Decorah

[I-stateTheTruth]

These are all good suggestions for the best small town in the Midwest. I hope you have a great visit.

If Luna Valley is booked, Rubaiyat and La Rana are solid alternatives. And the food at TG is pretty good.

There's kind of a gourmet food court of sorts called The Landing. I saw Jayhawk Raef LaFrentz in there a couple years ago. Josey Jewell owns a juice bar there.

Dunning Springs is a must, including climbing up around the source of the spring. Sounds like the water levels will be low.

The top summer recreational activities are biking The Trail, tubing or canoing / kayaking. Well, some like to fish but I don't know anything about that. I hope you're lucky with the water level on the Upper Iowa. (Part of my ISU studies were paid for from savings of renting innertubes on that lovely river).

There's a SAT AM farmers' market, I believe.

The museum - Vesterheim - mentioned herein is also good for a couple hours.

Lanesboro, MN - about 35 minutes away - has a great live (professional) theater called The Commonweal. And awesome bluffs like Decorah.

You're not so far removed from Effigy Mounds (requires some walking) and the Field of Dreams. Kind of both reaches but in case they appeal.

A few ideas to consider. Have a good time. (Also, I find it interesting to read comparisons to Wisconsin but not Minnesota, which is just 15 miles away).

 

[Al_4_State]

These are all good suggestions for the best small town in the Midwest. I hope you have a great visit.

If Luna Valley is booked, Rubaiyat and La Rana are solid alternatives. And the food at TG is pretty good.

There's kind of a gourmet food court of sorts called The Landing. I saw Jayhawk Raef LaFrentz in there a couple years ago. Josey Jewell owns a juice bar there.

Dunning Springs is a must, including climbing up around the source of the spring. Sounds like the water levels will be low.

The top summer recreational activities are biking The Trail, tubing or canoing / kayaking. Well, some like to fish but I don't know anything about that. I hope you're lucky with the water level on the Upper Iowa. (Part of my ISU studies were paid for from savings of renting innertubes on that lovely river).

There's a SAT AM farmers' market, I believe.

The museum - Vesterheim - mentioned herein is also good for a couple hours.

Lanesboro, MN - about 35 minutes away - has a great live (professional) theater called The Commonweal. And awesome bluffs like Decorah.

You're not so far removed from Effigy Mounds (requires some walking) and the Field of Dreams. Kind of both reaches but in case they appeal.

A few ideas to consider. Have a good time. (Also, I find it interesting to read comparisons to Wisconsin but not Minnesota, which is just 15 miles away).

I think that part of Minnesota is also more like Wisconsin than it is the rest of Minnesota.

The Driftless Area is kind of a thing unto itself, and that part of the world has more in common with other points inside of it than it does the various state it might be attached to. Because the largest part of the area is in Wisconsin, it kinda gets the de facto nod.

 

[CloneLawman]

Cant wait to hear back what he has to say about the area.

I'd say you've already received better answers than you deserve. Marquette or PDC. I'd also say that I'd listen carefully to @Al_4_State, as I think he has spent more time generally in that area than most.

Last time I was near was a recent trip to Effigy Mounds north of there.

I hit a homer on a ball field a ways north of there up at Lansing, IA back when I was a Crestwood Cadet. You might want to check that out, too.

 

[wxman1]

Any brunch tips for Sunday morning?

 

[JP4CY]

You guys and gals are making me want to take a weekend in Decorah.

FYI: my favorite place to stay is Deborah High Point Cabins.

 

[everyyard]

Heading up to Decorah this weekend. Plan on spending Saturday afternoon at Pulpit and TG. Stopping at Pivo on the way up on Friday and eating at Luna Valley Farms Friday night.

Any ideas of things to do Saturday morning around Decorah(An hour or so away is fine) . One person just had knee replacement a few months ago so no hiking or strenuous walks.

Trout fishing
Great farmer’s market Sat AM, sometimes music and food trucks
Axe throwing
Tubing/kayak/canoe
Seed Savers Exchange
Don’t forget Convergence Cider! Recommend the Driftless Dry

 

[everyyard]

Any brunch tips for Sunday morning?

Toppling brunch buffet is about all there is on Sundays but it is great

 

[everyyard]

And any trip that doesn’t include obsidian nitro coffee at Impact is a shame. Would also put a plug in for Blazing Star. You might think you don’t like vegetarian, but you’re wrong.

 

[isufbcurt]

Heading up to Decorah this weekend. Plan on spending Saturday afternoon at Pulpit and TG. Stopping at Pivo on the way up on Friday and eating at Luna Valley Farms Friday night.

Any ideas of things to do Saturday morning around Decorah(An hour or so away is fine) . One person just had knee replacement a few months ago so no hiking or strenuous walks.

We kayaked, hiked and biked while we were there. Saw the waterfall and ice cave too.

 

[ISUTex]

Has anyone stayed in the Mcgregor area? I would like to go there sometime but doesn't seem like there is much for lodging in the area. The Airbnbs look very old and dated.

Prairie Du Chen Wisconsin. Plenty of hotels. You could try a bed and breakfast in McGregor.

 

[Al_4_State]

Any brunch tips for Sunday morning?

Rubiayat.

Edit: guess they dropped their brunch

 

[huntt26]

Any brunch tips for Sunday morning?

Not specifically brunch, but I really enjoy Justin's at the Landing for breakfast food. If the weather cooperates they have a nice area to sit outside in the shade. Grab some Pulpit Rock beers from the cooler for the week too!

 

[wxman1]

Not specifically brunch, but I really enjoy Justin's at the Landing for breakfast food. If the weather cooperates they have a nice area to sit outside in the shade. Grab some Pulpit Rock beers from the cooler for the week too!

Well he has a fantastic name so I just may have to go there.

 

[StClone]

I think I've got a pretty good handle on it, living there for the past 11 years.

Does anybody really know? In my work in bio-geo zones of Iowa NE Iowa can be a lot of things.

 

[dmclone]

Luna valley farms. Highly recommended

 

[wxman1]

Luna valley farms. Highly recommended View attachment 114252

We had an absolutely phenomenal weekend, thanks to those that gave recommendations. We went to Luna on Saturday evening. That alone is worth making the trip IMO.

 

[dmclone]

Decorah Update. If you don't like eating drinking, turn away.

Friday

• Pivo-First time I've been there. Really nice/large taproom and outdoor area. They had a ton of taps and had some solid beer. Had a flight and my favorite was Old Balltown BBBASCDCBMS, a sweet stout.
• Pulpit Rock-We've been 5 or so times. They didn't have any life changing beers but cool hangout that has grown a little over the years. My favorite was their classic Saftig.
• Luna Valley-A few miles on gravel. Solid beer choices from the heavy hitters in Decorah along with a lot of wine choices. Probably 75 people there eating when we arrived at 5:30pm. When you get reservations the week before you choose your pizza and pickup time. Great pizza and a cool location.
• Dixies Biergarten-In the old TG location, which brought back some memories. Nice tap list and a lot of good cans. Just had one and it was good. CHONK 'Merica Cake. Saw 4 non local exotic cars dirving by, which seemed odd. Not sure why a Lambo Hurucan, Audi R8, Porsche 911, and Dodge Viper were doing in Decorah....
• Hotel Winneshiek-Good location. Cool old hotel with a little dated interior but clean and fine. Our room had a Marlo Brando Godfather picture so that's a win.

Saturday

• Impact Coffee-I'm an early riser so I head over to the coffee shop. HUGE coffee shop filled with your typical small college town coffee shop crowd. If you're thinking to yourself "wow this has to be the most progressive town in Iowa".....head down a couple of blocks and check out the window display at Club 45. Yowsa, what a mix in this small town.
• LaCrosse-Took an hour drive up to LaCrosse. We were going to go to Prairie Du Chein for Pete's Burgers and Starks but we wanted to try something new.
  • Woodman's-HUGE beer selection. Not a huge difference between selection in Iowa but I picked up a few 4 packs of New Glarus Fruit Beers.
  • Deaf Ear Records-Nice vinyl selection
  • Fat Head Steve's-Had a beer and cheese curds. Curds were ok but not a fan of this place. I think LaCrosse is cool but their food choices are not the greatest. One of their highest rated places is Buzzard Billie's.
  • 608 Brewery-Not a great tap room but had a few solid beers. My favorite was a colab with Lua called FOF, which was a sour
    
• Toppling Goliath-Only had 1 beer on tap that I hadn't had. Hard to complain when you have 10+legendary beers on tap. Parking lot looked full but the place was 1/2 empty on a Saturday afternoon
• Rubaiyat-We normally eat at Mabe's on Saturday night but we tried something different. Rubaiyat was awesome. Had Pasta Rubaiyat, which was a seafood pasta. Also had a Pulpit Rock Dug Road Double, which was pretty solid
• Sugar Bowl-Still haven't been to Whippy Dip (Didn't want to walk that far) but Sugar Bowl had some good ice cream.
• TBocks-Not even sure what I drank here

Sunday

• Klunder's Kafe-Good place in new Hampton on the way home for breakfast

 

[Al_4_State]

You hit a lot of great spots.

I go to La Crosse quite a bit and have never heard of Fat Head Steve's. I was actually up there yesterday. Went mountain biking then had a Bloody Mary at Del's and lunch at Sloopy's. Awesome wings. La Crosse doesn't have a real diverse or great fine dining scene, but there are lots of quality spots.

 

[wxman1]

Decorah Update. If you don't like eating drinking, turn away.

Friday

• Dixies Biergarten-In the old TG location, which brought back some memories. Nice tap list and a lot of good cans. Just had one and it was good. CHONK 'Merica Cake. Saw 4 non local exotic cars dirving by, which seemed odd. Not sure why a Lambo Hurucan, Audi R8, Porsche 911, and Dodge Viper were doing in Decorah....

I am sure you did not have it since you had come from Luna Valley but we also went to Dixie's on Friday evening and had the BBQ food truck that was there. It was fantastic!

 

[Cyrocks]

I know this is all about outdoorsy stuff, but a trip to Mabe's Pizza is a must as long as you are in Decorah (Unless it has gone down hill considerably since the last time I was in Decorah).