Totally Experiencing Totality!

Monday, 21 August 2017Tuesday, 22 August 2017Leave a comment

At long last, the day of the eclipse was upon us! Kim and I went for a walk and it was hotter than any of the previous days, even though we got an earlier start – not a great sign! The sky was clear, though, so we were hoping it would stay that way. Judy had gone to Red’s for doughnuts, so we all shared a big box of pure sweetness – heavenly!

We got downtown and found parking spaces with no problems, and we just wandered around a bit prior to time to enter the party area. Soon it was time, so we staked out a table in the breeziest section of the yard. We were joined by Jeanne and Pat, a delightful couple from Chicago who had come to Paducah for the big event. They were a hoot and we loved having them celebrate with us! It was plenty warm, so Jim and Alex went back to their car to get a couple of golf umbrellas, as we had no shade at all. Thankfully, we could go into the Carson Center for beer and bathroom breaks. Lunch was served about 11:30, but we waited a good bit later so that the line was not so long. BBQ, baked beans, hash brown casserole, cole slaw, cookies, and Moon Pies were on the menu, and they were delicious!

I had a great eclipse timer app, so we were able to know the exact moment when first contact would appear at our location – it was so exciting!! Things started moving quickly after that, and we were all so surprised that our eclipse glasses worked so well, because you could not see one thing out of them in normal light! We decided to try some pinhole ‘cameras’, and that was fun. We took pictures of the eclipse shadows on our hands, on eclipse handouts, and on plain paper. It took us a while to work out the best angles and positions, but we did it!

At one point, we noticed that shadows of the leaves on the sidewalk had changed, and anywhere there was a hole in a leaf, there was a crescent-shaped shadow. We took off the tablecloth on the table next to us in hopes of seeing shadow bands (at second and fourth contact) on the white surface. And we did, but it was really hard to get a good photo of them. Blissfully, as it got closer to time for the full eclipse, the temperature dropped significantly. There were no animals around to observe ‘strange’ behavior, and before we knew it, the total eclipse was happening! We saw the diamond ring, and then we heard the app tell us “Glasses off!!” – the moment of totality was finally here! I got a couple of great photos, and noticed lots of bugs hitting my arms. Then the app told us to observe the horizon, and we say what looked like a beautiful sunset.

All too soon, it was time to put our glasses back on and prepare for fourth contact. Pat had recorded a video during totality, and we were shocked to hear the crickets chirping and cicadas humming during it. That explained the bugs hitting me – as if it were nightfall! The big post-eclipse excitement was learning that Paducah would be in the path of the next one, which just happens to be on Jenny’s birthday in 2024!! Pat and Jeanne are planning to join us, wherever we end up watching it!

Lots of people started leaving fairly soon, even though the moon still had a ways to go before the sun was uncovered. Between the heat and the fear of huge traffic jams, many were ready to get out of there! Jim and Alex left after a while to get back to Memphis, but Jenny and Judy had some shopping to do. We were able to see the last bit of the eclipse before leaving.

On our way back to the hotel, we drove by PTHS (our high school) and we stopped by the Chief Paduke statue. J & J headed back to Nashville hoping not to run into a big traffic jam, and thankfully, they were rewarded! None of our group hit traffic, but we talked to several who had a seven hour ride back to Louisville (about twice what it would normally be)!!

Kim went to visit her friend Francie, and I did some laundry for us, and then we both enjoyed the Homewood happy hour. On our way downtown for dinner, we drove by our old house, and then we made our way to Max’s, where we enjoyed delicious salmon and a perfect gin and tonic. After dinner, we walked back down to the river to see the Queen of the Mississippi, and then we called it a day. And what a special one it was!!

It’s finally here! Let’s have a cookie!

Sundrop/Moon Pie Eclipse Party is about to begin!

Judy has her first Moon Pie

Jim and Kim taking in the action.

Jenny has the eclipse in her hand.

It took a team effort to get the pinhole pictures!

Another pinhole shadow

One more

Jenny getting a good view

The whole crowd was into it!

It’s hard to see, but these were the shadow bands…

Glasses off – TOTALITY!!

It was almost like sundown…

Looking toward the river during totality

We stopped by the Chief Paduke statue before Jenny and Judy left town.

Our old house is looking pretty good.

Our home away from home for a few days – neat clouds on eclipse day!

The Queen of the Mississippi was docked in Paducah

Love this sign!

Kim and I went to Max’s for dinner.

A delicious eclipse Hendrick’s and Fever-Tree

Let’s Get This Party Started

Sunday, 20 August 2017Monday, 21 August 20172 Comments

Sunday, 20 August 2017
Paducah KY

For the second day in a row (off to a good start!), Kim and I got a walk in. We drove over to Noble Park where we walked through the park, on top of the levee, and on the greenway to Stuart Nelson Park and back. By the time we got back and cleaned up, Judy and Jenny were back from church and Jim and Alex were almost here. The girls enjoyed the service at Grace Episcopal and thought the church was beautiful. The guys had no problem getting here – no traffic jams between here and Memphis.

Soon we were off in search of lunch downtown, where we found that quite a few people had the same idea. Shandie’s was packed and reported an hour wait, so we opted for Kirchhoff’s instead. Good call! Our sandwiches were huge, tasty, and the bread was divine! Most of us could not even finish our meals! After lunch, we walked over to the National Quilt Museum, where we spent the next couple of hours admiring the incredible fiber arts on display there. As is always the case, our guests, who were humoring us by agreeing to go to the museum, were amazed by what they saw! This is NOT your grandma’s quilt museum! Should you ever find yourself in Paducah, whether you are a quilter or not, male or female, young or old – please trust me and spend an hour in the National Quilt Museum. You will not be disappointed – except that you can’t take photos! Judy, Jenny, Jim, and Alex all agreed that the museum is badly named and they were glad we insisted they visit it. Like I said – just trust us. I go every time I’m in town, as the exhibits change regularly.

By the time we walked back in the hot sun, we were all screaming for ice cream, so back we went to Curls & Cream – since Jim and Alex had missed yesterday’s run. I opted for S’mores this time -so good! Kim had Oreo with pecans, caramel sauce, and whipped cream. Yum! We wanted to show the gang the Hotel 1857, and it just happened that the bar was open and the AC was going strong, so we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon there, chatting with Jacob the bartender and with other patrons (including a bourbon purveyor). Before we knew it, it was time to go to Doe’s Eat Place for dinner. Doe’s was packed and the place was hopping! Somehow, we managed to eat most of our steaks and shrimp – again, Doe’s knows steak!

By this time, we were all about to crash, so we headed back to the hotel so that we could rest up for the big event! Thanks, Kim Ford, for having Kim & me!!

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Grace Episcopal Church, Paducah KY

Greenway trails

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The duck pond at Noble Park

Walking along the levee

Why did the ducks cross the road?

Such good bread!

Eclipse cookies at Kirchhoff’s

Lewis & Clark and Sacajawea in front og the Quilt Museum

The Yeiser yak is ready for the eclipse

Love the Curls & Cream t-shirts!

This is how they roll the ice cream – so cool!

My s’mores cup with Reese’s, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. And toasted marshmallows, of course!

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The J team!

The Saga of the Sassy Sisters

Wednesday, 9 August 2017Sunday, 13 August 20172 Comments

Our road trip history goes way back – so far back that even we don’t remember those first trips. During our formative years, in the Leave It to Beaver days, all of our trips and vacations were taken in a car. I took my first plane ride when I was 16, when for some unexplained reason, Mom and Dad allowed me to go to Mardi Gras by myself! Not completely alone, mind you, but I stayed with a girl I had met at Girl Scout camp the summer before and whose parents my parents had never met. I’ll never understand quite what happened, but I took my $100 in savings, booked a Delta ticket from Paducah to New Orleans, and had $33 left for spending money. And I lived to tell about it!

I’m pretty sure my next plane ride was a few years later when I took my grandmother to Boston for the Bicentennial. Once I became a full-fledged adult, flying became more common, but when I have the time, I’ll pick a road trip any day of the week. My sister Kim and I have fond memories of some of our longer family vacations – trips to Florida, a monumental trip out west (when we missed two weeks of middle school!), and the frequent journeys to see our grandparents – monthly trips to west Tennessee and twice a year (or more) trips to Knoxville. We can still recite the names of the little towns we passed along the way, the names of restaurants where we always stopped, and how many times we crossed the Caney Fork River.

Since I went to college in Knoxville and then spent most of my married life in North Carolina, that route became one I could almost drive in my sleep. Kim headed south to Memphis, so for her, those little towns in west Tennessee remained familiar friends. One year, when our kids were in middle school, Kim and I decided they needed a road trip like the one we loved and remembered, so we hatched a plan.

I drove my kids from Durham to Memphis, where we combined an Amtrak train/plane trip with a road trip in a 15 passenger club van. We boarded the City of New Orleans at midnight in Memphis and woke up in Chicago. We spent our six hour layover hitting the Magnificent Mile, Water Tower Place, and Navy Pier, then all six of us crammed into one taxi so we could make it back to Union Station on time. The Empire Builder took us from Chicago to Glacier National Park in only two days, and Rex met us at the train station in Glacier after he flew to Calgary and rented the giant club van.

What a grand time we had! We toured Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and places in between and then Rex flew home from Jackson. Katie bar the door! Kim and I took off, completely deviating from the plan as we criss-crossed Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana on our way to Alberta, Banff, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake, and then we flew back to Memphis from Calgary (via San Francisco and Chicago – go figure!).

While that trip was fabulous, Kim and I didn’t take another road together until 2005, when we ventured from Knoxville to Gulfport, Mississippi, to do relief work with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance after Hurricane Katrina. When we survived that week – showering outdoors (or not showering at all), sleeping in a tent, on cots in a room with scores of snoring men and women, in sleeping bags in the back of a Suburban (in freezing weather), on the floor of a pantry, and in a prefab structure that we built – we knew we could road trip together and have fun doing it. And so began the saga of the Sassy Sisters road trips!

The page below was made years ago, but I love it and the story it tells:

Natchez Trace MS 2009 Bourbon Trail to Bourbon Street

Rollin’ up the River Road

Monday, 28 September 2009Monday, 6 July 2026Leave a comment

Thursday, Sept 24, 2009

We weren’t in a big rush this morning, since we didn’t have far to go today. On the agenda – breakfast, a visit to Graceland Too in Holly Springs (allegedly open 24/7, in the home of an eccentric Elvis-loving man), a stop at Kim’s house in Memphis, and ending up in Paducah in time to eat at Doe’s (we were already craving chocolate cobbler…) It was a little drizzly and foggy – the perfect weather for dawdling. We weren’t sure where to eat, but since Oxford is a college town, we knew there would be some great breakfast places nearby. Sure enough, a little research on the iphone took us straight to Big Bad Breakfast, which was tucked away in a little strip shopping center. I was pretty sure I would like it just from the name, but when we walked through the front door, which was clearly recycled from a college classroom and bore the label “Organic Chemistry” I knew we had come to the right place!

The menu looked great – obviously lots of dishes were prepared with locally grown and/or fresh ingredients, although you can probably guess that there weren’t many ‘heart-healthy’ items on the list. Kim chose the Big Bad Breakfast, which was scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries, and toast. I got the Secret History, which was fantastic! It was a huge omelet, made with shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, and Swiss cheese, and it was served with home fries and a big biscuit. Best part about the biscuit (which I couldn’t finish) was the homemade raspberry jam. Great way to start the day! Another thing we loved about it was the light fixtures over each booth. All different and all made from recycled items – see for yourself!

Holly Springs and Graceland Too are just up the road from Oxford, so off we went. Kim’s daughter, Kerry, has visited GT many times, so we had an idea what to expect. It would be a little hard to describe, and many others have tried. Sadly, there were two things that we weren’t prepared for – first, the house is not pink and second, contrary to ALL published accounts and first-hand reports, NO ONE CAME TO THE DOOR! We rang the bell, we knocked, we honked, we yelled, we circled the property, we attempted to agitate the dog, we stood around for much longer than we should have, and we DIDN’T GET IN!! Bummer. NOTE: It is permanently closed as of 2014, when the owner died.

Spurned by the host who is always home, we dejectedly got back in the car and headed for Memphis. We arrived just about the time we knew that Jim would be on his lunch break, and sure enough, we tracked him down. Since we were still stuffed from breakfast and Jim had finished lunch, we just settled for hugs in the parking lot. We stopped by Kim’s house just long enough for her to gather up some things she needed, clean out the car a little bit, off-load some things we wouldn’t need any more, and to give Kim some time to take care of a little business since she’d been gone for a couple of weeks.

In one of our less than stellar moves, we decided to take the “scenic” route to Paducah, and rather than taking the normal, albeit boring route up the parkway from Fulton, we got back on the Great River Road and toured rural (very rural) western Kentucky. There had been so much rain lately that the road itself looked like a river in places! There was not much to see, although we did see a magnificent heron taking flight.

We had some fond memories of family outings and picnics at Columbus-Belmont State Park, so we set our sights for it. To give you a little background – Columbus Belmont is right on the Mississippi River, and it’s where Confederate troops got the bright idea to stretch a giant chain across the river in an attempt to stop the advancing Union troops. You get a gold star if you figured out that the plan didn’t work. But here’s a piece of the chain and a look at the river!

Columbus was called the “Gibraltar of the West” by the Confederates, and was considered by them the key to their defense of the upper Mississippi River valley. The anchor weighs six tons…

It was dreary and raining a little bit while we were here, and it probably goes without saying that we were the only ones visiting this out of the way state park today. I’m not even sure if the rangers were there! We are impressed by the Kentucky State Park system, though. Many of the parks have gorgeous and challenging golf courses, and most of them have pretty decent lodging and camping facilities. Much better than the NC state parks I’ve seen! As we left the park, we just decided to make a beeline for Paducah (not that there is a very direct route from here to anywhere…) but we got stopped by a commotion in the middle of the road.

It was almost dark by the time we got to town, so we checked into our new home away from home (it’s really strange to stay in a hotel room in the town you grew up in) and then we went straight downtown to Doe’s. The Barbeque on the River fest was in full swing, although given the lateness of the hour and the rain that was starting to fall, we were able to get a parking place without too much trouble. The lower blocks of Broadway and Jefferson were closed to vehicles, and there were still LOTS of people downtown. Thankfully, most of them were eating barbeque, so we got a great table right in front of the Ole Miss – South Carolina football game on the big screen. Gotta love Thursday night football! Doe’s was worth the wait – man, is their food good! Kim opted for their famous tamales and chili, but I splurged on a nice big rare filet and a perfect baked potato. Good eats! But the best was yet to come – the main reason we came was for the chocolate cobbler, and we were not disappointed! Don’t miss Doe’s when you come to Paducah!

We were excited to be back in our hometown and were looking forward to reconnecting with our high school classmates over the next few days. But for now, stuffed and sated and sleepy, it was dreamtime!

Dreaming of chocolate…

Jan

Delta Dawn

Sunday, 27 September 2009Tuesday, 7 July 2026Leave a comment

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Morning comes earlier every day…it was sort of sprinkling on us by the time we finally got going, but it stopped before we even got to downtown Vicksburg. Our Hampton was right across the street from the National Military Park. This particular cemetery is a loop drive of over 20 miles, and at a 20 mph speed limit, you’re gonna be there for a while… We passed, on that, although we did learn something about the Illinois memorial later on. I’ll fill you in shortly.

We decided to skip breakfast this morning and have an early lunch at Rusty’s (recommended by Kim’s friend Kristy, who grew up here – thanks!!) so our first stop was the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum. In the summer of 1894, Vicksburg businessman Joseph Biedenharn put Coca-Cola in bottles and delivered it to rural areas near Vicksburg. This was the first time Coke was served in bottles rather than from a soda fountain. You already know the rest of the story – but the first Coca-Cola bottling franchise started right here in Mississippi! The museum provides a great timeline and description of the bottling process and how it has evolved. Best of all, it has LOTS of coke memorabilia and some really wonderful old advertisements. We loved it! It took all we had not to order a coke float at 10:30 AM, but we restrained ourselves.

From the Coke Museum, we walked down the street and decided not to go into the Doll and Toy Museum, so we headed down to the riverfront and the floodwall. The same muralist who has painted murals on the floodwall in our hometown of Paducah, Kentucky, has also painted historic scenes on the floodwall here. The above photos are both panels from the Vicksburg floodwall. I just love these murals and we always learn things while looking at them – and I love it when learning is fun! For example, I’ll bet you had no idea that 36,325 soldiers from Illinois participated in the Vicksburg campaign or that there are 1300 (!) monuments in the 1800-acre National Military Park here. The Illinois monument is considered the grandest, and it was dedicated in 1906 after being built for just under $200,000. Here are a few of my favorite murals by Robert Dafford (a native of Lafayette, LA) and his talented team:

We took our time wandering around the waterfront, and we were a little perplexed about the width of the river here – it’s not nearly as wide as we expected the Mississippi to be. Then after seeing the mural of the two bridges over the river, one of which I had crossed last year, I remembered that this section of the river is only a canal now. The river carved a new channel in 1876, leaving Vicksburg without a port until 1903 when the U. S. Army

We had finally killed enough time – it was time for our next meal!! Up the hill we went to Rusty’s Waterfront Grill, which was already starting to fill up by the time we got there, well before noon. The place was packed long before we left! I decided to eat “light” so I ordered a side salad and an appetizer portion of crawfish tails, and look what I got. YUM!! Kim had a chicken sandwich, and we both drank about a gallon of tea. Now we were ready to start our ride up the Delta on the Great River Road!

orps of Engineers diverted the Yazoo River into the old bed. The city

While we were leaving town, I read in one of our books about a little place we might want to stop, so we set the Garmin for Margaret’s Castle. Boy, were we in for a surprise. We finally got to meet Rev. Dennis, but sadly, Margaret was in the hospital and is at the end of her life. Rev. Dennis is 93 years old, but that didn’t stop him from preaching to us! He was being visited by him home health nurse when we were there (that didn’t stop him either) but he seemed glad to have company. We learned a whole new version of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel story, and we all recited the 23rd Psalm. You’ll get a general idea of Rev. Dennis’s philosophy from looking at some of the pictures of the ‘castle’ he has built. You have to admire his single-minded devotion and persistence!

Once we got on the GRR, the scenery didn’t change much. We passed cotton fields and rode along the banks of the Mississippi. The land is flat, the soil is dark, and the weather was hot. No wonder the Blues got their start down here! We just drove on, talking and singing along with the radio, until we hit Greenville, MS, and the home of the original Doe’s Eat Place. We know about Doe’s because there’s one in Paducah, but it’s likely that many of you have never heard of it. Doe’s is famous for their tamales and chili, their spaghetti sauce, awesome steaks, and our personal favorite, chocolate cobbler. Doe’s is some mighty good eating, but if you saw the original (and still open) Eat Place you might not believe me! But remember to get there in the evening, when it’s open!! Good thing we weren’t counting on having a meal here today…

From Greenville, we turned east and took off on the Blues Highway, headed for Greenwood and the Crystal Grill. Of course, we had to stop in at the Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland, and we were glad we did. Even though the museum is just in a storefront and the signage is straight off the copy machine, the material in the exhibits and the history in the rooms are incredible! It’s amazing how so many talented Blues musicians came from this poverty-stricken, education-poor Mississippi Delta area. We had several conversations about how and why this came about, but the proof of it all was right there in front of us, and gosh, is the music ever good! And even though Leland is also the hometown of Jim Henson (of Muppet fame), we missed the visitor’s center dedicated to him, but not for lack of trying. We drove all through the streets of Leland (there are not that many, and we have seen them all) and I narrowly escaped an attack by a Cujo-like dog (really!), and then just as we gave up and got back on the highway, we saw a giant Kermit sitting on top of a building not anywhere near where the Garmin thought it was. We didn’t go back…

It was a short, flat ride from Leland to Greenwood, whose most recent claim to fame is the arrival of the Viking Corporation (you know, upscale kitchen appliances) and the appropriately upscale Alluvian Hotel. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what we saw wasn’t it. This classy looking boutique hotel has little in common with the Delta country we’d spent the day driving through. See what you think!

We were looking forward to our meal at the Crystal Grill, which Kim’s buddy Jim had told us not to miss. We were not steered wrong! We loved the dinner special – we got a salad, meat and two sides, pie, and iced tea for an impossibly low price. We both had fish and mac & cheese; I had green beans with mine, and the breads were yummy. Even though we’re not huge fans of meringue, the chocolate pie was delicious!

Sadly, the Crystal Grill closed for good in 2024, after 90 years!

From Greenwood, we decided we’d make it a fairly early night and just go as far as Oxford, home of Ole Miss (hotty toddy!) so that we could stop by Graceland Too in Holly Springs on our way to Memphis and Paducah tomorrow.

We’re not singing the Blues – we’re loving it!!

Jan