Rock Island, Illinois...Davenport, Iowa...Wisconsin...and Minnesota

Well, thanks to the mighty Mississippi River, we were able to visit not one, not two, not three, but four different states while on this trip. The topic was Ecosystem Restoration and we covered a lot of ground (literally!) during our stay (4 states in one day!).

We actually stayed in Davenport, Iowa and made the short trip every morning across the bridge into Rock Island, Illinois (Rock Island Arsenal) for class. Wednesday found us traveling all the way up the Mississippi into both Wisconsin and Minnesota for our field trip. We were able to see some pretty cool places on our journies...even got to try some Wisconsin cheese curds!

Places of interest in the Quad Cities:

You can't miss visiting the John Deere capitol of the US; it's located in Moline, Illinois (right next to Rock Island). C'mon...it's an American icon...plus you get to climb up into some really cool tractors...and you thought Chesney's tractor was sexy...get a load of those combines!

We took in some pretty good eats while there...the Blue Cat Brew Pub (shown above) in Moline, Mojo's (in Davenport)---good panini's (sp?) for lunch!, and Front Street Brewery in Davenport. Plus, if you need to get some laundry done, there's the Scrub Pub...a laundromat and bar in one! Interesting concept, although the *smokey* atmosphere somewhat contradicts the purpose.

We also had time to view a few flicks at the local movie house; Talladega Nights (the Ballad of Ricky Bobby) and Miami Vice. Both were pretty good movies...I highly recommend Talladega Nights, especially if you're with a group of your closest redneck friends and in a light-comedy-sort-of-mood.

Up next...our last trip (not really counting graduation in DC)...Watersheds in San Antonio, Texas!