BIKE RIDING, CINDERELLA CARRIAGE RIDE, MUSIC, OLD TIME GENERAL STORE AND EATING!

On Saturday, August 22nd, I took off for a "solo" bike ride. Ralph decided to take a break today so I headed out early and you guessed it, a stop at my two favorite places. Kirchhoff's for this chess pastry that was of course out of this world and a delicious cup of flavored coffee from Etcetera Coffeehouse. (I almost forgot to take a picture).

I took my goodies and peddled my bike a short distance to enjoy my treat as I relaxed on the banks of the Ohio River on this beautiful morning.

I headed over to the Farmers Market about a block away and gazed at all the beautiful fruits, vegetables, homemade jams, jellies, farm  fresh eggs, pastries and breads.

I would have loved to have picked up several items, but I was going to be doing a long ride today and did not think they would fair to well bouncing around in a bike basket.

Kirchhoff's Bakery was there and this is their 1936 Ford Delivery Van. They use it to come to the Farmers Market every Saturday. The hood is open for people to check out the  spotless engine.

There were several craft folks displaying their talents from wood carving, artwork and pottery. 

Well here I am taking a "selfie"of Char and me. She and her husband John, own John's Pass Carriage Service.

I climbed up on the beautiful Cinderella Carriage and rode "shotgun". Char took several of us for a 20 minute historic ride around Paducah. It was exciting to ride up front. Char explained to us the history of Paducah and we all enjoyed chatting.

General Patton took good care of everyone on board. He knows the route and probably can even read the traffic lights.

All the visitors and local town folks enjoyed the festivities. There was fun and games for the kids and a magician performed great magic tricks.

Although you can't tell from the picture, this cobble stoned road was closed off for the festivities. Kirchhoff's and Etcetera Coffeehouse is on this street, but the closing did not hurt their business. All the festival goers were constantly in and out including me!

I caught General Patton and Char taking other customers for a ride. Check out the flood wall murals in the background. The Ohio River is just on the other side.

A glimpse of the Ohio River.

General Patton pulled into the carriage stop were Char's grandson Jacob brought him a bucket of water and treats to the General. He stands under huge shade trees for a break.

Char and Jacob.

Right next to the carriage stop is a gazebo. I met this couple Alan and Denise who drove to Paducah from an nearby town. They had their guitar with them and they took turns playing to the enjoyment of the town folks. It was just wonderful hearing them sing easy listening songs.

Wow, what a spectacular morning I had in down town historic Paducah. I just love this quaint town!

The Bank Of Paducah was handing out free ice cream.  Guess who was in line?

ME!!!!

I parked my bicycle because I spotted a little outdoor gear store. So I went into browse and I spent time with this gorgeous husky. Isn't he majestic looking?

I headed out to peddle all the calories I ate this morning. 5 miles later I stopped at Roof Brothers Wine and Spirits. 

Wow, what a store this was. It is family-owned and operated and they have two locations here is town. One north of town and the other south of town. The latter is close to the RV park we are staying at and we have visited that store.

There was a sign outside for the traffic to see and it read "Come on in for gourmet toasted marshmallow flavored coffee". So guess who stopped in? ME!

I enjoyed my cup while browsing. They have a wonderful array gourmet type foods such as dips, jams, sauces, spices, coffees, local honey, an olive oil and vinegar section, bartender gadgets, glassware and a nice selection of gift items. 

I was blown away with their customer service when we visited the south side store last week. Soon a nice lady approached me asking if I needed any help and I complemented her on both Roof Brother stores and let her know how helpful the employees were. I loved that the employees carry your things out and put them in your car or in my case they carried my stuff out and put it in my bike basket. How cool is that?

Turns out this lady was a "Roof", one of the owners. She thanked me and said they are very customer oriented and her employees have been with the store for a long time. The employees piped up and told me that they loved working here.

So I bought some goodies and Herman carried my stuff out to my bicycle! I should have gotten a picture!

What a fun day I had!

On Sunday, August 23rd, Ralph and I left by 8:00 a.m. We were meeting "Kevin the local" for coffee at Etcetera Coffeehouse. This would be the last time we will get to see Kevin.

Kevin and Ralph are seated at the left foreground table. We had a wonderful time and Ralph and I ate a delicious toasted gourmet Asiago Bagel with cream cheese for the last time! How sad is that? We will be leaving in a couple of days.

Kevin is very good friends of the owner and I asked Kevin to let the owner know how much we have enjoyed visiting their both locations and how nice the employees have been.

Well the next thing I knew, Kevin called Alan over and introduced us. Alan is the man seated at the table at the right foreground in the gray shirt. Kevin introduced us and we had a wonderful chat talking about his business and RV-ing. Kevin and his wife are retired teachers and a group of teachers got together and opened Etcetera.

My bike developed a slow leak on the way home. Ralph pumped a little air in the tire to get home. He ended up putting a patch on the inner tube.

On Monday, August 24th, Ralph relaxed at home and I headed into town to visit the National Quilt Museum.

But............I headed to Kirchhoff's and Etcetera and this is what I got! I don't have to tell you all how delish it was!

I enjoyed every scrumptious morsel of the chocolate chip cream cheese bar as I sat along the Ohio River.

Of course I got this goodie to share with Ralph tonight with our evening coffee. It was a plum and cheese danish.

Now getting back to the National Quilting Museum.........The only expertise I have that has to do with sewing is I know how to thread a needle. However, I have many friends that are quilters so I am very familiar with quilts and the talent that these folks have at the end of their finger tips.

The National Quilting Museum has received visitors from all over the world and over 110,000 people come to visit each year. The museum is in a 27,000 square foot facility and quilts come from all over the world to be displayed.

The exhibit is rotated 8 to 10 times a year. The museums collection totals over 500 quilts. The ones that are not displayed at the time are safely kept in climate controlled vaults in protective cases. The curators wear cotton gloves when they handle the quilts.

When I arrived, I was just in time to go on a special tour. I was a little disappointed when they said the photography was not allowed. I was looking so forward to sending pictures to all my quilting friends.

Words can't describe the magnificent beauty and artistic talent of the quilts and quilters. Each quilt was displayed on a wall hanger and along side the quilt there was a nice write up about the quilt and the quilter.

I just could not believe my eyes seeing the beauty, artistry and workmanship of these quilts! Even if you don't know nothing about quilts, you would enjoy and appreciate the museum.

To me, these quilts were more like art work, tapestries and paintings, the designs were that intricate! I just couldn't get over it.

On Tuesday, August 25th became a devastating day for me. We were leaving Paducah. I was leaving Kirchhoff's Bakery, Etcetera Coffeehouse, Roof Brothers Spirits, Troutt Old Time General Store, the Moon Shine Co. and of course Duck Creek RV Park where we stayed.

I am sure glad we don't live here and thank goodness I did not visit the homemade fudge store, the homemade pie store and the homemade ice cream store! This is just a dangerous place for me, but boy did I enjoy every calorie while I was here!

We pulled out about 10 a.m. and believe it or not, we stopped at Kirchhoff's and Etcetera. I had place an order the other day for pick up today. We ordered 5 stuffed Focaccia artisan breads. Each one was stuffed with an array of different goodies like spinach, onions, olives, tomatoes, cheese, ham, bacon and herbs.

Kathy is slicing me up a fresh loaf of sourdough bread for me to take. She and Kara have our website  to follow our travels. I will surely miss all the employees friendly faces!

I am giving the stuffed Focaccia loafs to our friends that we were going to see in Sparta, Illinois at the U.S. Shooting Complex. Ralph is going to be competing at the U.S. Open Championship Cowboy Shoot for the next several days.

 We had a nice scenic trip and 3 hours later we arrived in southern Illinois in the small town of Sparta where "The World Shooting and Recreational Complex" is. It's a huge complex of 1,600 acres. They have 1,000 RV sites, an on site restaurant, an event hall, gift shop and several miles of sporting clay, skeet shooting, archery and rifle/pistol ranges along with several fishing lakes.

Wish Lefty Rhodes luck!

So until then.............Happy Trails to all!