OUR FIRST VENTURE TO PADUCAH, KY. BY BICYCLE!

I forgot to put this cute little picture up last week when we were at Singing Hills Campground in Cave City, KY. When we got in the truck one morning this little baby frog was on the outside of the trucks driver side window. I carefully scooped him up and put him in a safe area.

I don't believe the story anymore that when you kiss a frog, he turns into a Prince, because that did not happen!

On Thursday, July 30th, we headed out early on a bicycle ride. It was a nice low humidity day so we took advantage of that and headed to Paducah, also known as Quilt City, USA. The National Quilting Museum is here and I look forward to visiting the museum.

We parked our bikes and walked along the Paducah Floodwall Murals. These huge floodwalls protect historic downtown Paducah from the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers overflowing their banks.

In 1937 a flood covered 90 percent of the town. Although we have not seen them yet, they do have flood level markers on some of the buildings in town.

There are 45 murals on these walls and they reach the length of a city block. They were designed and painted by Robert Dafford who is a Muralist from Lafayette, Louisiana. The project began in 1996 and the last panel was completed in 2007. Each mural panel has an interpretative bronze plaque with a short history lesson on the scene depicted in the panel.

The murals followed a timeline starting with the Paleo and Archaic Indians who lived in this area near the end of the last Ice Age. Murals also showed the Chickasaw Indians who lived and hunted here and Lewis and Clark who laid out the town of Paducah.

The sun started coming over the wall and this caused them not to turn out well. The panels and paintings are huge and I will get better pictures while I am here. The people in the paintings were so life like.

This mural shows the "3 Queens" visiting Paducah. The American Queen, the Delta Queen and the Mississippi Queen.

Mules being used for unloading supplies off of ships. 

Paducah Fire Dept. when horses were used.

We got a special treat today! The American Queen was docked in Paducah today. It was a sight to see. The American Queen is said to be the largest river steamboat ever built. She was built in 1995 for 65 million. She is 418 ft. long, 89 ft. wide, 109 ft. high with 6 decks. She can carry 436 passengers and has 222 State Rooms.

The paddle wheel is powered by a genuine steam plant, but in case of emergency and for maneuverability around tight areas where the paddle wheel can't navigate, power comes from the set of diesel-electric propellers.

She participated in the Great American Steamboat Race for the first time in 2012 and came in 2nd place.

You can take 3 to 10 night voyages out of a variety of southern and Midwest home ports such as St. Paul, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and ports in between. I would love to do that some day.

While biking around town, we stopped and chatted with John a parking enforcement fellow. He told us of several places  to visit including museums and restaurants. He specifically told us we must stop at Kirchhoff's Bakery for coffee and a sweet.  So we took his advice and rode over to Kirchhoff's.

The bakery spans 5 generations of Kirchhoff's and it was started by a Prussian immigrant, Franz Kirchhoff. He and his bride, Hannah opened Kirchhoff's Bakery in downtown Paducah in 1873. Bread and other products were baked in a wood-fired oven using Old World methods and proven family recipes. Their customers were town folk and river boat travellers.

The Kirchhoff's Bakery is on the list of The National Register of Historic Places.

I did not take pictures of all the desserts and breads, but they were all works of art and the smell was, well all I can say is that they should make perfume smell like fresh breads and pastries!

We enjoyed our sweet and coffee outside at one of the cozy tables. The sidewalk and street was of brick. While sitting there we saw a local church ministries van pull up and in went this man. He came out with a big bag full of old breads that Kirchhoff's donates to the less fortunate. How nice is that? 

These cookies were called "Cowboy Cookies". They were full of walnuts, chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, oatmeal and craisins. They were the best cookies I have ever had!

I couldn't help but be fascinated by this little fly munching on a cookie crumb. He ate the whole thing.

I didn't dare go in here. I have to laugh at myself. While most tourist take pictures of touristy things, I take pictures of food things.

On the way back to the campground, we saw we had a new neighbor. I love to see old RV's still on the road. We have met many folks that have restored RV's that were from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Then we meet some that have taken old buses, in this case a 1954 Greyhound bus and they are turning them into RV's. The owner told me that Greyhound retires the buses when they get three to five million miles on them. He said it is still "a work in progress".

After dinner and I nice hot shower, Ralph and I went to the pool. He relaxed in the lounge chair and I took a dip. Doesn't his white legs glow?

What a fun day and until next time................Happy Trails!