Search for Pink Elephant Leads To Many Discoveries  

The vision of a pink elephant started me thinking about taking a trip. No, this elephant was not an alcohol-induced hallucination. I quit drinking years ago.

I questioned out loud to no one in particular, “I wonder if that motel with the pink elephant down in Iowa is still around?”

Catherine, in another room but always ready for an adventure with me answered, “Why don’t we find out?”

Now, we’re retired – mostly. Catherine has more commitments than I do. I mostly mow, shovel and take out the garbage. But a short trip this important would be fun and easy.

We had driven through an area of Iowa along the Mississippi River across from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin many years ago when camping with the kids and I was impressed. The Iowa town I remembered was McGregor maybe because we camped near there.

An internet search for lodging in that area didn’t include the Pink Elephant Motel and we soon discovered that it closed some time ago. Also, it had been located in Marquette, Iowa, not McGregor. We decided to go anyhow so looked for something other than a standard motel, like a bed and breakfast or a cabin on the river. Of course, everything in the area was full. Even the boring chain motels were nearly full.

Digging a bit deeper, Catherine found an old hotel in McGregor that had rooms available Sunday and Monday. The fact that they didn’t require a credit card over the phone to reserve a room should have been our first red flag. And they didn’t reserve a specific room for us. We could pick one when we arrived. What?

The drive down on the Minnesota side was enjoyable. We had a nice breakfast at Winona’s Family Restaurant before driving into town to see what two interstate bridges look like. Viewing them side-by-side really shows how bridge design has improved. We’ll see the same thing in Red Wing soon, although our old bridge will eventually be taken down. Winona keeps their old one, which has been updated.

If you want to cross an old Mississippi River bridge, try the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing, Iowa, which opened in 1931. The bridge bed is metal grating, the incline is steep and the lanes are narrow, so pay attention. There should be a sign stating “one vehicle at a time.” Plans for its replacement are underway.

The river’s main channel remains pretty similar to our area. The real difference is how extensive the backwaters become there. A great view of this is from Pikes Peak State Park, where Zebulon Pike stopped on his way north to find the source of the Mississippi. There you can see where the Wisconsin River enters the Mississippi. As one tourist exclaimed, “That’s an insane amount of water.” Especially with all the rain we’ve had.

To get to McGregor, you drive through Marquette first. That’s where the Pink Elephant Motel and Supper Club was, on one end of the mile-long bluff that separates the two towns. Back in the day you couldn’t miss seeing the pink motel on the bluff end, especially when crossing the interstate bridge from Prairie du Chien (just “Prairie” to the locals). “Pinky” the elephant is still in town but is now part of the Lady Luck Casino which is actually an old riverboat from the days when gambling was only allowed offshore. It goes nowhere anymore.

By the time we found the old hotel in McGregor the temperature was about 90. The front door sign said “newly remodeled rooms.” But then we entered the place and things started to take a turn. The main floor is a restaurant. They were busy. There was no hotel front desk. The waitress gave us a startled look when we said we wanted a room. She quickly replied that she wasn’t trained in that yet. We’d have to see someone else who would meet us upstairs. We were given a key to a room that was left on the bar.

So, up we went, using the wide staircase. The whole place had exposed wood floors with some area rugs. No one was up there and nearly every room was open. The room we had the key to had been used and not been made up. I began to wonder if they rent rooms by the hour.

The rooms were probably newly remodeled in 1960. Consistent in every room was the fact that nothing matched and everything was unplugged including the clock radios. The creaky floors were uneven and two of the rooms shared a hall bathroom. Air conditioning was provided by one window unit in each room.

By the time someone came up to help us we were inspecting a front room that had the cable TV wire draped over the bathroom door. There was no cable service anyhow and the remote didn’t work because it didn’t have batteries. Two spares next to it were the wrong size. We politely told the guy we would think about it. At $80 a night, we didn’t come back. We ended up in a modern hotel in Marquette, which didn’t seem boring anymore.

Prairie du Chien is the site of a battle in the War of 1812 (who knew?) and we saw part of a re-enactment of it on an island, which is part of the town. How could those actors withstand the hot humid weather in their heavy wool costumes?

The island was later owned by a wealthy fur trader family that built Villa Louis. It’s a historical site now and we took a tour of the house. Such opulence. Apparently, guests would visit for weeks at a time and the measure of a good time was how much weight they gained while there.

I didn’t check my weight when we got home, but I know we had a good time.