OF TURTLES, FRENCH LICK AND HOTELS

October 5, 2011  Dateline: Grand Rivers, KY USA

Green Turtle Bay Marina, where I am docked, is named after the green turtles that live in the water.  Back in the 1950’s one of the pets that children had, including Rich and Carol, were small green turtles.  Most of the turtle died in the polluted water that they were forced to live in.  On a positive note some of those turtles got released into Lake Barkley and lived very well in the cove that became known as Green Turtle Bay.  The good news is that they were not invasive and have not forced out other species of animals. 

Once again I sat, watching turtles, while Rich and Carol went traveling by car.  On Monday, Grianan’s and MY WAY’s owners along with Rich and Carol went off to Paducah.  The ladies did what they like to do best, they went shopping, Rich and Wayne, of MY WAY, went to the Heritage Marine Museum.  The museum is located by the Paducah water front and tracks the development of four rivers from the time that the first Europeans floated down the Ohio through current times.  There is a tow boat simulator which gives the participant the opportunity to navigate a tow and its barges through several scenarios.  The video display wraps around 180 degrees and if the wheel on the tow is spun fast it begins to feel like the floor is moving---it’s only a trick that your eyes play on you.

There is also a railroad museum in Paducah that Rich did not get there but did get a picture of one of the steam engines.

Yesterday Rich and Carol went with Wayne and Francine to Evansville, IN to visit friends of Wayne’s, Sam and Lee, who keep their boat at Green Turtle Bay.  Sam took us to a place called French Lick, IN.  The town contains two very old very high end hotels and a casino.  In the late 1800’s people went to the West Baden Springs Hotel, named, as play on words, for Wiesbaden, Germany which was a source of world class mineral springs, and the French Lick Springs Hotel for the benefits of the mineral water that came out of the ground there.  It was important to see and be seen at the hotels.  Trains would bring in patrons from Chicago, Louisville and other wealthy cities in the Mid-West.  People believed that water from the springs would cure almost every aliment known to mankind. The Great Depression brought the decline of both hotels and the West Baden Springs Hotel was eventually sold to the Jesuit Brothers for $1and later was abandoned and fell into disrepair.  The hotel was later restored with a significant donation from a local doctor. The significance of the West Baden Springs Hotel is that for more than 40 years it contained the largest unsupported dome ceiling.  The elegance of these hotels can be seen in the pictures below.

French Lick Hotel

West Baden Hotel Dome

Under West Baden  Dome

Oh, I forgot, where did the name “Lick” come from?  Salt/mineral springs were present there and bison and other mammals would come to get their required salt intake.   At one point in time the Federal Government thought about taking the site under its control to supply much needed salt for the preservation of meats required by early pioneers, but changed its mind when it realized that it could not extract enough salt to make it economical.

After returning from French Lick everyone went to the Evansville West Side Nut Club’s annual festival.  The event is the second largest street party in the US after the New Orleans Mardi Gras.  The event, which started in 1924, draws more than 150,000 people and lasts for a week.  Four city blocks are closed to traffic and lined on both sides with food vendors including ones selling brain sandwiches.  The food vendors are service organizations including churches, fraternities, Kiwanis, Shriners, Boy and Girl Scouts and everything in between.  There are also carnival rides and games of chance.  It was a great place and it looked like everyone was having a wonderful time. All profits will be donated to charities for the under privileged.

This morning Rich and Carol had breakfast at the Donut Bank.  Rich asked Sam, their host, if one could make deposits at the Donut Bank and get interest on a deposit. For example, if you gave them a donut with a hole it in would it come back in a month without the hole.  Sam said if you deposit dollars they give you donuts.  As Rich pulled into the “Bank” there was a Brinks truck entering the park lot as well. This brought more significance to the “Bank” concept.

Remember all pictures can be increased in size by ckicking on them.