Up and Down (3/30/24)

Down (South) — Bob and the gang have already said goodbye to Houston after a ballgame last night with the Houston Astros losing to the New York Yankees 7-1. They drove to Dallas this morning.

Up (North) — On my drive into Decorah yesterday, I saw road signs that said Driftless Scenic Byway. Usually, these signs just say Scenic Byway, so I wasn’t sure what this meant. Today I learned that Decorah is in a region in the Midwest called “The Driftless,” which means that it was skipped by the glaciers in the last ice age, so the area lacks glacial drift. The Driftless includes parts of Northeast Iowa, Southeast Minnesota, and Southwest Wisconsin. Due to the lack of glacial drift, the area enjoys bluffs and valleys and other geographical features not found in other parts of these states.

I headed out this morning on a bit of a walking tour of Decorah. I started by heading for the waterfall in Dunning’s Spring Park. That walk took me through town, across the Upper Iowa River, and then into the park. The park was small but had the promised waterfall as well as a scenic overlook of Decorah.

Luther College is relatively close to the park, so I headed there next. Luther College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college. It was originally established near LaCrosse, WI, as a seminary in 1861 by Norwegian immigrants. It was moved to Decorah when it became a college.

After my walk around campus, I crossed back over the Upper Iowa River to walk around the town center, which I just visited briefly yesterday with my visit to the Norwegian-American Museum. The downtown is much more vibrant than many of the other small towns that we have visited in Iowa. It also has a lot of signage around town, if you are interested in learning about the history and architecture of the area.

Up and Down — Bob and I are separately watching the Iowa Hawkeyes Women’s Basketball Team compete in the Elite Eight portion of the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament.