Along the Great River Road
By Karla Zimmerman
Posted May 8, 2008, at 1 p.m.
It's no surprise that America's most storied river, the mighty Mississippi, has its own, equally epic roadway. The Great River Road starts in northern Minnesota and unfurls 3,000 miles of water-hugging pavement en route to southern Louisiana. While the River Road passes through major cities like Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans, the heart of the thoroughfare beats in its smaller towns.
In the Itasca State Park you can walk across the official headwaters of the Mississippi River. Minnesota.
© John Elk III. Lonely Planet Images.
Stop #1: Wabasha, Minn.
Some of the River Road's prettiest scenery opens up in southern Minnesota. Large populations of bald eagles flock around Wabasha in winter, where they indulge in waterside trees for nesting and fat silvery fish for chowing, as they migrate north. During other seasons, visitors can browse exhibits and help researchers at the National Eagle Center.
To really soak up Old Man River, spend the night at Anderson House. Not only does the grand old hotel have river views, but you can reserve one of its five cats for the night for company. Rooms including breakfast cost from $80 to $175.
Across the water on the Wisconsin side is the Nelson Cheese Factory, good for a nibble and peek into how the Dairy State's celebrated foodstuff is made.
Quiet, shady tree-lined streets of Elsah.
© Charles Cook. Lonely Planet Images.
Stop #2: Davenport, Iowa
Jazz and art make Davenport worth putting on the brakes. Cornetist, composer and native son Bix Beiderbecke walked the riverbank in the 1920s. Today, veteran musicians like John Lee Hooker Jr. still play in town at the intimate Redstone Room. Practically next door, the glass-sheathed Figge Art Center offers killer views of The Big Muddy along with regional and international works — and, of course, a collection of paintings by Iowa's other famous son, Grant Wood (he of the pitchfork-toting "American Gothic folks").
Stop #3: Elsah, Ill.
As the River Road slips through southern Illinois' wind-hewn bluffs, tiny Elsah appears, a hidden hamlet of 19th-century stone cottages, wood buggy shops and farmhouses. Families can continue the farm theme by detouring 30 miles inland to Bluffdale Vacation Farm, where kids don overalls and help with chores like grooming horses, collecting eggs and feeding ducks.
Stop #4: Helena, Ark.
Helena sings the blues. But that's a good thing, thanks to the Delta Cultural Center, a museum dedicated to the area's rich blues music history. The age-old "King Biscuit Time" radio show still broadcasts live from here each weekday at 12:15 p.m.
Not far down the road, Clarksdale, Miss., houses the Delta Blues Museum. It pays homage to local sons Muddy Waters, Ike Turner and Sam Cooke, among other musicians who came from the fields here. It's also where bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical genius — or so the story goes ...
Stop #5: Vicksburg, Miss.
Vicksburg is ground-zero for Civil War buffs. General Ulysses S. Grant besieged the city for 47 days, and it turned the tide of the war. A 16-mile driving tour through the National Military Park passes historic markers explaining gun placements, battle scenarios and key events. The cemetery contains 17,000 Union graves. McRaven Tour Home hosts occasional re-enactments in summertime that are free to the public.
Stop #6: Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.
Elaborate plantation homes (many offering tours) and moss-draped trees line the River Road in southern Louisiana. Drivers can pit stop just south of New Orleans at Barataria Preserve to hike or canoe into the dripping, alligator-patrolled swamplands. Afterward, the tin-topped Bayou Barn offers Cajun food and jumping zydeco bands (the latter on Sundays).
Bio: Karla Zimmerman writes travel features for newspapers, books, magazines and radio. She has authored or co-authored several of Lonely Planet's U.S. and Canadian titles.
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