Thursday, October 12, 2023

We hopped on a bus today to head to Red Wing, where we will board our ship and begin the journey down the Mississippi. We are cruising with American Cruise Lines, taking the Grand Heartland Cruise to New Orleans. Our riverboat holds about 150 guests, providing a nice intimate voyage. This particular cruise is labeled a Fall Colors cruise. We have been seeing some color change already, so expect this to be a beautiful trip.

Our ship is a riverboat, but not a paddlewheeler. We will probably see some along the way. Traditionally, paddlewheelers on US rivers were powered by steam, but that has only been since the early 1800s, a few years after Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston built the first commercially successful steamboat. Before that, some paddlewheelers were powered by horse. Several horses were placed in a treadwheel, and hitched to strong timbers. Forward movement of the horses’ feet caused the treadwheel to revolve and operate the gear wheels.

In May, this year, we drove along the river south of St. Paul, stopping first near Hastings, by Lock & Dam #2 (actually the fourth dam, three are located in the Twin Cities.) The Mississippi River lock and dam system has 29 structures from Minneapolis to Granite City, Illinois. The system allows commercial and pleasure boats to navigate the river as it drops 420 feet over 800 miles. We arrived in time to see a long barge approach and negotiate the entry to the lock. Normally, there is a 38 foot drop here, but spring flooding almost eliminated that on this day.

Our next stop was Red Wing, where we will actually board the boat in October. The loading dock is located at Levee Park, which was partially flooded on this day.

Today, we arrived at the dock where our ship was waiting for us – American Serenade. It’s pretty chilly today, but we did walk into town for a little bit before returning to meet the ship’s crew, hear about the daily schedules, learn safety procedures, and about the upcoming excursions we can choose. We will be busy.

Named for 19th century Mdewakanton Dakota chief Hupahuduta (Wing of the Wild Swan Dyed Red), the city of Red Wing was settled in the early 1850’s on land occupied by the Mdewakanton Sioux. Hupahuduta was a firm friend of the United States, helping  to keep peace with the traders and settlers. Red Wing is now home to the Prairie Island Indian Community, a reservation established in 1889.

Norwegian settlers opened one of the first ski clubs here, the Aurora Ski Club, which operated from the 1880s into the early 1950s. Red Wing is home to Red Wing Stoneware & Pottery, whose history dates to 1877, and Red Wing Shoes, founded in 1905 and well-known for their sturdy leather workboots.

The ship left port at about 5:30 pm, during happy hour, passing by some lovely fall colors already.