moon

The SpecialTea Room

Rivertown Fine Books

After McGregor is when we did our detour back to Delaware county to go to the ProRodeo Days Parade in Edgewood. We then got back on track with Clayton County and headed to Elkader.

 

Our first stop in Elkader was the Carter House Museum where we actually surprise ran into Travis’ parents who happened to be in the area celebrating his dad’s 70^th birthday! We forgot to take a picture with them, but don’t worry, you might catch a peak of them later 😊

 

The courthouse in Elkader was really beautiful

 

We made it in time to peruse the Turkey River Mall antiques. Unfortunately, the rest of the shops on the main street had already closed.

 

We made sure to go and check out the Jailhouse Inn. This was originally a jail, built in 1870, but it presently is an airbbn you can stay at!

We enjoyed a stroll along the riverwalk.

 

And then we headed to the Elkader Theater to see Inside out 2! Before heading to the movie though we did stop by Wilke’s grocery story—Iowa’s oldest family-owned grocery store.

 

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the lights downtown after the movie.

 
We jump ahead now to Monday, July 1^st. Before leaving our Airbnb, the 1884 red brick cottage, I made sure to snap a picture.

This day in Clayton County was mostly a bust unfortunately as almost everything was closed ☹

 

We started off the day just right with some delicious breakfast at the Marquette Cafe and Bar.

 

We drove down the main street, but all was closed.

 

As was the Depot Museum. We missed it by just about an hour. We were hoping to peruse the shops on the main street so we could go to the depot, but since everything was closed, we just made our way along.

 

We attempted to find the “birth-spot” of the Ringling Brothers, as they were born and had their first circus in McGregor. This is the location, which we think the people who presently live there must know as you can see by the decorations, they have up in their living room window. We were surprised McGregor didn’t have anything else other than a small sign downtown signifying what to us seems like a pretty neat piece of American history.

We attempted to stop and tour the “Froelich Village” which housed the Froelich Depot, the Iron Clad Store and Post Office, the Blacksmith Shop, and the first gas-powered tractor. It was supposed to open at 9am, but when we got there, the sign on the door said 10am. We didn’t want to sit there for an hour so again we made our way along.

 

 

We did decide to stop at this random landmark on the road, the Sherman Swift Tower. Evidently, Althea Sherman, who was a nationally known ornithologist built this chimney specifically to be able to study the chimney swift from her house in Iowa.

We drove through Garnavillo

 

And finally landed in Guttenberg.

We first stopped at the overlook coming into town

and then drove down to the flood waters.

 

We stopped by the welcome center and the Department of Natural Resources Aquarium and Hatchery

Our top attraction was Lock and Dam #10 where we happened to time it just right for a barge to be coming in. We didn’t get to see it make its way out of the dam even after being in Guttenberg for a few hours, but it was still so neat to see the crew guiding it into the lock and dam.

We knew we would have to miss the Lock Master House and Museum as it is not open on Mondays—something we’d for sure like to come back to as it is the last remaining Lock Master House in its original location. 

We attempted to peruse the main street in Guttenberg, but almost everything is closed on Mondays ☹

 

 Rate: 4

Other Things to See/Do:

 

• Flea Market Under the Bridge, Marquette
• Purple Martin Habitat Area, Marquette
• Maiden Voyage Tours, Marquette
• Marquette Depot Museum, Marquette
• Driftless Area Wetlands Centre, Marquette
• McGregor Historical Museum, McGregor
• Lockmaster House Heritage Museum, Guttenberg
• Guttenberg Gallery and Creativity Center, Guttenberg
• Historic Franklin Hotel, Strawberry Point
• Wilder Memorial Museum, Strawberry Point
• The Edgewood Museum, Edgewood
• George Maier Rural Heritage Center, Elkader
• Gear Elkader, Elkader
• Elkader Opera House, Elkader
• Elkader Whitewater Park, Elkader
• Earthmoving Legacy Center, Elkader
• Motor Mill Historic Park and Site, Elkader
• Osborn Visitor, Nature, and Welcome Center, Elkader
• Frieden County Park, Elkader
• Big Springs Trout Hatchery, Elkader
• Garnavillo Historical Museum, Garnavillo
• Froelich Village, Froelich
• Scenic View Ranch, Monona
• Northeast Iowa Visitor Center, Postville
• Historic Volga Opera House, Volga
• Iowa’s largest natural white pine grove, Volga