A while back we were exploring downtown Dubuque. We found this.
It is a cable car that takes you up and down a steep bluff. There are two cars on a pulley system, one goes up while the other comes down. You can kind of see the car at the top and the other one is in the shack. The girls begged to ride on it, so we promised them that some time this summer we would take them on it. We surprised them Friday night with a trip on the cable car.
I debated whether or not to get on - I HATE heights. Once inside the car, you pull a cord to signal to the operator at the top that you are all loaded. The seats were like steps, because if it was a bench you all slide to one end. The doors close and slowly up you go. The girls loved the ride, Jett wasn't to sure of it and clung to David, and I have to admit that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
At the top you get out at what looks to be an old house. The operator works inside and collects money from the riders. There is an observation deck that allows you to look out over downtown Dubuque. The views are amazing. You can also see way down the Mississippi River. In this picture you can see across the Mississippi River to Illinois and to the North a little ways is Wisconsin.
A plaque on the wall said that J.K Graves built 'The Fourth Street Elevator' in 1882 for his own convenience; it was rebuilt after a fire in 1884 and used as public transport. At one time it was operated by steam, but now by electricity.
It gave me a funny feeling being up at the top and I didn't want to ride back down. I told David that he could just drive up and get me. After watching two other groups of people ride down unharmed, I decided to get back in the cable car. It didn't help things that on the ride down David started talking about what if the cable broke, what would stop us at the bottom?
It is fun being tourists in our new town!
