Dubuque & Platteville - December 2020

We took advantage of a mutual day off for all 6 of us and headed north to Dubuque and into Wisconsin (Platteville). With these days few and far between, we knew we had to be intentional with our time.

We have acquired a few "traditions" over the last few years for Christmas. One of them is driving to see the lights in Dubuque. "Reflections in the Park" is a drive thru light display in Louis Murphy Park in Dubuque, IA. Since it is almost 90 minutes from our house, we try to plan a day of activities - ending our time at the lights. The last 2 years we've driven to Platteville to enjoy Pizzeria Uno (Chicago style pizza) before heading back into Dubuque. While we still planned to eat there, we made a few other stops first.

Since the weather wasn't terribly cold (a bit windy and chilly, but not too bad), we visited a few areas around Dubuque & East Dubuque (IL) first. One stop was Gramercy Park - a small neighborhood park, overlooking the Mississippi River.  There's a small playground, a short hiking trail, Indian Burial Mounds and a beautiful view of the river!

While the 3 kids ran to the playground, Kaitee & I walked the hiking trail and enjoyed the view. 

Kaitee & I looped back around towards the playground and found the 3 kids having fun on the swings and slide (they decided it would be fun to go down backwards!). They had fun and we were all laughing. It's always nice to see your kids having fun together - esp with 4 very different personalities!

Of course, there is always room for error! Poor Kaitee - at least they helped to soften your fall!

It's not just you Kaitee - I'm noticing a pattern here!!

We left East Dubuque and headed to Platteville. We had 3 stops planned for Platteville - Goodwill, The Big M and Pizzeria Uno for dinner. 

We pulled into the parking lot of the Platteville Goodwill and saw this sign on the parking space beside us.

Unfortunately, our shopping trip was a bust! That doesn't happen very often when we go to Goodwill.

When the kids were younger, we stopped in Platteville at the "Big M" (for Miners). It was great to go back and climb the 266 steps again, as a family. Okay, the climbing SUCKED!!! but you know what I mean!

Lots of baling being done in the fields...You can see the "M" off in the distance on the hillside.

Luckily, there are some "pull offs" (ha) to stop, catch your breath and enjoy the view.  Also, the temperature dropped drastically and the wind was pretty cold!

We left Platt Mound (where the M is) and drove around the countryside a bit - we had a few minutes to burn before Pizzeria Uno opened. Making our way back into town, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of breadsticks, nachos and Chicago deep dish pepperoni! AND BONUS - we got to eat inside!!

We left Platteville and headed south to Dubuque to enjoy the Christmas lights. We weren't disappointed. 

We all enjoyed our day together - good company, good weather, lots of laughs, burning off extra energy, eating delicious food and marveling in the wonderful beauty of Christmas!