Saturday, May 5, 2018

From Paducah to Memphis

As I promised you, I am sharing what we did for the week after attending the Paducah spring quilt show.  The original plan was to spend the week at Land Between the Lakes(LBL) still in KY.  But, we kept watching the weather and mother nature decided it would be a great time to rain, rain, rain most of that time there.  And we knew we would be wanting to spend lots of time outdoors there and the rain would not allow that. 

So we canceled our reservations there and were able to get a spot at Tom Sawyer campground in West Memphis Arkansas!  Yes if you cross the river you are in AR.  So we added another state to our travels:) The campground is right on the river and our site was right next to the river so we enjoyed watching the huge barges go up and down the river.

As you can see in the above picture we still got rain, but not as much as LBL did.  We managed to get in three bike rides, two across the Mississippi River by taking this bike bridge.  There was also a train bridge right next to the bike one, like only 6-8 feet away, but we were separated by lots of steel so it wasn't scary at all when a train came through right beside us!  If you look at the pic where it almost looks like blue steel, that was the enclosed bridge where we rode.  We wished a barge would come through when we were up there so we could see the top of it, but no such luck.  It was so beautiful for a peaceful ride through a park alongside the river.


We also rode bikes on a great trail at Shelby Farms in Memphis TN.  It's so easy to go back and forth from state to state.

When in Memphis, of course, you have to see...  Do you know whose house this is?

 If not maybe this will be a giveaway...
Graceland and Elvis Presley Museum.  So glad we got to visit and learn a few things we didn't know. Like, did you know he had a twin brother that died when he was born?  Seeing all his cars and his famous jumpsuits he wore was fun!

We also went for a river cruise and to the humongous Bass Pro Shop.  We are not big into fishing but it was a site to see with lots of ponds and 🐟,🐊, more 🐟, ducks.  Oh the alligators were behind a glass wall:)  This place was huge!  It was a great rainy morning activity.

Our friends recommended we visit Beale Street, so we took that in late in the afternoon and then we ate delicious BBQ ribs at BB Kings while listening to a live band play some upbeat music.  


 And all too soon it was time to start the trek back home.  The first day was a very long driving day, all the way from Memphis to Mt. Pleasant IA.  We were not sure when we would want to stop driving that day so we did not make camp reservations.  We just knew we needed to get through St. Louis before rush hour and we made it.  We pulled into Mt. Pleasant campground around 6 pm, tired and hungry.  Luckily they had plenty of space for us, the perks of camping/traveling before high season begins!  The next day wasn't all that long, but we got up and left camp at 6 am and arrived home by 11 am.  We knew the winds were going to pick up and we didn't want another head wind and low gas mileage.

The trip was lots of fun and much needed after a long winter.  I did get some sewing done while camping.  I had cut strips from orange string scraps before we left, the first night on the road I cut them into the right size logs I needed for a log cabin type pumpkin block for table runners and wall hangings. The next morning while waiting for the wind to die down a bit I got out the sewing machine and sewed a few rounds.  That night I sewed a few more rounds.

 Since being home I started using some of the fabric I bought in Paducah-these are from a fat quarter bundle.  They have since been used in 3 table runners, which need to be quilted.


And I have been back on the longarm trying to catch up on runners I have pieced over the winter. Here is one of four that I managed to get quilted this past week.  Yes I am not letting any grass grow under my feet, LOL  Speaking of grass, ours is all nice and green again and our trees are budding out more and more every day, today was 80 degrees-it feels wonderful to have Spring in MN once again!

Since this post does have some scrap usage I am linking up with Oh Scrap 



13 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading about your trip. I like those orange log cabin blocks. Lots of different colors of orange in them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Memphis looks like an interesting and fun place to explore! The bike trails sounded perfect. And you even sewed! The orange log cabin blocks look exactly right to be turned into some pumpkins!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That barge is so looooong!!! It was interesting to read your story. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a trip! I've never been to Graceland! I bet you had an amazing BBQ on Beale street...it brings back so many memories. Now I know what became of the Pyramid! We watched an NBA game there years ago. Glad you had a fun trip regardless of the rain, your pictures are wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Vicki,
    It sounds like a wonderful trip! I have never visited Graceland, and would like to at some point. All the places you visited look like fun. The bike ride over the river looks the coolest to me - how fabulous that they made that separate trail for bikes! And it's all enclosed?? Your table runners look great - I know they are always well received! ~smile~ Roseanne

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a fun trip! We went right through all those places on our boat two summers ago. We went under the bridge you rode across, and ate dinner in the restaurant at the top of the Bass Pro. Imagine our little boat passing one of those ginormous barges. They are even bigger when you're right next to them :)

    Love the quilting in that last photo, such a pretty design!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You two come up with so many fun things to do. A bike ride over that bridge would be one of them! I didn't know Elvis was a twin, either! I've learned a few things from your trip! Your quilts are looking good, as well as the quilting. Will be fun to see those pumpkins when they are done!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds like your travels were fun and refreshing! Great to see your newest projects on Oh Scrap!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Best of luck working your way through the winter's table runners!! It looks like you are making a great start. Lovely quilting!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your trip sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm super impressed you're already using fabric you bought in Paducah - I have fabric I bought in March still packed in the bags I brought it home in! I'm such a slacker...LOL Looking forward to seeing all your finished table runners.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm a real Elvis fan and would love to go to Graceland. Not very likely as we live far away in New Zealand. Yes, I did know he had a twin brother.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your camping adventures sound fun and like our cup of tea.

    The quilting on the corners is gorgeous! Enjoy your warm weather :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. That sounds like such a great adventure!! Good for the soul!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your taking time to leave comments. I try to respond to them all, however, if you are a no-reply blogger I am not able to. If you would like to fix that try this link for help. http://www.sewathomemummy.com/2013/01/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html