Muscatine, Iowa: hiking, beer, buttons

 Day 6; May 29, 2021; Muscatine, Iowa

Campground: Fairport State Recreational Area, Muscatine, IA

Friday was the second day of rain rain rain...and more rain.
 Here we are, crossing the Mississippi River to Iowa. In the rain.

We spent the morning hiking in Wildcat Den State Park, about five miles from our campground.

There were “No Rappelling” signs at the trailheads. Some impressive cliff walls!

The backlit late spring leaves were like stained glass

Steamboat Rock

More Steamboat Rock

I wanted to tour the Muscatine Pearl Button Museum, hosted by the two best possible ambassadors for the Muscatine, Iowa area. These ladies were pleasant, as helpful as could be, and, most important, very knowledgeable about the local area. Button manufacturing, along with timbering, supported the vast majority of the economy in Muscatine in the late 1800s and early 20th century, until the mussels gave out and Bakelite and other plastics took the place of shell buttons.  Here are some things, other than buttons, that were made of these shells.

Button blanks “punched” out of the shells, ready for shaping and polishing

Button Art

I liked the flying button fish in the Pearl Button Museum

Excuse the interruption of the button tour. Here we are at lunch. I like to sample the local beers. In this case, a light-on-the-palette, good-for-summer beer from the brewery down a couple of blocks and around the corner, the Contrary Brewing Company. 😋

A cottage industry of sewing the buttons on cards grew up around the button producers.
You can see a shell here that has been punched for button blanks.

Other shell items, including a shell clutch purse, open, in the lower left corner.

Pearl buttons make from local mussel shells here in Muscatine

After our time at the Pearl Button Factory, we took our bikes out on the flat path along the River in both directions. Great path!

The Becky Bridge as seen from the bike path

The Norbert F. Becky Bridge as seen from Mark Twain Overlook. It’s the only bridge on the Mississippi River that is illuminated with LED lights at night. Mark Twain is famous for saying “And I remember Muscatine still more pleasantly for its summer sunsets. I have never seen any on either side of the ocean that equaled them. The sunrises are also said to be exceedingly fine. I do not know.” 😉

Tomorrow, we head over to Davenport.....but for now, I’ll settle for the couch (😂 see what I did there?) and pick up my latest read: REBECCA by Daphne Du Maurier. It’s a GOOD one! Stay tuned!