And off to the next Adventure

Saturday October 11 - We had a nice drive. Fall had definately arrived and the trees were changing colors. We were lucky with the weather because the sky was blue.

We were not in a hurry so we stopped in Mount Juliette for lunch. We knew that there was an Olive Garden. Soup and Salad, just right.

We had booked an airbnb in Paducah, Kentucky. We had lived in this area 30plus years but moved away 2008 when James retired. It had been a good time and we had many friends. Oh, the memories!

The appartement we had rented for three nights was part of the Market House Theater, a historic building, and exactly opposite the new and grandiose Carson Center. We were still residents when it was built and we had been to some lovely events. I remembered one of those which was the violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Fun that we can see it from the airbnb balcony. 

Before our arrival we had been told that we could park anywhere on the street in front. Well, plenty of space no problem. But when we mastered the locks and entered we found a lot of stairs. Back at the car and opening the trunk I was a bit worried ... and then something funny happening. A young boy (15 years) approached, very polite he asked whether we would mind buying some candy to support his sports team. I was taken aback for a moment but replied that I would rather hire him to carry the suitcases up for us. He was so friendly (and strong) and the deed was done quickly. I am sure he was happy with the generous cash. I felt lucky and James pleased. Ha-ha!

It was still early so we thought it would be nice to have a little walk after being in the car so much. Of course this is all very familiar. The flood wall with all those murials. Ups, no detailed photos.

The river where steam wheelers stop with tourists and the local "red jackets" are taking care of them. That's something we would like to do sometime. May be from New Orleans to St. Louis?

A few days ago (when I had just booked the airbnb) our friend John had called. He has made all the Chrismons for Grace Church for many years especially when we moved away and sometimes calls to confer about my patterns. But that time he just wanted to connect because he had not heard about us having done any travelling. All I could say that we had not gone of one of our special trips this year yet but then added that we were planning a little road trip in addition to visiting Helen and William. Of course he wanted to know right away when and to where. 

When I said to Paducah on Saturday he was very excited. Then he said that he and Sherry were attending the Symphony concert that evening. He is on the board. Of course we had season tickets when we were living in Paducah and he knew that. He hang up and half an hour later called back telling us that he had tickets for us right next to them. 

All we had to do was walk across the street to the Carson Center to meet Sherry and John and have a wonderful evening. The first half was the Violin Concerto in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven. The violinist was Russian-born Dina Nesterenko and she was incredible. I am (unfortunately) not playing any musical instrument but I was in awe about what I witnessed. 

During the intermission most of us just stood up to stretch the legs. I turned to look around a little and saw a couple which looked familiar but if my life depended on it, my brain could not make the connection. And suddenly all 4 of us realized, remembered the names and rashed out of our aisles. Unfortunately the intermission ended just then and the second half started. Randy had worked in the company and we had a "history" of many years together. We looked for them after the concert but could not find them. It had been such a surprise.

Sunday morning! We had a pretty good time in this strange bed. Had some breakfast in "our kitchenette" and headed to the church which was not far. The service started at 10 am but we had heard about the lecture starting at 9 am by one of the members about the Women in Genesis. This was the second week and the Women were Hagar & Sarah. It was very interesting and we were glad we went.

We had arrived a little early and just walking around in what was so familiar. The parish hall is now featuring a Labyrinth painted on the carpet. The custodian gave me a printed page about it. 

Of course just like our church Grace is also in the midst of their Stewardship drive. Today after the service was a little talk in the Memorial Garden by Tricia to point out its features. Of course thats were we wanting to go next anyway.

We wanted to say hello to my father anyway. In the above and below photos you can see the flowers standing on the tile under which his ashes are. He always talked about that he did not want a grave were somebody had to take care of it. Every time I had visited my parents we had to discuss and research this issue because laws are different in Germany. My mother had agreed at the end that "he wanted to fly to America one more time". They both had so loved when they visited us where-ever we lived at the time.

We were not quite sure where to go for lunch but ended up at a Thai restaurant. When we had finally arrived with the help of the GPS two familiar face came out and highly recommended it. Yes, we really enjoyed it. 

And here a note: The whole morning our hearts where leaping for joy. Grace church and its people had been such a great part of our years in Kentucky. And when faces lit up in joy when they saw us and recognized us, it was a wonderful experience. So many hugs. Even the Priest gave us our communion calling us by our first names, and he came to the church after we had moved. It felt good.

But more experiences to come. We had seen that there was a performance at the Carson Center which fit into our time. We had bought tickets for 3 pm to see "Cotton Patch Gospel". 

(copied and pasted from the theater: This entertaining musical features the creative retelling of the Gospels of Matthew and John in a contemporary southern setting, set to bluegrass music. This performance mixes spiritual satire with humour and poignancy to delight and entertain audiences. 

This "Greatest Story Ever Retold" is based on the book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John by Clarence Jordan in which the Gospel is presented in a setting of rural Georgia, is the final and perhaps best work of the late Harry Chapin.)

Our fourth theater experience in four days. And all so different. 

But the day wasn't over yet. Sherry and John had invited us to there house at 5 pm. Sherry had prepared some delicious snacks. We had some wine and chatted like we used to. Finally we had to find our way back to our airbnb.

Monday October 13

We had the whole day and the weather was nice. I really wanted to have at least a quick look at things in the Quilt Museum. There are usually at least 3 different exhibitions and they change very frequently. James was very patient with me. Actually, I think he was also interested. We walked around seperately but sometimes we would even talk about this or that.

Of course I took lots of photos (it is permitted, just no flashes) but I think I should post those on "My lace and quilt blog" (see top tabs).

Just like in any museum, after a while you have "information overload" so we decided to drive to Grand Rivers to "Patti's 1850" for lunch. Oh, the memories. When we lived at the lake we knew that place and the owners really well. James, being the boss of one of the companies in the county, met them at Chamber of Commerce and other meetings. Unfortunately the place had a fire a few years ago and does not look at all any more as it used to. It has become much more commercial. 

The flower pot bread with the strawberry butter still seems the same but the KY hot brown and the chips tasted very much of (old?) grease to me. We did talk about some funny things though. Once when James was there for a business dinner meeting (without me) there was a tornado warning and Bill, the owner, asked everybody to help taking the breakables off the shelves, cover the tables with the quilts which were hanging around everywhere and clime under the tables. The last was surely not that easy for James being so tall.

Yes, the Indian in the bathtub didn't look as genuine any more as it used to (40 years ago?). It would give you the heebie-jeebies when you had to use the toilet. Looks very staged now. 

After lunch we continued to drive the Trace on the Land between the Lakes. We knew that there used to be bison in a field before but now there was something new. We came to the Elk & Bison Prairie, a National Recreation Area. A native grassland habitat for (right now) 42 elk and 63 bison which can roam free within this 650-acre enclosure. 

We stopped the car to see a herd of bison.

And we saw one elk crossing this path very fast that I only managed to get his back end before it totally disappeared behind the tall grass. It was on James' side and I was not fast enough. Oh well....

We continued on "The Trace" and then drove back to Paducah through Cadiz, Jonathan Creek, Gilbertsville etc. Oh, the memories!

Tuesday. Time to leave. Loading everything back into the car was not so difficult. Gravity did help.

We left the car where it was and walked around the corner to the Kirchhoff's Bakery. Our friend Sara was meeting us there for breakfast. And again I forgot to take photos. Sara has a birthday on the same day as James so of course we can't forget that. We chatted and chatted until it was time to leave. Yes, there are people in your life were you are never uncomfortable because you don't know what to say. The opposite, there is not enough time to say all.

On the way back to the car, a quick photo of the little free library looking a bit like the Market House Theater on the other side of this street. Helen would love this.

And now we are on our way to Nashville to visit with Helen and William. William has his fall break from school this week. It will be fun!

Going on a little road trip

Even though it is our "Golden Year", the year when our life together started 50 years ago, it had more challenges than usual. We didn't have a real vacation trip at all this year and decided to add some extra days in front of the visit to Helen and William.

We started on October 9 very leisurely because technically we only had to go half the way compared to the usual 600 miles to Nashville. We had booked a room for two nights in Abingdon. This is the view out of our window.

The hotel was in walking distance to the main street and the theater we had booked to see a performance in the evening.

On the way to the theater was the Fiddler's Restaurant where we wanted to find something to eat before the show.

The name should have given it away. String instruments everywhere on the walls. Can't remember hearing music matching that.

We had come to the Barter Theator several years ago but the performance was not on the old historic stage. We had made sure this time. I also had looked up the name. The following was copied from their website: 

June 10, 1933

Barter Theatre opened its doors, proclaiming “With vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh.” The price of admission was 35 cents or an equivalent amount of produce. Four out of five theatregoers paid their way with vegetables, dairy products and livestock.
To the surprise of many, all the seats for the first show were filled. The concept of trading “ham for Hamlet” caught on quickly. At the end of the first season, the Barter Company cleared $4.35 in cash, two barrels of jelly, and a collective weight gain of over 300 pounds.
Today, at least one performance a year celebrates Barter’s history by accepting donations for Feeding America Southwest Virginia. Barter Days happen in the month of June as a birthday celebration for Barter Theatre, and we will list those performance times on our Ways to Save page.

This night we saw "Anne of Green Gables", a musical. It was a joy!!!

The way back to the hotel was a challenge. Fall had come quickly and we are not used to it yet. It got really, really cold and we were not quite dressed accordingly. This is the only photo I took of a park on the other side.

Photo out of our window the next morning. Actually the start of another lovely day.

Breakfast was included this time which we usually not do but it was nice. A buffet but more then a simple "continental". I was taken by the self-serve waffle maker.

This time we went to town in the car and parked right next to the tourist information. Everybody in town is so nice. We walked a bit up and down the main street and had a brief poke in a shop because I saw something in the window.

And what about this British telephone booth? 

The tourist info.

We would have liked to drive somewhere up a mountain with a nice overlook but were sent to a park at a river. The "Virginia Creeper Trail" is a 34-mile multi-use recreational trail in southwest Virgnia is popular for biking, hiking and horseback riding. It was established on an old railroad bed. We were sent to Alvarado which was an old railroad station. It was not open though and nothing much to see ... except lots of bicyclers. 

We continued to the town of Damascus. It is a very small but idyllic little town stretching through the valley. First it seems quite commercial because you encounter the Food City supermarket. But then there is the meandering main street with even smaller streets going off left and right. 

We were looking for a restaurant to have lunch but it seemed we had come at the one day were other people had the same idea. We were told that a large number of people had come and the waiting time was long. I think there was some kind of anniversary of something. I forgot to take pictures of the town. A bit of a shame but I probably would not have been able to capture the real impression.

We went back to Food City which had a sort of little cafe and ordered take-out. The older gentleman who served us was quite talkative. He told us about a flood just last year (because of Hurricane Helene) which was one of those "never before" events. I think he said that it wasn't just the amount of rain but a dam somewhere also broke. 

We took our take-out and went to the little park we had seen next to the road at the edge of city center. It was very nice there. 

Right after we went for a little walk and learned more about the history. 

Back at the hotel to refresh. Can't remember what we did about dinner/snack. 

Then it was time for our second theater visit. This time it was on the new stage on the opposite side of the road. This time we took the car and could park close. We were a little early and looked at some art work. 

(In the first photo the historic Barter Theater is right behind James)

The play (also a musical) was ... different.

First we were not so sure whether we liked it but when we understood that it was almost like "British comedy" we enjoyed it. The two actors were incredible including the acting, singing and piano playing. Sometimes it is good to be surprised with something you don't know anything about.

The next morning we enjoyed our breakfast again and then went our way to our next stop. In the car we could reminisce about this time here. Good choice!

Stay tuned for more, ha-ha.