Anniversary Celebration

Since Jenny's wedding was the same weekend as our anniversary and we had friends in town, we waited to celebrate until the next weekend.  Of course, since we got married in Dubuque, we thought that would be the perfect place to spend a day to celebrate.  We were just going to go up for the day, but then, as an anniversary gift, my wonderful parents got us a night at the Hotel Julien, a beautiful hotel in Dubuque.  So we went up last Saturday and got there just in time for lunch at Pickle Barrel (a sub place unique to Dubuque).  Then we went to the Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, per my request, and it was awesome!  They even had an Octopus there, which doesn't really belong in a river, but it was still really cool to see.

After the museum, we checked in to our hotel and then made trips to Wisconsin and Illinois to pick up some beers that you can't get in Iowa.  Oh, and of course we had to grab some Wisconsin cheese curds.

After one drink at the hotel, we walked to this Italian restaurant, Vinny Vannuchis, and it was to die for.  Seriously, they had the best garlic bread I've ever had!  Also, my entree could have fed a family of five, it was ridulously large, but very good.

Appetizer, fried ravioli...yumm

Eggplant Parmigiano

After I was done eating, so much leftover

Sorry the pics are a little dark, didn't want to keep the flash on.  But it was delicious, and I can't wait to go back and try something different next time.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and got in the hot tub for a little bit and then enjoyed some of our delicious drinks.  The next day, we got up and grabbed a newspaper.  While looking through the ads, we see there is a decent computer on sale, so of course, we go to Staples...and buy it.  But before we left Dubuque, we stopped at Taiko for lunch.  We both got the lunch box, just had different entrees in them.  Mine was Shrimp Tempura, Ryan got Chicken Terriyaki.  It was quite delicious, though the actual building was really strange, but that didn't matter, the food was very good.

Sorry...it's sideways

It was a wonderful celebration, we only wish the weather would have been as great as it was on our actual anniversary date, but we made it work!


SIDE NOTE: With or without glasses? I still can't decide!