Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky

            After our marathon trip down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers we were very, very happy to reach Green Turtle Bay.   So happy that we decided to stay here for a week!  Green Turtle Bay is on the Cumberland River and Barkley Lake.  This Kentucky lake area is huge, 150 miles of fresh water.  Yes, there are actually turtles ( 1- 1 1/2 feet across)   in the water.  They sell turtle food at the marina.  The marina is awesome, and most of the other loopers have decided to spend down time here after the Mississippi  River also.                               

               Lori's job - holding the lines in the locks

                                             Tthe Missippi was very confusing with lots of traffic

                                                                         

                                              New sandbars like this all along the Missippi as it is so low

            Grand Rivers is the town (pop. 350) right here.  They actually have a nice playhouse with a top theater company here.  The town was going under and needed to do something to attract tourists.  They made a deal with a very good theater company that they would build them their own playhouse if they signed a contract and stayed here. Apparently there are some very wealthy people around here who donated money.   The playhouse has done incredibly well.  They have tourist busses coming here from several states away now for the destination of the Badgett Playhouse and Pattie’s restaurant across the street.    Last night we (me and our looper friends, Bill didn’t want to go) saw the play Hank Williams, Lost Highway. It was about the life of Hank Williams, father of country music.  The cast did an amazing job, really talented – it was great!

            You definitely know you are down south here.  All the food is fried (we even had fried pickles), people have thick accents and the weather is very humid.  It is a dry county, whatever that means.   You can’t get alcohol in a restaurant. You can’t buy wine and beer in the grocery store.  Grocery stores can sell one or the other, not both.  Hard liquor can only be sold at a “liquor store”.

The yacht club had a large “seafood boil” party on the beach last night.  They boiled up tons of crab legs, shrimp, potatoes and corn on the cob in large pots connected to propane canisters.  When the food was cooked they poured it out on tables covered with newspapers.  There were about 100 people there so that is a lot of seafood.  All you could eat- I’ve never eaten so much shrimp!  It was awesome!

                                                              

Seafood boil dinner

                                                                      

            Today we went to Paducah and saw the “dragon boat races”.  Now there’s new sport for our family!  They use a very long canoe  shaped boat and have lots of people it paddling.  In the front is someone with a colorful dragon headpiece beating on bongo drums.  Apparently dragon boat races are very popular in the Midwest.
            I visited the National Quilt Museum in Paducah.  I couldn’t believe how detailed the quilts were and how much time was put into making them.  They were truly works of art!!.  Some quilts took several years to make (Bill said he could build an entire house in that time!)  

                                                Dragon Boat Races