Sunday, July 04, 2021

Eastward, Ho! Day 29: Independence Day trips to Metropolis, the National Quilt "Museum" and Paducah's Wall to Wall Murals

 Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July celebration if appropriate!

Flag Display at the Eddyville, KY Courthouse
photo by Martha


We were more than a few miles east of our campground, first in the small city of Metropolis, Illinois.  The name sound familiar?  Yep, home of Superman in the comics series and movies.  Someone with a serious penchant for Superman paraphernalia has created a museum of these items.  I personally didn't realize the enormous merchandising involved with the Man of Steel.

The entrance fee is $8/person and there's way too much stuff to readily absorb.  Here's just some of the stuff that caught my eye.






The Superman Museum

Super Burger Boy?

Nice car, not sure its relation to Superman, perhaps just using its
tourist draw to gather some attention?


We left Metropolis behind and found ourselves at Big Ed's Diner and Catering for lunch.  They were running a special buffet and we joined the folks at the trough.  It was pretty tasty stuff, I bit pricey we found out at checkout but eh, it's only money I guess.

So then I dropped off Martha at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah and I went to walk along the Wall to Wall Murals that the town is known for.

Here's some of the pics Martha took within the museum (she said it was more of a gallery than a museum):

Yep, the above flag is a quilt!



Nice quilt above eh?  Not quite....

The quilt in the previous pic is made of wood!

Here's some of the murals that caught my eye:



Snapshots of different floods

I like how the small boy is "out of the picture"

From back when Paddle Wheel Boats were the main cargo carriers on the rivers:



To the Atomic Age:



What Atomics you ask?  Paducah has the nation's only Gaseous Diffusion Plant, used to enrich Uranium.  The enriched uranium is used worldwide to generate electricity.

The Battle of Paducah during the American Civil War

This post's only moto-content.

One of the many boats used to push barges on each of the four
major rivers in the area

Back at camp, Martha and I played with the setting sun a bit:

Martha goes to catch the setting sun.

6 comments:

SonjaM said...

Wow, the motives of the quilts might be for the acquired taste, however they are marvelous pieces of craftsmanship.

The last pic is not only awesome but also very much header-worthy. Well done!

redlegsrides said...

Thank you SonjaM! Header worthy eh?

CCjon said...

Love tha flag quilt, beautiful design backed up by tedious handwork to make it.

Great catch Martha!

redlegsrides said...

Thanks for the comment CCjon, I'm almost wishing I had gone in with her even if the price is $12 a person.

Blaze Our Way said...

The quilts and the murals are all gorgeous!

redlegsrides said...

I should have taken a pic of the one being restored but the scaffolds being used obscured most of it. The sun had caused the paint to peel and bubble up.