Quadriceps, Quadrilaterals, Quadratic Equations? No, it's time for Quad Cities, Iowa!

 "And the whole town said that he should have used red, but it looked good to Charlene. In John Deere Green" - Joe Diffie

We were scheduled to arrive in Quad Cities, Iowa at 8:30AM but were slightly delayed by river traffic. 

An easy breakfast from The River Cafe

We passed the time between breakfast and our tour by checking out the game selection in The Living Room and watching the crew practice drills.

Most of the tour options for today were in the morning. If you were feeling fit and adventurous, you could start your day with a moderate activity, two and a 1/2 hours guided bike tour along the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. This was an extra cost (aka optional) excursion.

For more of a taste of small town America, you could spend three and 1/2 hours visiting Cinnamon Ridge, a family run Midwestern farm. After a Q&A session, barn tour, and milking machinery demonstration, you could enjoy a cheese tasting paired with local beers and wines. This is also an extra cost excursion.

If you were feeling like you needed some more culture in your life, then a visit to the Figge Art Museum could be right up your alley. This two and 1/2 hour long easy tour focuses on artist Grant Wood (best known for painting "American Gothic") and includes privileged access to viewing Wood's archived belongings and works on paper.

If science and natural history was more your kind of museum, you could visit the Putnam Museum. This museum visit would focus on their Native American and Midwest collections on a privileged access tour led by Putnam's Curator of History and Anthropology. The guided tour concludes with unique performances, lectures, and craft demonstrations celebrating Indigenous Americans.

The one tour that had both a morning and afternoon session was the one covering what the town is most known for, the founding of the John Deere company. This included excursion lasts three hours and 15 minutes and involves visiting the Deere family homes and the John Deere Pavilion. The Pavilion is a museum full of hands on products and displays of the company's products that you are welcome to climb into and onto. Two tour bus groups went on the morning tour and only one bus full was booked on the afternoon tour. 

The website description lists the schedule for this tour as visiting one of the Deere family homes and the Pavilion. Tim had explained during the shore excursion talk that they'd stagger the groups so half of us would visit the house while the other half visited the Pavilion. Due to the traffic that delayed the start of the morning tour, we both were at Deere family houses at overlapping times. We also ended up visiting both of the family houses when the description only lists one. Both houses had long winded guides and by the end of our time at the second house, there was a lot of us getting overheated and bored. Our excursion guide finally interrupted to tell the second house guide that we needed to move on so we could have time at the Pavillion. Once we arrived at the Pavillion, our excursion guide announced that we'd have a whole 20 minutes here because he promised Viking we'd be back by 2:45PM. 

As we were finally leaving the houses, the tour guide walks over to me and says, "Well did you at least learn something?!" I've always looked younger than I am and I was certainly the youngest in our tour group but that remark and tone he used was more like he thought he was talking to a teen who was being unwillingly dragged to a museum by their parents. Guess my brain forgot to tell my face to keep quiet.

Above: The Kimball Organ 

Below: The inner mechanics for the Kimball Organ

This was very frustrating when you unleash 45 kids at heart into a pavillion and only give them 20 minutes to run around and climb into everything and get pictures taken. And that's on top of the venue being open to the public in late summer so you're fighting families with kids running around. 

While I understand that river traffic delays are unavoidable, I think there were a few other options Viking could have done to make things better. One is to only visit one of the two houses and/or stick to a schedule not letting the museum guide talk for hours. Two is to give people the option of going to the houses or the pavilion so we could have as much time as we wanted at a place we preferred. Lastly, combine the morning and afternoon tours so that the afternoon tour wasn't pressed for time. I'd rather be a little more crowded at the house tour than optimal if it meant having as much time as the morning tour did to enjoy the Pavilion. This was the included tour option so there's no money to refund if someone feels they missed out by only going to one venue. The buses were Viking's own coaches so there was no issue getting extra transportation on the spot. Those of us on the afternoon tour were literally being yelled at and herded back on board so the ship could leave like we were some sort of late pier runners.

Today was the tour that got us back during what should have been the "Coffee & Snacks (Pizza)" time frame for The River Cafe. We went straight to the cafe ready to eat whatever they had available as we were starving. Instead we found them shut down. When we asked them to provide something for our tour that just came back, the crew said "Sorry, there's nothing available because our boss told us to always shut down by 2PM." Soon the cafe is filled with the rest of our tour group and the crew is having to apologize for the wait while they make more food since they'd only just got the call about the tour group coming back late. Funny, I feel like they heard that from somewhere else first. They started whipping out pizzas as fast as passengers were filling their plates. Another crew member who is usually the bartender swooped in to reopen the ice cream so there was at least one other option.

Maybe don't print it on the back of every Viking Daily if you're not going to stick to those hours?

Feeling a little less hangry after the pizza, we attended the Majority Rules game show run by Tim and his Assistant Cruise Director Olivia. We've attended this game on many cruises and it's always good for a laugh. Tim announced during the game that Olivia had the best answer for the pick up line question because she had met her now husband while they both were working on board. Her pick up line to him was "Want to see an officer's cabin?"

Dinner tonight was heavy on the protein with ribs and pulled pork balanced by mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

Our onboard lecturer Gabby gave a talk tonight about the Great American Steamboat Race. We ended the evening with another fun round of The Big Quiz trivia with Cruise Director Tim.

A day spent in Burlington - but where's the coat factory?

We arrived at the port of Burlington, Iowa at 8AM this morning. We headed back to The River Cafe for some hearty pancakes and hash browns.

 A cool breeze today did not help my efforts to grab a picture of the Iowa state flag:

Today's morning excursion choices were the 2 & 1/2 hour Moderate Level extra cost excursion to Old Fort Madison, the 3 & 1/2 hour Moderate Level extra cost Hinterland Farm Visit, and the included Historic Burlington tour sessions. This was the most popular generic city tour with four bus groups leaving in the morning and three bus groups during the afternoon session. Other options for afternoon tours was the 3 & 1/2 hour Moderate Level extra cost Art Around Burlington excursion that included a pottery or painting demonstration plus hands on participation in a small art project, and the 4 hours Moderate Level extra cost Historic Nauvoo excursion that focuses on visiting a nearby town that has deep history in the Mormon Church. 

We chose to do the 2 hour & 15 minute Easy Level included excursion called Historic Burlington. The screens around the meeting lounges displaying a list of tour times, tour names, coach numbers, and status of whether the tour left you behind were a great help. You could view at least one of the screens no matter where in the lounge you were waiting and it didn't matter how loud the room was or how hard it was to hear Tim's announcements over the intercom. 

We were assigned to Coach #6 having signed up pre-cruise to the 10AM time slot. The coach drivers and local guides worked well with Viking so that not only did the buses leave at staggered times but they had it all worked out to visit the same places at different times so no venue was too crowded. 

Our first stop of the morning was to the Heritage Center Museum. This museum repurposed an old library built in 1898 and features exhibits on regional culture and history. Even the gift shop had the items on display using the old book storage racks. The building itself, known as the Burlington Public Library, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Our guide had worked with the Des Moines County Historical Society so she shared a lot of stories and history that gave us more insight versus viewing the exhibits on our own. The museum has an admission fee of $10 for adults up to age 60 and then drops to $8 for those aged 61+. Viking covered our admission fees for the tour.

After a brief history of the building and suggestions on what to make sure we got to see, we were left to wander on our own with a time to meet back at the bus. 

Oldest water fountain from 1898

For everyone who has ever been yelled at for leaving a light on:

A display featuring what one of the original post offices looked like included an interesting daily task list for the employees:

Early version of a time clock where employees would literally punch in and out

Time to head upstairs - there is an elevator to reach all the levels of this museum.

In case you've never seen stairs before, our busty friend pointed out a helpful sign:

The basement level is dedicated to songwriter Bart Howard, a Burlington native who penned the classic song, "Fly Me To The Moon." The main area is set up like a small New York City lounge and offers seating for 55 guests to listen to musical performances. 

The top floor had many local exhibits and a play area for kids.

Took me a minute to realize this mock farm set up with giant dollhouse and animals in their pens was not a display but was meant as a playspace for the children who were visiting the museum.

The former educator in me really wanted to fix the grammar in this sign:

Trying to be artsy with the view of this open rotunda looking back down at the main level

As we passed through this display on Burlington's part of the Underground Railroad, our guide wandered by and pointed out a feature we had totally missed. The last third of this decorative trim on the right side (the opening is in line with the right side of the "Henry's Freedom Box" book in the picture below) actually opens as a little door revealing a crawl space so children can experience how dark and quiet those seeking their freedom had to be so as not to get caught. She told us about coming to this museum on school field trips and how they'd have the whole class crawl inside for the experience. 

Our next tour stop was to Mosquito Park. Its views of the Mississippi River are best viewed from high on the bluff situated between two houses in a neighborhood. 

We had a brief wait on the bus while another Viking bus who had just dropped their riders off at the Heritage Center brought back one of our bus rider's left behind cell phone. Several of us passed the time watching a neighborhood dog take himself for a walk around the block.

Our final stop of the tour was to the Garrett-Phelps House Museum. The guide tied in a reference to the time period with crowd control by asking that those seated on the left side of the bus enter the house by one entrance like invited guests and the other side entered the house through the kitchen via the servants' entrance. The house itself was pretty packed so we just picked the easiest door to get into and started walking around. There were guides in various rooms offering narration based on which class level you were assigned. 

The front door had steps up to the porch but the kitchen entrance had a ramp.

The house sits next to Snake Alley, a very curvy brick laden street that was built in 1894. In 2017, Ripley's Believe It Or Not designated the alley of limestone and blue clay bricks as the #1 Odd Spot in Ripley's Guide to the Curious Corners of America. Snake Alley curves over a distance of 275 feet, rising 58.3 feet at a 21% grade connecting Washington Street to Columbia Street. Each year on Memorial Day Weekend, an uphill bike race called the Snake Alley Criterium is held here.

We were given the option of walking down to the bottom or staying up top and enjoying the bus ride that looped around the block to meet up with where the alley lets out. Several people chose to walk down but we opted to just enjoy the views from the top.

After the tour we were let off by the Port of Burlington Welcome Center (and gift shop):

How many of these other Burlington cities did you know existed?

It was a short walk on paved concrete back to the ship with some beautiful bridge views along the way.

Back on board for lunch we tried the BBQ pulled pork sandwich topped with coleslaw and potato salad on the side. The BBQ sauce had a really weird taste and made the coleslaw taste sour. 

After participating in our third installment of The Big Quiz with Cruise Director Tim, we decided to give The Restaurant a try for dinner. On the way in, a senior crew member passing by on his way out, greeted us with the direction to seat ourselves where we wanted. Most of the two top tables were full so we took a medium sized table by the window. It took a while to get noticed by a waiter and our waiter seemed more concerned about whether we were expecting others to fill the table than actually taking our order. We assured him that while we weren't expecting anyone else in our party, we'd be happy to welcome anyone coming in to join us. He walked away and over the next 15 minutes, both he and other crew came by to ask again about expecting more people. Each time a couple of the extra place setting items would leave with the latest questioner. Eventually, our waiter decided enough time had passed that he could actually take our order now. Each course came out fairly quickly but there was no interaction beyond that like asking how the food was or offering to refill our drinks. 

Beef Carpaccio Tenderloin starter

Caesar Salad from the Always Available choices

Creole Corn & Seafood Chowder

Angus New York Strip Steak from the Always Available choices

Dad got the same thing except for asking his to be cooked longer. Somehow though my garlic butter was the one that looked like a disintegrated pancake when served. That is ketchup in the small bowl. There was no other sauce or seasoning to my steak. I gave up after eating a quarter of the steak. While I ate more of it than I would have liked to on Viking Octantis, it was a much better presentation and quality on that ship.

When he listed the dessert options, I asked about an option listed in the app that he didn't mention. He chalked it up to being a "typo" and insisted his list was the only option. He seemed put off when I settled for only ice cream.

Throughout the meal, we noticed another crew member in a manager's uniform making the rounds greeting passengers and checking in to see how they were enjoying their meals. She'd visit the tables all around us, look over, intentionally walk past our table, and return to talk to the passengers at the same table where she started. We did get a brief acknowledgement when she looked over and noticed our assistant waiter could use some help clearing away our previous courses. The extent of the interaction was her telling him that she'd help and asking if we were done with the nearly full plate of steak before walking away with it. I expected her to at least question why I hadn't eaten the entree. I would have loved to speak up on the spot about the lack of service we were receiving but I don't talk to someone's back while they're walking away. We decided by the end of this meal to not return to The Restaurant for any future meals.