The riverboat, shown in this photo and named the
Belle of Louisville, is having a 100-year birthday party, and YOU are invited! I took this photo of the beautiful piece of history, when it was participating in "Tall Stacks", held in Cincinnati, Ohio, a while back. Just as the street cars in San Francisco have been declared a National Historic Landmark, likewise the
Belle of Louisville was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. It is completely paddlewheel-driven, and draws only 5 feet of water. It is the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat in the world!
For six days in October, along a beautiful waterfront park on the Ohio River, there will be a huge celebration of riverboat heritage, with live performances from a wide genre of musicians. The Louisville, Kentucky, event is called the Centennial Festival of Riverboats, and is being held October 14 - 19, 2014. Besides the gathering of nine riverboats from across the United States. The Centennial Festival of Riverboats has been rated as one of the Top 100 events in North America in 2014.
The great thing about going to live musical performances in a riverfront park location, is the "backdrop" of cruising riverboats, as one enjoys the sounds of the music.
And, if the performance stage is away from the river's edge, local artists can display their talent with a make-believe stage background!
Just as the
Spirit of Cincinnati is shown lining up for a special race on the day I took this photo, so there will be steamboat races in Louisville.
Often at these big riverboat festivals in the USA, there are so many big boats participating, that they cannot all have direct access to the dock. In that case, the boats "raft up" together, and guests must cross the bow of one boat, to gain access to the boat on the far side.
Of course, being so close to another boat's passenger deck, filled with folks like yourself who are there to have a good time, leads to some interesting banter back and forth!
The
Spirit of Peoria was at the Cincinnati event, and will also be at the Louisville festival. This boat captain has at his command, two Caterpillar 3412 diesel engine generator sets that will take him up and down the river with ease, even when the boat is loaded down with passengers!
This beautiful floating palace is said to be one of the last true paddle wheelers. At the website, you can buy tickets to take a ride on a variety of different paddle wheelers in attendance. Besides buying a ticket to be on board for the Parade of Boats or the Opening Ceremonies, you can also buy tickets for an actual race!
When you read that there will be races at the event, and you see how big the boats are, and the limited width of the river, you may ask yourself, "How is that going to work?" The answer is, all of the boats do not line up all at once, and go full power at the sound of the starting gun. Rather, the competition is divided into segments, with two boats racing against each other, and the winner progressing forward, like in a basketball tournament.
When you see how low these riverboats sit down in the water, you can understand their widespread appeal back in the "olden days" of North America's history.
The
General Jackson is shown in this photo, and it, too, is scheduled to be in Louisville for the festival. It is a 300 foot paddle wheeler and claims to be one of the largest showboats in the country. It has 4 decks, with a two-story Victorian theater, where live music shows perform.
I took this photo of a storyteller in period costume, at the Cincinnati event, and news releases about the Festival of Riverboats in Louisville, indicate that there will also be storytellers stationed in waterfront park around the boats, to entertain visitors with tales of yesteryear.
Steam cannot only power a boat up and down a river, but it can also be harnessed to play a melody. Getting to hear the sounds from the gleaming brass pipes on the Calliope of one of the boats, was a first for me!
If you are a small boat owner and think you will just drive your motorboat up to the event, and access it from the water, you may want to do some further investigation. When I have attended big river festivals such as this, there is a strictly-enforced perimeter of restricted water surrounding the official site of the festival. You can still enjoy boating on the river, but perhaps not as close to the action as what you would like. I took a photo of these private boats on the Ohio River, quite a ways down stream from the festival boat headquarters.
In October, one starts to see advertisements for "haunted house adventures" or a "spook house", and water festivals adjust the theme slightly and have a "haunted boat" tour.
Although this bridge over the Ohio River is plenty high enough to avoid touching the tall stacks of this riverboat, most of the original steamboats had stacks that were hinged, so they could be lowered when passing under bridges.
There will be a variety of cruises offered, such as meal cruises, sightseeing cruises, fireworks cruises, and dance cruises. I took this photo of a band performing on the upper deck of the
General Jackson, to a very appreciative audience, during one of the evening sunset cruises!
I took this photo of a riverside church on one of the afternoon sightseeing cruises. Just as boats may have the word "spirit" in their name, this church is also associated with the word "spirit". In fact, it was the Holy Spirit that got me to remembering the photos I had taken at the Cincinnati Tall Stacks festival. I was trying to think of a visual aid that would help me with one of the memory verses for the current session of First Place 4 Health (
www.firstplace4health.com ) that I am leading at church (
www.myfbcmh.com ). The verse says "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17
In the USA, we not only have freedom in the Lord, but we have the freedom to travel! So get out there and enjoy this big beautiful country we have! Feel the spirit of exploration as you learn about riverboat history, by actually taking a ride on one! Just log on to
www.festivalofriverboats.com to get your tickets. You can check out other activities in the Louisville area by visiting
www.gotolouisville.com . This rollin'-on-the-river adventure will give you many "nautical" MILES OF SMILES! Tricia
When I was driving through the Hudson River Valley last month on my way to attend a week-long Road Scholar program (www.roadscholar.org ) at Mount Saint Mary's College, a wrong turn on a traffic roundabout in Cornwall, pointed me in the direction of the Outdoor Discovery Center, operated by the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. Although I had no idea what it was, my morning was open and I like learning about nature, so I decided to check it out! 
After driving through a meandering entrance driveway through fields and meadows, I found myself at this charming farmhouse, which turned out to be the headquarters of the Outdoor Discovery Center. An employee there showed me around the facility, which consisted of nature exhibits, the Nature Gift Store, classrooms, and clean restrooms! The mission of the organization is to promote knowledge and appreciation of our natural world, and the unique ecology of the Hudson Highlands. It is a non-profit, and this former farm property was made possible because the farm family who owned it, preferred to see its heritage preserved----rather than bulldozed over, to make yet another concrete-covered "bedroom community addition" for nearby New York City. 
Across the parking lot from the farmhouse, was a gigantic, Dutch-style, four-story barn that had been beautifully restored. From looking at their website ( www.hhnm.org ), I learned that the Discovery Center is available for special events such as birthday parties, and this barn would provide a great escape for party-goers in the event of rain! Other programs offered include summer camps, adult/child outings, adult-only adventures, scouting activities, and afterschool programs. 
Another feature of the Outdoor Discovery Center is this "Grasshopper Grove". Grasshopper Grove was designed for youngsters as a way to treat "Nature Deficit Disorder", as described in the book by Richard Louv called Last Child in the Woods. It can serve as a bridge between a mowed lawn and the wild woods, that will encourage children to discover nature play spaces. 
I was intrigued by the Adirondack-inspired artistic design of the entrance gate, including the wooden grasshopper sculpture on top of the arch!
Adjacent to the Grasshopper Grove play area is a large pond, complete with a park bench for resting and gazing.
The Discovery Center has what it calls the "Discovery Quests Hiking Trails" that have guidesheet/puzzles for each quest, and are designed to get visitors of all ages, to interact along the trail to learn about the environment. The goal of each quest is to find the "hidden message" of each hike. The Pond Quest circles past ponds and cattails, with stops at viewing platforms that overlook the wetlands. 
My curiosity was aroused when I saw a mowed path to these 13 posts with numbers on top, stuck in the ground, with a big rectangle in front of them, spelling out the 12 months of the year. An explanatory placard told me I was looking at an installation which would allow for a person's shadow to tell time. I have written about sundials previously in this blog (see March 13, 2009 article about Redding, California's Sundial Bridge), so I understood the basic principles and history of a sundial. However, this one was different, in that the viewer was supposed to stand on the ground tile labeled with the month of their visit. Their shadow would then fall on a post that would tell them the time of day. When I stood on the "July" ground tile, sure enough, my shadow fell on the post labeled with a "10", and it really was ten o'clock in the morning! Now that's what I call "interactive learning about nature"! A "Nature Clock" such as this one is made possible by the majesty of God's creation, and the reliability of the sun. Therefore, I am using it as a visual aid for the Bible verse that says, "So may all your enemies perish, LORD! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength." Judges 5:31a NIV
It was nice to see a young mom there with her children, leading them on one of the Discovery Quest Hikes! Besides philanthropic foundation grants, the Discovery Center is funded by individual and family memberships. More information on this is available on their website.
As I approached the farmhouse from the side of the property, I fell in love with the architecture of this rounded sunroom addition. I can only imagine how much pleasure it must provide to visitors inside, who can enjoy the beauty of nature in every direction, regardless of the weather outside. I also was impressed by the numerous shag-bark hickory trees around the homestead. They were not like anything I had ever seen in the Ozarks
After returning from my hike, it felt good to cool off on the farm porch, enjoying the comfortable wicker furniture. As I sat there, I started to smile, remembering another time in my travels that I had been drawn to sit down and rest on some comfortable wicker furniture. For more on that story, you can check out my November 5, 2008, blog post called "Wimbledon and the Royal Box"!
When I was at the Discovery Center, I found out that it is only one part of that "Hudson Highlands Nature Museum". The other part is located in the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, and is called the "Wildlife Education Center". It too has a Nature Gift Shop, a fee-to-visit wildlife museum, and free hiking trails in the woods. 
There were several people on the trails, which start beside the entrance to the wildlife museum, so I decided to check them out.
The trails led through a picturesque area of the Hudson Highlands, with many hardwood tree species, and various forms of small wildlife .
Although it was dry the day I was hiking, bridges have been built to keep hikers from having to wade through streams that bring rainwater and snow down from the mountain tops, to eventually drain into the nearby Hudson River.
Discovering this place to explore the "back woods" of an area just a few miles north of the metropolis of New York City gave me "MILES OF SMILES", and I would highly recommend it! Tricia
