Mid 19th Century houses in Mineral Point, Wisconsin Monday - Day 12 (July 24, 2023) The Mineral Point Hotel advertises coffee and muffins in the lobby in the morning. I had visions of warm, fresh muffins, but they were decent, cold supermarket muffins. Mineral Point, Wisconsin was settled largely by emigrants from Cornwall in the 19th century and a large number of the buildings are from the 1830s - 1860s. Many galleries and museums which sounded interesting are closed on Mondays, but we found a few interesting things before leaving town. Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts is just a block from the hotel and several of the oldest buildings have been moved here. The grounds around them are quite attractive.
We stopped by the office to see if they had postcards. They did not, but the helpful lady told us where we could get postcards (the pharmacy) and about things to do on a Monday. There actually is a guide which lists each day of the week and what is open. We stopped at Brewery Pottery, which is located in an 1850 brewery building. They create and sell their pottery there, but they also sell the work of many types of artists. It is really a nice shop and I loved the old stone walls!
The downtown Mineral Point streets are currently torn up and fewer places are open than normal, but on our way to the pharmacy, we passed Hook's Cheese Company. Stopping at Hook's on our way out of town, we found a family run cheese factory which began in 1976 and has over 50 varieties of cheese including a 15 year old cheddar for $50/pound. They currently have a 20 year old Cheddar for over $200/pound. I love strong cheeses and they were tempting, but I wasn't ready to spend that much on something I've never tasted. I asked the family member who waited on us to tell me about the 7 different blue cheeses they have and selected 3 blues among the cheeses we purchased. I guess it is a good thing I didn't buy more cheese the day before. The sales area was filled with awards which they have won, including one to Julie Hook as 1982 Natural Cheese World Champion at the 14th Biennial world Championship.
Lunch was at Europa Haus Restaurant and Bier Stube in Dubuque, Iowa. We learned that the lunch menu is limited to two daily specials and 5 very simple sandwiches. I was lucky and the Hungarian Goulash I was wanting to have was one of the specials, It was very good. Linda's bratwurst was pretty ordinary and none of the few side dishes available interested her. You couldn't even get potato chips. The Caramel Apple Nut Pie was my favorite dessert of the entire trip. Excellent crust and wonderful flavor. It would have been even better if it had been warmed a little.
Our last stop of the trip was supper at Toot-Toot Family Restaurant & Lounge a half mile off I-35 in Bethany Missouri. I can't believe it too me so long to try this place. After consulting the menu, we both went with the $14.99 buffet. All the food looked fresh and three people were refreshing the dishes. The fried chicken was my favorite item, but all were good. Even the corn on the cob which is usually way over cooked on buffets. The dessert offerings included three cobblers.
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