Signs of the Season!

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What a difference a week makes! Just returned from a week near Holcomb, Wisconsin, where all the maples are in full red bloom. When I left La Crosse, it was mid-summer… 80 degrees, bluffs were green and the corn was high.

Upon arriving in Holcomb, just south of Ladysmith, I had the curious experience of viewing fall color, but being taken aback. It took a moment as I absorbed the colorful reflection in the still Chippewa Flowage… “Ah yes! Fall color!” 

Upon return to La Crosse, I see the corn leaves have yellowed and there is just a hint of color. Go to our home page, www.greatriver.com to access our FALL COLOR HOTLINE.

Overnight Cruises on the Mississippi?

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With Fall Color about to burst on the Upper Mississippi, I often get inquiries about how to find an overnight cruise on the river now that the steamboats are not operating. I just received an email about a two-day cruise from The TWILIGHT, a boat built by Dennis Trone and operating out of Le Claire, Iowa.  Check out their website at www.riverboattwilight.com 

“Please join us for our very affordable, 2 -Day Overnight Mississippi River Cruise! Our 2-Day Cruise is only $329 and includes:
All Meals, Snacks, plus complimentary Coffee, Tea & Lemonade
On-Board Entertainment
Overnight Accommodations at the Riverfront Grand Harbor Resort
Admission to the Iowa’s #1 Tourist attraction:
The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
For more information, got to our website at www.riverboattwilight.com. We look forward to seeing you in 2009 and sharing our Mississippi River experience!”
Carrie & Captain Kevin Stier

The smaller boats, like the Twilight, the JBS, or the Spirit of Peoria on the Illinois River, incorporate hotel stays with shore trips and overnight hotel stays. The passenger still enjoys long lazy days on the river.  The JBS, unfortunately is not operating this summer.

Fishing at the Genoa (WI) Barge

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Mark Clements just sent us a fishing report from the barge near the Genoa Lock & Dam. For Pix, www.greatriver.com/fishing/fishreport.htm

Fishing has been pretty good the last few days, especially in the morning hours. Afternoons have been slow, but in the morning we are catching walleye, sauger and catfish. A few bluegills but not too many right now. Up on the wall getting some whitebass on jigs or spinners. The walleye and sauger have been small, but several people have been able to get some eaters to take home. Mainly on minnows, or jigs tipped with minnows. Live bait has been the best bet though. Catfish have come in on worms, catfish bait or some live bait for mudcat.

Visitor BOOK Suggestions

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olmanriver_2001We’ve had suggestions for TWO reminiscent books this week that we thought would interest our readers.

OL’ MAN RIVER by Capt. William D. Bowell, founder of Padleford Packet Boat Company, in MPLS/St. PAUL covers much of an adventurous and accomplished life. Capt. Bowell is the founder of the Passenger Vessel Association, and the winner of the National Rivers Hall of Fame Achievement Award. His Captain William Bowell River Library opened in 2004 at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa.

My husband has enjoyed reading about the Captain’s early days when he parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  “This man is a genuine hero,” he told me. OL’ MAN RIVER is available from  Afton Press website at www.aftonpress.com.

sweetstewsmallThe other is “SWEET STEW: an Alaskan Tale” by Kay M. Rutherford and available soon in our online Giftshop at www.greatriverarts.com/shopping.

Kay and her husband raised two babies in remote Alaskan bush locations… first on the Aleutian Islands and then in an Eskimo village on Barter Island. The book is filled with stories and pictures of family life in one of the most remote places in the world.

Abundant Pelicans on Pool 8, March 22

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Pelicans on Pool 8American White Pelicans are again clustering on Pool 8.  Interesting to note that in 2008, I noted that on March 23 the pelicans were back to Pool 8 en masse. Please comment for us on where else you are seeing them!

A long-time river rat living on Grey Cloud Island observes that the migrating pelicans cluster behind the melting river ice  to feast on the winter kill of fish as they work their way into northwestern Minnesota. So they congegate in specific areas until the ice further north has melted.

While we have many American white pelicans who stay for the summer, now is a great time to watch them as many thousands slowly make their way up the river.

Sandhill Cranes and SPRING in the valley.

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crex-meadow-sandhill-11-copy1I had an Australian friend who never understood why spring was such a joy to those of us in the Upper Midwest—until she visited here in Winter.

Yesterday the sun was out, the wetlands were wet instead of icy and the Sandhill crane pair were “walking the land” as they do every spring. Normally they arrive with the yearling from last year, but this year there are only two. When they walked into the bottomland forest, our new resident eagle flew out! It was a great moment of birding on the farm.

I’m curious now to see whether nesting will be delayed this year by the slightly later spring (normally they are on the nest by April 5). And I wonder how they will feel about raising young with a pair of adult bald eagles hunting in the same bottoms.

Something unique! Condos on the River.

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Thought you might find this blurb interesting….

The floating condo city, the Marquette, is the newest addition to the extensive and comprehensive real estate inventory available at Condo.com.  It is envisioned that the 600-foot-long, 108-foot-wide vessel formed by four barges will be topped with 185 to 200 condos, which will travel 6,600 miles along the Mississippi River, connecting rivers and intracoastal waterways annually.

Thirty crew members will join the 350 residents aboard The Marquette, which boasts a long, open-air center atrium complete with plants, benches and six elevators for accessing the vessel’s various levels. Each condo, ranging from 528 to 924-plus square feet, is complete with a private waterfront balcony and will be able to access high-definition television as well as high-speed Internet.

Costs will range from estimated prices of $54,600 for two months spent in a 528-square-foot condo to a full year at $499,000 in a 924-square-foot residence; Homeowners’ Association fees are an additional cost and pay for staff salaries, port fees and insurance costs.

Isn’t that the darndest thing?

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Here’s the scoop on the Delta Queen.

Delta Queen Steamboat to be Floating Hotel in Chattanooga

Updated: Jan 27, 2009 06:43 PM CST

 

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) – The historic Delta Queen riverboat will call Chattanooga home for a while, as a floating hotel. The leader of a grassroots organization to save the Delta Queen, Vicki Webster, emailed the Channel 3 Eyewitness Newsroom on Tuesday afternoon.

Ambassadors International, Inc. has announced that they have chartered the boat to a company in Chattanooga for use as a hotel.

In a message sent to the boat’s supporters, Webster said, “Our mission is to make sure that indeed, this is a temporary move and the Delta Queen will soon be back in operation, plying the entire Mississippi River system as she has done proudly and safely for 60 years.””

The Delta Queen has been nominated for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2009 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America. The final selections will be announced in April.

Webster said, “There is only one remaining example of the hundreds of steamboats that once traversed our heartland, weaving our nation together in the process. There is only one example of the steamboats that inspired the work of creative giants like Mark Twain, Jerome Kern, Louis Armstrong, Edna Ferber, and Walker Evans. To stand idly by and watch the destruction of the Delta Queen would not only be a betrayal of the Trust’s mission. It would also be an act of pure treachery to our culture, to the pioneers who came before us, and to future generations who deserve the chance to travel on this quintessentially American treasure.””

 

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Barges Working Through Ice near St. Louis, Missouri

Recent winter weather means the Mississippi River is frozen solid as far south as Alton, Illinois. These two barges are helping one another through the ice. You can learn more about how towboat pilots help one another through unexpected ice in Capt. Norman Hillman’s book, ONE MAN and the MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI, available at www.greatriver.com/order.htm .

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                      The “Rarest and Cutest” Creature on Earth!
A White Phase Lion cub with siblings!

Do I love this? A white phase lion cub with siblings!!!!

You may know that I have a special interest in “white phase” critters on this earth. On a recent trip south, the airline magazine featured the “cutest and rarest creature on earth.” Guess what? It was a white phase LION cub. The article noted that it was not an albino, but a “white phase” LION due to a recessive gene.To recap, it takes TWO parents with recessive “white phase” genes to produce a “white phase” cub. Why a recessive gene in an African lion???

On a recent birding trip to Panama in December, I was priviledged to sit next to a Smithsonian scientist who had been studying tropical Panama for 30 years. He spoke of the difference between cold weather creatures and tropical creatures. The key word for mammals that must survive in temperate climates is ADAPTABILITY. Tropical plants and animals are experts in finding SPECIALIZED NICHES. Lions have not always been confined to Africa! More about that to come!

Meanwhile, visit our new TRAVEL PHOTO site at www.greatriver.smugmug.com to see photos from the Panama Trip!