Paducah to .. Paducah.

We didn't stay put today but we only moved a mile (in the boat) and several miles (on foot).  

Today we are tied up to friends at the dock in Paducah KY.   

We will be staying the night and tomorrow night as well.  Time for a bit of rest and tourist stuff.   Tomorrow might rain so today we spent some time walking.  And shopping.   And visiting museums.   And looking at art.   

First we visited the National Quilt Museum.  
I don't quilt.  Neither does Katie.    But the artistic creativity is just stunning.   
This kind of stuff was built by stitching and cutting little pieces of cloth together as well as puffing them up and sewing them to create texture.  Simply amazing.  

Next we walked along the 'city wall'.  Paducah is a walled city. Not because it needed walls for defense, but because it needed them to keep the Ohio River out.  The town has been devastated before and they don't really want a repeat.  

The murals on the wall are pretty cool. 
Some tell stories of history, others are a snapshot of history.  Some interesting. Some propaganda.  Still it is fun the learn about new places.  We have not been to Paducah before so it is fun to learn.   If we get a chance tomorrow we will explore further using our bikes.  3 to 4 miles of walking is about my limit...  

The Ohio is wide here and the walls are tall.  It's hard to believe when you walk up a 70ft high ramp from the boat that the water gets up here - and higher - but sometimes it does.  

It's interesting to look at a mural of Broadway (the city street in Paducah) from the 1930s and then actually walk the town and realize that it hasn't changed that much....   

The cars are 100 years newer and the buildings are 100 years older....  but the spirit isn't too far off.  There are still theatres, restaurants, clubs, art galleries to visit.  All in all a friendly town.   And yes, they have the same problems that exist in most towns.  

One thing I didn't find is a good ice cream place.   Every small town should have an amazing ice cream place.  We found a couple of ice cream places but I was able to turn them down- so they weren't very compelling.  Maybe tomorrow on bikes we will come across the local equivalent of a Norm's.  Or a Kool Cone.  Or a Captain Sundaes.     

Anyway, they are working on the power to the marina so they are out of power and no fuel here.  Two more days on generator then we will move to Green Turtle Bay (about 30 miles away as a crow flies) and enter the civilized marina world again. ..

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