Road Trip & Restaurant Review: Iowa Bound + Winneshiek Bar & Grill on the Mississippi River

I love heading home to Iowa. The drive – while not that exciting is always pretty. Plus – on the other side – I have great friends to spend time with.

One sight I love is passing through the windmill zone. I’m always so fascinated by these – I can’t imagine if one was on my property – I’d probably just sit there and watch it spin all day long! The colors are so pretty – just blue sky and green fields. Ahhhhhh.

We stopped along the way for lunch and I had to run across the street to the soybean field for a stupid “Food Hussy” pic. Beans!!!!

When I arrived home – it was just after my birthday – and my bestie’s sister had a surprise waiting for me! Angie is quite the dessert queen back home – so I was really excited to see what was waiting for me. There was also a note to be sure to check out the inside. Hard to see from here – but it was a zebra cake with lots of colors inside. I wish I had a piece of that right now.

While in town – we stopped at the airport to see the Commemorative Air Force AirPower History Tour. We were about to see some crazy old planes – but first – got to see the Back to the Future car. I’m not even sure Tanner knows what Back to the Future is – but he was interested nonetheless.

It was pretty neat – a little slow – but if you’re a historic plane buff – you’d love it. They were in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago. For a (hefty) price – you could even go up and fly in the plane with the pilots.

Besides looking at planes – we had some cuddle time with ZoeyZoeyZoey. Her name is just Zoey – but for some reason I Sheldon Cooper her and call her ZoeyZoeyZoey. She likes Larry better than me – oh how that pisses me off! hahahaha

And most importantly for the trip – we went boatin!!!! That’s the #1 activity for the weekend.

Nick took us up on the Mississippi for a change – we headed all the way to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin! I loved these tiny houses on the river. I was pretty much convinced that I should just move here and call it a day. I could live in one of these and just make friends with all the boaters!

We stopped at the Winneshiek Bar & Grill for a bite to eat. It’s a big two story bar & grill with an ample patio. It was early so it wasn’t too busy and we got a primo seat! They don’t really have a web presence of any kind so I figure I’ll add the menu pics here in case anybody tries to look them up.

The selection is good but we weren’t sure what to expect in terms of quality. I immediately went for the things I miss the most…

Winnie Chips ($3.99) – these are house-made potato chips and boy was I right to pick these. They were the twirly kind that you can usually only get at fairs and festivals!!! They were just as good as I remembered – salty, crispy and some were a little underdone and bendy – love those!!!!

I also got a Pork Tenderloin ($5.99) – I knew it wouldn’t be the normally large crazy amazing ones – but I had to get one when I could. It was good and definitely took care of the desire. Well until I saw the pic – now I just want another one again.

The other must-have – especially since we were in Wisconsin – CHEESE CURDS ($6.99)! They were definitely homemade – which I loved – lightly breaded and served with GOOD ranch – these were perfect!!! I’m not sure why Cincinnati isn’t on the Cheese Curd bandwagon – but they need to catch up!

Amy got Beef Super Nachos ($7.99) – they looked fairly standard but she was happy with them.

Larry got Pulled Pork Sliders ($5.99) and he was happy with them as well. The pulled pork seemed homemade – which is always a good sign.

After lunch, we headed back to the boat and found a sandbar to park our behinds on for a couple of hours. It was hotter than Hades – so we weren’t out too long – but it was still a fun day. And something miraculous happened…something Larry swore would never happen!