Greater little town - Le Claire, IA

Just for the record... this is one of my favorite towns.

Some of the many highlights are
1. the Green Tree

There is a fabulous display telling the story of this tree at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Claire.  Part of that display is a huge section of the tree showing all the 220 rings.

2. River Pilot homes - self guided tour. Before the lock and dams were built on the Mississippi River there were very treacherous sections.  One of those sections stretched several miles past Le Claire.  In order for passage, a ship had to hire a river pilot to take them over the treacherous area.  Lots of the river pilots lived in Le Claire.  Making $10 in gold per day, gave those river pilots the fortune to build spectacular homes.  Here are three on the tour.  The first photo is currently home to a fabulous restaurant serving lunch & dinner called "Crane & Pelican".  Obviously, it is open to the public.  The bottom photo is of another pilot home currently open to the public, too.  It houses a gift shop. (FUN).  The owners live with their 3 sons on the top floor.  Like most of the homes on the tour, the middle photo is currently a private home, so no looking inside.  But so much fun to read the history of these home & imagine life from 1850 - 1870 in Le Claire, IA.

http://www.leclaireiowa.gov/Tourism/river_pilots.htm

Private home

Grasshopper's and the Vintage Vine Wine Cellar

3. Lone Star Tugboat- photos & such listed in yesterday's post.

4. Crane & Pelican - Pie -  Bob had key lime and I had warm cherry.  Both were fantastic (yes, I tasted the key lime).  Bob said his key lime was the best key lime pie he had ever tasted.  My cherry was just like grandma always made, but it was a much bigger piece that grandma would give me.

http://www.craneandpelican.com/

5. Kernal Cody's Popcorn Shoppe - we weren't too creative in our choice (caramel corn with peanuts) but it was better than any ordinary caramel corn. 20 different flavors... one interesting flavor I noticed was PB & J.  (peanut butter & jelly)  Hmmmm?, maybe next time. Chocolates, too.  http://kernelcodyspopcorn.com/

6.  Lots of interesting shops... See Bob at Bob's Antiques with his new fishing buddy.

http://www.visitleclaire.com/shopping.html



7.  Tug Fest - we didn't actually experience "Tug Fest" but it would be really fun to watch. In August, the river is closed down to traffic for 1/2 a day.  A huge rope is stretched across the Mississippi from Port Byron, IL to Le Claire, IA and each team pulls for the tug-o-war. That would be something to see. http://www.tugfest.com/iowa3

There are so many fun things in this town, I'm sure I've forgotten a few, so just drive over and see them for yourself. Interstate 80 is only about 1.5 miles south of downtown Le Claire, so it is a very easy drive.

The marina at Le Claire gets very busy on the weekends so we need to move on.  We'll be heading about 7 miles south to Bettendorf in the morning.  What will we find in Bettendorf?  Warmer, sunnier skies, I hope.