First, a little explanation…I have a ton of pictures but am typing this up on our iPad and it will not cooperate with me copying a picture from Google photos and adding them to the blog. So most likely the first version of a blog may be without pictures, may have placeholders and when I have access to a “real” computer I will add in the pictures! 🙂
We left early Wednesday morning to head to Lock and Dam 1, or the Ford Lock and Dam. Our original plan was to leave on Tuesday, but we wanted to meet Erin and Lucas for dinner and Wednesday evening worked for them rather that Tuesday so we waited the day. We got to L&D 1 early and it was such a pretty day. There was no boat traffic, but we still went up to the upper level observation deck, which provided a straight on view of the lock, which one can usually not get.
(Insert straight on view of the lock)
That was a cool view and as I said one that people don’t normally get to see. From there we went to Lock and Dam #2, which is in Hastings. We had been to this one many years ago when a river boat came down the Mississippi and as it came out of the lock it shined its huge spotlight along the shoreline which was so amazing. Again no boat traffic here, but still a great view.
On to L&D #3 which is in Welch, outside of Red Wing and right at the Treasure Island Casino. That was a drive off the main road of 61, but fun with the curves and Fall colors starting to pop up.
L&D #4 is one of our favorite ones to visit…not only is the viewing platform very nice, but it has a high bridge that goes over the double train tracks which are fun to stand above. This one is in Alma.
Our next stop was 5A, which was really nothing to see at all, this was on the WI side so we went back over to the MN side and visited #5 where we were treated to a barge coming through. This was carrying some kind of fuel, so the smell followed it through the lock. They were only 2 rows of barges so the tow vessel disconnected once all the barges were in the lock and then it parked next to the barges as the gates closed. That was one process that we had not seen before.
(Placeholder: pictures from the L&D 5 where we saw the barge and tow lock through)
We stayed to watch the full process for about 45 minutes. We had actually just about been ready to leave when I saw the barge coming around the corner so we stayed to watch it lock through. I had texted Erin that we were heading to her apartment, but then updated her in that we would watch this one lock through and head over after that.
Erin and Lucas are both attending Winona State University in Winona, finishing their last 2 years of college. Erin is very determined to finish in 4 years rather than drag it on to 5 years as is often done. She is majoring in sales and marketing and Lucas is doing film/graphic design/computer graphics. We first went to see their apartment, which is in the downstairs of a renovated building…in fact right above them is a cannabis business. :-). At first it was strange because they have no windows, but they have organized it so well, they have a lot of space and it is very open concept. Many of the other apartments are students which can be both good and bad at times.
We took them to dinner at an Italian restaurant which was very good. We had a great time visiting with both of them. Erin texted me later and thanked us for stopping cause she was really missing family lately.
We then went to charge and get to our hotel in Onalaska, WI. The weather was perfect and we were pretty successful seeing the L&D’s and seeing some locking.
Hope your days are good…smile!
