Grutz says, "Ya call that a museum? Now this, this is a museum." (In an Australian accent) Pt I.

Looking north along the Mississippi River.

Greetings from Dubuque!  So I'm here to visit with family and friends and to pick up and deliver many household items, currently being stored in Mom's basement, back to 1124 W. 19th St. in Chicago.  I had some spare time so I decided to be Nick Grutz, Chicago Tourist, rather than Nick Grutz, Iowa expatriate.  Next stop, The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium!

Before I go into the finer details of the museum, a little backstory.  I used to work at the museum in the early'00, before the expansion.  While subbing at Central Alt. School back in the day, I had the chance to visit the newly expanded museum with a class.  Now there's a second site on the campus.  All in all, it's a top-notch  museum worthy of a visit.  And their association with The Smithsonian Institute and Shedd Aquarium really shows (read:it's not shabby or half-assed).  

                                                                  Picture time!

Channel catfish as big as me.  Really. Gars and pikes, too.

D-d-d-d-duck!

Nick flowin' the Mississippi on some logs. They're springy!

Playing God - I unleash the power of the river on the unsuspecting farm, cue sinister laugh.

So the museum is all about American waterways, primarily the Mississippi.  The history, ecology, biology, and many other aspects of rivers are covered.  Many of the exhibits are interactive or are recreations of actual items or land forms.  Less talk, more pics!

This the only shot I could get of the alligator.  I thought the rock looked a little odd with the ridges.  Until I realized it was an alligator snapping turtle!  The beastie was the size of a vw bug!  Huge!

Interactive exhibit in which, well, you're......the.......pilot.

Mission control.  Yeah, I navigated the barge out of the lock.  It kind of felt like the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey, really stark.  "I'm sorry Nick, but you have to maneuver the vessel into the channel.  Nick....Nick."

All right, it's late and I have to pack a bunch of gear early tomorrow.  I'll continue part II of this post soon.  ALSO We're (Carleen and I) are still waiting for more comments.  Click on the comment button below, enter anonymous and leave a comment.  I'm still waiting for interesting/fun names of places.  Again, some more examples of unique names of Iowa towns: What Cheer and Elkader (named after an Algerian, Muslim (gasp, the only town in America named after a muslim (don't tell Glenn Beck!) war hero.  Here's a link to a piece about Elkader on WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio)). C'mon you know you want to leave a comment.....