On the Road Again...

Well, hard to believe we’ve spent over a week without talking, but getting ready for, LMI’s, errands and so forth for travel eat up the time.  And in reality, we’ve documented the trip from the digs to FOJTY’s abode in Cape Girardeau (Missouri) more than once so we can kind of dispense with the “road shots” and just hit a few highlights.

We got our usual start last Saturday (6^th) at about nine, it doesn't seem to matter how much we pre-pack, stage, gather and consolidate, we can never get underway before nine.  I know some of the readership start trips at o’dark thirty, but we aren't wired that way.  

So we loaded up the MOMSTER III, and headed out. Our usual goal is to go from home and push to Lexington, KY so that we can have a nice meal at what has become one of our favorite restaurants, Jonathon’s at Gratz Park.  The journey was pretty much uneventful with only some rather robust rain showers providing relief from white line fever, and after the usual ten hours the new Nav system guided us (somewhat strangely) to our usual stay in the Courtyard North (yes, we are creatures of habit, it happens as we age).  Checked in, and I called the restaurant to see what time they stopped serving (it was about 7:30 by now) and was taken aback when I was told it was “no longer a working number”.  

Hmmm.. try again.....  Same result.  Not good.  So I googled the place on my intelligent phone and found the first article that informed me that Jonathon’s shuttered earlier this summer.  We all know nothing is forever, and the restaurant business is particularly prone, but it was sad to see it go.  It definitely was on the “just right” list, in the white tablecloth section. Crestfallen, we resorted to food from the place in the Courtyard, carried to the room.  The evening further crashed when we watched my Spartans go down in second half flames to the weirdly outfitted Ducks, most likely eliminating MSU from the newly minted “playoff” system for the NCAA championship this year.  And then were treated to seeing our second team U of Michigan get shut out by the Domers.  Sigh.

Next morning we set out for the final leg, buoyed by the prospect of a shorter day and bright sunshine.  We had intended to stop at a couple of distilleries along the “Bourbon Trail”, but turns out that the blue laws in Kentucky (blue, get it?) prevented access to alcohol prior to noon, so that was out.   Maybe for the best.. anyway, we decided to spent the newly found time in Paducah, in particular at the “arts district” and renovated historical area.  After a bit of a thrash we found it, and decided to have some lunch.  With a small assist from Yelp we settled on a place called Shandies.  It resides in what used to be an old market building

And inside it is nicely done, putting it back in probably what would have been seen in earlier time, with a big heavy bar

And appropriately decorated seating areas

The menu was pretty much what you would expect (at least for our late lunch); salads, sandwiches and so forth.  Since it was between shifts (about two thirty by this time) attendance was sparse and attention to diners the same.  Not terrible, just a bit more ignoring than even the picky Feeder likes.  They did feature drinks of the same name as the restaurant, and I had a rather nice one concocted with Shock Top and nice lemony flavor.  Nice for the warming day.  MFO had a Ginger Citrus Salmon Salad, and I threw healthy to the winds and had a Bacon Cheeseburger.

Neither dish was remarkable, but serviceable.  I guess just what you would expect from a Bacon Cheeseburger (nice bacon and sharp cheese)

It was a nice respite and not knowing other Paducah options, I guess I would go back.

After that we attended the rather famous

It contained not historical quilts but mainly contemporary pieces made over the past decade or so.  It is amazing what people can do, the detail, and precision of the quilts were indeed impressive.  Unfortunately, any sort of photography was strictly forbidden, and monitored closely.  We didn’t stay too long as quilts, like banjo music can kind of tire one quickly (apologies to our quilter friends) and so we got back on the road.  We passed through Cairo again, and it appears still the same, a sad tribute to the past (again, we’ve looked at those before)

So without much further diversions we arrived at FOJTY’s in time for dinner (preceded by cocktails of course) and were benefited by his treatment of a brisket in his new(ish) smoker.

which, when expertly sliced

Produced a very nice plate for our dinner

Mostly it was nice to see our family again, including Stanley.

So, that was a start to our trip, and we’ll catch up on activities at “The Cape” tomorrow.  Oh yeah we were kind of bending

DFD