Today was sort of a "castle sandwich," because we saw a castle at the start of the day and at the end, but there was a lot in-between. We had a leisurely morning on the boat, then we drove to Eagle Point City Park in Clinton, Iowa, since a previous person who stayed on the boat had recommended it. This park was supposed to have a castle, but we walked around and didn't see it. I heard a very interesting bird, so I fired up the Merlin app, which said it was an indigo bunting. "Show yourself!" I begged, but it just kept calling from deep in a tree. Finally we walked back to the car... and saw the castle rising above the trees in the opposite direction that we had walked. You can go up in the castle, so we did. Sigh... Blogspot loaded these photos in opposite order, so here are some cool bushes in the park.
Here is Travalon on the top level of the castle tower.
Here am I on the second level.
Here is Travalon in front of the castle tower.
And here is the castle tower.
Why is there a castle there? Apparently the WPA, a New Deal project under FDR, built it in 1937 to be a lookout point over the river. It was a way to get people working during the Great Depression. There is no explanation in the park itself; we had to find that out online. Then we found an overlook from which we had stunning views of the Mississippi River, and we saw pelicans flying overhead. I saw a little bird land on a branch of a dead tree, so I looked at it through my binoculars... and it was the indigo bunting!! He did show himself, after all! He posed there for quite a while, so that Travalon was able to get a few shots with his good camera. Once I can download those photos, I will post them. The indigo bunting is a very beautiful little bird, completely blue all over.
Our next destination was a biker bar called Poopy's, which I have blogged about before. We thought it might be less crazy for lunch than at night, which is true if you get there a little early, like we did. We ordered pizzas and got them in about twenty minutes, but after us the line to order was very long. You can sit outside at Poopy's in the shade. Travalon took some photos with his cell phone.
We stopped at Mississippi Palisades State Park, which we have posted photos of before. Last year we even posted a video of a train going by below us. Then we drove to Galena and went shopping. We went to some throwback shops for Travalon, and a sports shop, and we went to the crystal shop and the New Age shop for me. At the latter I found a bracelet that matches the necklace I got at the antiques shop yesterday, so I was wearing them both. I also got a T-shirt of the Michael Scott Race for Rabies and two crystals that glow under blacklight. Travalon got a book of MGM movies and T-shirts of Rush and Rocky. We had parked across the river in the free parking lot, so by the time we crossed the bridge back over the river, we were exhausted. There are beautiful views of the city from the bridge.
This is the De Soto Hotel, which is very old. We have eaten here before.
We had seen billboards for a place called Cajun Jacks, so we went there, and Travalon had fried craw tails while I had seafood étouffée. Travalon ordered a drink that was very strong, so he watered it down, and we ordered dessert to stay longer. He had kind of an assembly line going: cole slaw, dessert, drink. He'd take a bite of cole slaw, a bite of chocolate lava cake, and a sip of the drink. It worked - he finished them and had taken so long that he was sober. (I also helped him with the drink.) Here is a photo I took of the inside, mostly for the sake of Jilly Moose.
Then we drove back to Savannah, Illinois to take a photo of the church we had gone to yesterday evening. It was a simple Mass, which is a bit of a letdown for a major feast day. There were no musicians, so someone recited the sequence. Sigh. I love the Pentecost sequence.
We also saw billboards for a castle in Savannah, so we managed to find it with Google maps, since there are no signs. We had to go up a very steep driveway, but it was worth it because it was very beautiful. They only do tours on Saturdays and Sundays in May and October, which seemed weird to me until I looked at their website and realized they are primarily a wedding venue. Travalon took photos with his good camera, so I'll hope to post those soon. Now we have added a tour (so we can see the inside) to our bucket list of things we someday hope to do.
We came back and sat on the bow of our boat, comparing notes with the ladies on the next boat about what we had done today. They highly recommended a restaurant we had seen in Savannah. Travalon decided to do some fishing.
Here are the photos that didn't download to Boethius last night. Of course Blogspot loaded these in the opposite order too. First is another shot Travalon took of the sunset with his cellphone.
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