This is a road trip so we must keep moving. Monday morning (May 12th) after a nice walk around the campground (got to get our steps) we left Pulpit Rock en route to Fargo, ND. Since this route had us traveling through Minnesota we made a not so short stop at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. We will let the pictures tell that story.
Outside the Mall
Inside the mall
The Lego store had these huge creations above it.
Of course we had to visit the M&Ms store. (They’re cheaper at the grocery store.)
The mall has an amusement park inside.
After a good lunch and good time at Mall of America we drove on to Lindenwood Park Campground in Fargo. Lindenwood is nice Fargo city park with great places to walk/run/ride bikes and children’s play areas.
Our sites at Lindenwood Park
This pedestrian bridge that connects two parts of the park can be lifted out of harm’s way when floods threaten.
We left Park Terrace Campground Sunday morning May 11th. Our plan for the day was to drive to Dubuque, IA, arriving about 10am when the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium opened. We arrived a few minutes early and while waiting discovered just how large a museum we were visiting. The museum opened in 2003 and continues to grow. The city of Dubuque is built on the shores of the Mississippi and has experienced horrible flooding over the years. It seems appropriate that Dubuque is the location of the national museum. It is very well done with all sorts of exhibits. Very educational for all ages and there are several areas dedicated to children. In addition to information on the river itself there is also information about life on the river. There is an old Corp of Engineers dredge that can be toured. There is a calliope from an old paddle steamer that has been restored and now played for visitors. There was also a belt driven machine shop from one of the old boat builder companies on display. Much of the equipment still worked. They have freshwater fish aquariums spotlighting the Mississippi River fish and saltwater aquariums. They even have a yellow stingray pool where they allow visitors to gently touch the stingray. It was a fascinating place to visit, and we are so glad Debra scheduled this for us.
This is the strangest looking fish in the freshwater aquarium.
The lion fish is an invasive species, and the strangest looking fish in the saltwater aquarium.
It’s hard to get a good closeup of an active river otter.
The Corps of Engineers dredge boat we toured
Fascinating engine
The pilot house was also known as the hurricane deck.
One of the staff gave us a detailed demonstration of this belt driven machine shop.
Pulpit Rock from our campsite
The trail up included lots of stone steps.
Pulpit Rock up close
Our campsite from Pulpit Rock
The calliope was VERY loud!
After leaving the museum we drove to Pulpit Rock Campground in Decorah, IA. After getting set up on our sites, the four of us decided to hike to the top of Pulpit Rock. It was a fun hike and reminded us of how thankful we are that Randy can now hike with us again. God is so good!
Sorry it has been so long since we posted but we have been so busy having fun traveling. May 9th was a long travel day. We said goodbye to Big Bone Lick State Historic Park (nice park) about 8:00 am Friday morning and made our way across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and landed at Park Terrace Campground in Davenport, Iowa at about 6:00pm. It was a long day. We chose to make it a long day because we had already visited these states. Saturday morning after a good night of sleep, the four of us went to a local restaurant that Randy or Debra had found, The Machine Shed. What a wonderful place to have a Saturday morning breakfast. We all shared one huge cinnamon roll – probably the largest we have ever had, and oh so good! Our breakfasts were also very good but we had to work to clean our plates after having the cinnamon roll as an “appetizer”. If you are ever in Davenport this is a “must do” for breakfast.
We’ve seen a lot of cinnamon rolls in our time.
Yep!
Next on the list for Iowa was the famous Iowa 80 Truck Stop. It is claimed to be the world’s largest truck stop. We don’t know about that, but we do know that is huge. It is located on the eastern edge of Iowa, not far from the Mississippi river close to the town of Walcott. Some call it a Trucker’s Disneyland. In addition to nine restaurants and 24 showers, they also have a dentist, chiropractor, barber shop, a dogamat pet wash, laundry center, movie theater, workout room and of course anything you might need or want for your 18 wheeler.
All of that was great but our favorite part was the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum. We lost count on the number of trucks but they were amazing. Entry is free but they ask for a donation. We almost skipped the museum because we had already spent so much time in the truck stop. So glad we did not miss it and we would definitely recommend the museum.
Inside the museum
An old truck camper in the museum
Our last stop for the day was at Antique Archaeology in Leclaire, IA. We knew it from the American Pickers TV show. Randy and Debra have watched a few of the shows and we went there so we could get some pics to send to their grandchildren. It was a fun way to end our day.
Antique Archeology store
Just to give you an idea of some of the pricing in the store.
On May 8th we left Big Bone Lick State Park at 8am en route to the Creation Museum in Boone, KY. If you are not aware, the Creation Museum is a Christian evangelistic outreach of Answers in Genesis, as is the sister attraction, the Ark Encounter which we visited later in the day. Randy and Debra had visited both the attractions previously, but for Debra it was a while back and there have been many changes since her visit. We were glad that they wanted to visit again today with us as we knew it would be more fun that way. We had never been to either location. We found both the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter to be interesting and well done. We learned some things and we have many pictures of information boards that we want to go back and read. The Creation Museum does just what you would think it would do – it tells the story of the creation of the world as revealed in the first book of the Bible – Genesis. It also covers the end of the perfect world that God created when Adam and Eve sinned.
This sign explains one of the main principles used at the museum.
One of many information panels at the museum
Depiction of the Garden of Eden
Many of the written panels seem to be designed to witness of Jesus’s purpose on earth.
Someone at the museum has a sense of humor.
The Ark Encounter likewise tells the story of Noah and his faithfulness, the building of the Ark and the world after the flood. Both the Creation Museum and The Ark Encounter shared the redemption of the world by the death of Christ on the cross and the resurrection three days later. Again, we felt they were well done. Yes, there was some artistic license taken at times but it was identified as such when it occurred.
The Ark
The creators of the Ark Encounter want visitors to understand that some of the displays show some theoretical ideas and are not to be taken as Gospel.
The ramps up to the decks in the Ark
Some construction detail
What is gopher wood?
Genesis talks about the “kinds” of animal that were in the Ark.
The cages have speakers in them to make it sound they are occupied.
The carpenter shop
We even found some information that might be useful in our study of the Acts.
There is a small zoo at the Ark where we saw this beautiful black crowned crane …
… and this sloth that was moving along pretty fast – for a sloth.
It took us a full day to do both the Creation Museum and The Ark and we did not do any of the “extras” such as movies, zip lines, and much more that is offered. Doing all that is offered would take at least two days. So, after a long day we went back to Big Bone Lick Campground and prepared for a long travel day.
RVing With a Purpose 