Calumet, Michigan and Dubuque, Iowa
Sunday, May 7, 2023 - Saturday, May 13, 2023
So here's a crazy trip for ya! With Mike's school (Finlandia University) closing in the UP, and subsequently his hockey program moving to the University of Dubuque, we traveled to Michigan to move him to Iowa.
Jill and I headed out of Orlando on Sunday via SunCountry. We flew this airline once before (see St. Paul, MN, October, 2022) and liked it. Plus price wise and location it was convenient to where we needed to be (or at least as close to the UP as we could get!). We flew through Madison, Wisconsin (with a quick turnaround there - luckily it was the same plane!) to Green Bay, Wisconsin. A short four hour drive north and we finally arrived at Mike's place in Calumet (at least this time it was still sunny out for the drive!). Found Mike's place and helped pack a few more things before heading out for dinner. We stayed in Calumet and ate at Carmelitas Southwestern Grille. Jill and I headed to Houghton after dinner and spent the night at the Hampton Inn there.
On Monday moring it was time to start our long day. We went to Mike's to pack some more before heading back to Houghton to get the 15' U-Haul. Loaded that up over the next few hours, grabbed lunch at the Burger King and headed out of town (with a stiff middle finger salute on our way through Hancock). We arrived in Davenport late on Monday evening - but not too late to order a pizza from Casey's! Lived up to the billing and hit the spot!
So, Tuesday was suppossed to go like this - take Mike to his new place, unload the U-Haul, get rid of the U-Haul, have a celebratory beer or two at one of the local watering holes. As our (un)luck would have it though - that's not how the day went. We arrived at 943 Bluff Street, entered the apartment and knew right away - this was not somewhere Mike wanted to, or we wanted Mike to, be living. We had unloaded only a few items from the truck when we stopped, put everything back in the truck, and started to devise 'plan b'. We took the truck back to the hotel and then headed over to the University of Dubuque so Mike could do some HR paperwork and Jill and I could see the campus (and visit the bookstore of course!). We tried out the first of many brew pubs in Dubuque - Dimensional Brewing which quickly became our favorite! We went to Vinny Vanucchi's Little Italy for dinner and then from there Mike took us to his new rink (beautiful facility - especially for D-III hockey!), and then we went to the Q Casino to lose some money before heading back to the hotel.



Jill and I were scheduled to leave on Wednesday evening, but with all of the trouble with Mike's apartment we changed our plans and stayed until Saturday. Mike had spent a good part of the day on Tuesday trying to find somewhere else to live, and he was successful at a lead - but we couldn't see it until Wednesday evening. So, with some time in Dubuque to kill, we found one of the more popular tourist 'things' in this part of the world - the Field of Dreams Movie Site! A short 30 minute drive from Dubuque to Dyersville, Iowa, it was very cool to see the site and - I even got to play catch with Mike on the field!! We did what there was there to do and then headed into Dyersville proper to go to the Textile Brewing Company. Had some lunch and brews there before heading back to Dubuque. With some time to kill, still, before being able to see Mike's potential new place we found, wait for it..., yes! Another brew pub! This time it was the 7 Hills Brewing Company. Had a pint or two there before (finally) heading off to see Mike's potential new place.





We met Greg - Mike's new landlord by the end of this visit - at 469 Emmett Street (apt. 35). Nice one bedroom, just enough room for Mike (albeit a little small for all of his bins ;-) ). It was once a nunnery attached to the cathedral out front. Mike was happy with the space and asked to sign the lease right then and there. Afterwards, we headed to the Millwork District in Dubuque and went to Backpocket Brewing, a cool space with arcade games! Needing some dinner we decided to go to Brazen Open Kitchen to celebrate a successful day!



Thursday rolled around and it was FINALLY time to move Mike in somewhere! We spent a good portion of the day shuffling stuff from the U-Haul to Mike's apartment on the third floor (thank goodness for the elevator!!). We hit a point in the day where we lost steam so we went back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and headed to the Europa Haus at 1301 Rhomberg Ave. Good German home cooking! After dinner we swung back around to Dimensional to have a night cap before dropping Mike off at his place before going back to the hotel for a well earned nap!
On Friday we went back to Mike's to finish helping him get things set (put up the rest of his blinds) before heading out of town to Davenport, Iowa for a Midwest League game between the Quad Cities River Bandits and the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Before the game we stopped at Front Street Brewery, noted as Iowa's oldest brew pub. Back to Dubuque after the game.
On Saturday we spent some time at Dimensional Brewing, including having lunch from Flatted Fifth, before heading to our last brew pub of the trip - Jubeck Brewing. Off to the Dubuque Airport at this point for our flight on Avelo Airlines back to MCO.