On the way to Columbus we spent a few hours in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I'd been told this was a lovely arty little town. I had the wrong idea in my mind - or else the town has changed over recent years. It's really a hippie little town - a real throw-back. We got there around 10.30 am and found nothing, but nothing opened before 12 noon, hardly anybody was up - the odd barefoot coffee drinker, a stray cat or two (and the place smelled of cats!) I wasn't exactly disappointed though, the town's heart is definitely in the right place.
(Clicking on the images should bring forth bigger versions)
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| Good to see the Peace Flag flying in Yellow Springs, Ohio! |
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| Yellow Springs has stuff! |
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| And some other stuff! |
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| And the right ideas! |
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| More good ideas |
On the way back we had an overnight stop in Paducah, Kentucky - my kind of town, especially the "historic downtown" area. It somehow brought to mind how turn of the century France might have looked. The town's name, Paducah, is a tribute to a friendly Chief of Chickasaw Indians, Chief Paduke, whose people lived and hunted in the area until the Jackson Purchase of 1818.
There are several unusual arty stores in town, a big theatre, some interesting restaurants and a very pleasant atmosphere in general. The city sits on the confluence of two rivers: the Ohio and the Tennessee. There's a "Wall Wall" of scenes of the city's past, along the riverfront, with plaques of explanation beneath each one.
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| Part of the Wall Wall |
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| A scene of Paducah's main street in the 1940s - from Wall Wall |
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| Outside an arty store with a stainless steel sculpture - anybody's for $8500!! (Not me - the sculpture!) |
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| A light lunch at Shandie's - the Stuffed Portobello was delish! |
On our "extra" day we visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This lovely view is a few miles outside the town, along with a couple of antique stores, so we simply had to stop! Eureka Springs itself, though very pictuesque, is in full tourist mode - too much so for our taste, even if we could have found a place to park the car - which we couldn't. so we drove on to enjoy some equally beautiful scenery.
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| View from inside an antique store |
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Mike will recall my "Black Magic Woman" Austin Productions 1972 piece. The sculpture below, also an Austin Productions piece, was spotted by my husband in an antique store in Columbus. I wasn't with him at the time - I was confined to hotel room near the toilet after suffering a bout of what I shall call Ohio Revenge.
Husband told me the piece was on sale for $65. I'd not have paid that much, but might have tried a haggle or two.
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| Another Austin Productions piece |
6 comments:
Ahhhhh...no place like home! Glad you had a safe trip...thanks for the photo-tour. I've had my share of road trips and business travel...I don't sleep well, if I'm in a strange place or bed...I wake very early and hate waiting for coffee (and I'm fussy about how my coffee tastes, too)...and driving is monotonous, as is flying (flying is a bit like being held hostage).
Those Austin Production pieces seem to levitate toward you and anyjazz! Seems like every other trip you two make, an Austin is waiting along the way.
This from:
http://www.abeautifuldifference.com/webdoc.989651.cont.html
Portrait of a Woman AP 2035 Artist Sever
22" tall Blue Bronze Wood Base
Priced at $ 355.00 Cdn or ~ $ 244.00 US or less, please contact us for exact pricing !
mike ~ I suppose one can have too much of travel, especially if it has been a part of one's working life - for me it never was, so it's always a treat.
I've grown used to coffee tasting like sump oil and usually have to mask it with cream or milk as far as poss. in order to get at the caffeine. ;-)
What does continue to irritate though is the way hot tea is served in eating places in the USA. Cold cup, tea bag, medium warm to barely hot water in a jug or even worse in the cup. As I remember someone quoting when I worked in hotels, long ago, "The lukewarm I will spew out of my mouth". ;-)Yikes - I've just looked it up and it's a quote from the Bible - Revelations!
Tea (English type tea) needs boiling water. Making tea properly is a ritual in t'old country.
Anyway, it was a good trip: time with family, time for sight-seeing and junk stores. I now have a pile of cheapo junk store DVDs and VHS tapes which will keep us entertained for weeks or months while TV spews out its 80% (at least) garbage.
Wow - that sculpture was a bargain at $65 then! thanks for the link. Yes we do find Austin Prods regularly now we know what to look for. I did see one other this time - it was black - again - a tall, elegant 1920s lady with a flowing dress and big brimmed hat. Dated 1988 I think. It didn't appeal to me though - was priced over $100 as I recall.
A fine condensed accounting of our tour. And it was a fun time that easily made up for the stressful portions. (Blinding rain in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, for instance.) It was a good visit and we saw some lovely country along the way.
anyjazz ~ Thanks - and thanks for the photographs from your camera too! I was too lazy to carry mine around all the time....or at all during this trip.
Yes, I skipped over any difficulties such as white-knuckle traffic, always encountered when driving East of a certain point on the map. :-)Getting lost at least once a day (fun!) And the fact that it was very humid and hardly stopped raining all the time we were in Columbus.
Still, it'd be boring if all went well or we had GPS, never got lost or in the wrong lane. GPS is not us...and never will be us.
Thank goodness. ;-)
Ohio's Revenge or Montezuma's Revenge - they're both equally unpleasant. Glad you had a good trip, apart from that. You obviously find the right places. Ohio and Arkansas I couldn't wait to get out of, but we were only passing through and probably missed the pleasanter areas. As for Kentucky, I'm sure it's very nice, though Mitch McConnell is definitely no advert for the place.
RJ Adams ~ Yes, very unpleasant - Ohio's is doing its best to stage a second act now too! ;-(
We happen upon nice places by accident usually, stay off interstates as much as possible, ignore politics until we get back home, and refuse to acquire GPS. Anyjazz is happy to make do with me and a map, and that can prove to a rather peculiar combination at times. :-)
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