Museum & Aquarium

(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JULY/AUGUST 2004)

The 8-foot-long alligator fills the sunken rowboat, definitely her favorite underwater hangout. The creature ignores her tank mates -- darting little fish and a prehistoric-looking snapping turtle. When her beady eyes seize upon yours, you can't help feeling thankful that this huge reptile is behind glass.

Imagine stumbling upon her in her native habitat -- the Mississippi River. At the new National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in the northeast Iowa city of Dubuque, visitors do just that, getting an overview (and underwater look) at North America's longest river. Thousands of live river creatures, interactive displays and artifacts tell the waterway's story from its humble headwaters at Itasca State Park in Minnesota all the way -- 2,552 miles -- to the Gulf of Mexico.

The museum is the centerpiece of a Mississippi riverfront rebirth spearheaded by residents and leaders in this city of 60,000. The project nudges 171-year-old Dubuque, Iowa's oldest city, into a new era that strengthens its ties to the mighty waterway. Along with the museum and aquarium, the city's $188 million America's River project includes a river walk and water-park resort. It all brings a new vibrancy to town.

But don't forget the city that lies beyond. A true exploration of Dubuque means combining the new along the waterfront with the tried and true that stretches up the steep hillsides.

Most visitors start at the riverfront museum, watching the antics of the resident otter who dives and swims in her habitat, and seeing paddlefish, found only in the Mississippi and China, scoop food with their wide snouts.

In one tank, a 100-pound catfish, a Mississippi River delicacy that could feed a family of four for a month, trolls the bottom for snacks. Kids love to pet velvet-skinned cownose rays, saltwater creatures who occasionally enter the river's lower reaches. Their mouths resemble perpetual smiles.

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