I'm working a split-shift at work today...had a group in this morning and have a special program tonight. I thought I'd use this time in between to post some more trip photos...this time of our first night in Cape Girardeau.
The original building (the best known trading post on the Mississippi between St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee during the early 19th Century and visited by Lewis and Clark to purchase supplies for their upcoming expedition in November of 1803), was built by Cape Girardeau founder and French-Canadian, Louis Lorimier. The original building was destroyed by a tornado in 1850, but was rebuilt by a group of volunteers in 2003. As you can see, the building, built in the favored French poteau-sur-solle technique, is currently undergoing some refurbishing.
After checking in at our hotel, we headed on down to the waterfront. Our first stop was to see 'The Great Wall' of Cape Girardeau.
The 1.3-mile, 16-foot tall floodwall features two sets of murals that face the city.
The 500-foot-long 'Missouri Wall of Fame' features 47 famous Missourians. It was painted in 1995 by artist, Margaret Dement.
In 'Mississippi River Tales' Cape Girardeau's history is depicted in 24 panels covering approximately 1,100 feet.
For a complete set of photos of the murals, click HERE.
After working our way down, we eventually came to a break in the wall. There we entered the 1.5-acre Riverfront Park, which features a riverfront walk/bike trail and terraced seating for an amphitheater effect. The park is located on the river side of the flood wall and serves as a docking site for paddle boats.
This barge on the Mississippi is the first thing that we saw upon entering Riverside Park.
The sun was setting and we just sat by the river for awhile and enjoyed it's beauty.
Just outside the break in the wall, and cattycorner across the street, we had supper at Port Cape Girardeau and, honestly, it was some of the best food I've ever eaten.
The place had some interesting Civil War history to be sure!
After supper, we returned to Riverside Park to enjoy the river at night. It was so beautiful!
All of a sudden, granddaughter, Alysia, exclaimed, "What's that in the water?" At first, we weren't able to make out what we were seeing, and, it was so dark, that we never did get any good photos, but, there were several sets of eyes in the water.
Son-in-law, Aaron, went down to river's edge to investigate, but, even with a flashlight he was unable to detect anything. We, on the other hand, sitting atop the terraced steps, watched as, whatever was in the water, started moving towards him.
Soon Aaron was surrounded by whatever the creatures were in the water and we were getting a little nervous. There were a couple of big splashes and a lot of activity. Long story short, the eyes in the water belonged to a family of river otters! What a cool experience!!!
Before heading for our hotel, we ended our night by driving across the double-expansion bridge into Illinois and back.
After that, we went to our hotel. The girls and I walked, then, after an extremely long day, everyone got ready for bed to get some much-needed rest. What a great first day of our trip and there's plenty more to share!
Until next time...
~Rebecca
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