My day with Kathy: the sights (and art) in her home town

Last Friday I showed you Kathy's home, my former home, and where we ate lunch.  After lunch, but before we visited the museum we both wanted to see, we took a ride around and on Main street.

I shot over 500 photos that day, so I'm very thankful for digital photography.  Otherwise, if I had to pay for processing, I'd go broke.  Needless to say, I haven't taken time to remove all of the photos from my SD card, so this is just another tidbit to keep you interested in the day I had.   We began at this park

which had a lovely gazebo,

and various places a person could sit.

I was taken by the beauty of the gazebo,

which was across the river from the museum we would soon visit.  The museum can be seen on the right in the background and is the beige brick and red brick building.  The red brick portion is an addition.

The red brick building on the left is the convention center, which was badly damaged when the water in the river rose so high it had to be closed.  At the time, there was also a restructuring of the area around the river, which led to all the activities around the river.  Not sure the park and gazebo are an activity, but it was built as part of the restructuring process.

Moving on, Kathy and I sought out the water park which was also near the river.  Note the colorful building in the background.

I kept missing when the flowers and circular thing sprayed water.  There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, although at first I thought it was triggered by someone standing near whatever structure was shooting out water.

We ran into another gazebo, one of nine more we saw that day.

We turned the corner and saw the gazebo from another side, as well as a portion of the river.

Lovely landscaping and building art extends on both sides of the river.  Here you can see where the main thoroughfare passes over the river.

We drove a few blocks too far out of the area, to where buildings were boarded up.  We saw one, although in total disrepair from both sides, had lovely art on the front.

We made it back where the river ran under the street, and I photographed it, this time from the other side.  It's really a lovely area.

As we worked our way uptown, I was truly impressed by the landscaping and places where people could sit and rest.

This Humpty Dumpty was one of many we saw, but it caught me off guard and I wasn't prepared.   Consequently, it was not in focus.  We looked for it again, but never saw it the rest of that day.

I was truly impressed with the landscaping.  Perhaps I've mentioned that already!

Of course, we had to drive around the block to see the quilt store

a second time.

Someone had stopped to rest by this Humpty, but when he saw I was taking a photo,

had cleared out by the time we returned.

On a side street, we saw this old building with the clock (and bell) tower that still worked on all sides.

Kathy tried to point out a huge statue that was in the median of the road ahead.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get close enough to photograph any more than the big cannon that sat near it.  The tree didn't help the view, either, although you can see how large the base is, and a bit of the white through the tree.

Some things never change, like the post office.

But art is everywhere and much of it is new.  In fact, the city adds more art each year and holds contests to see which wins.

More things that don't change: the Fox Theater, except they spent years renovating it to its former glory.  Another thing that impressed me was when there was no sculpture, there were chairs and tables where people could sit and rest.  And no, this was NOT near a cafe, but part of the city's restoration of the downtown area.

One of my favorite sculptures was this one.  We drove around the block three times, and I finally jumped out and shot these.

It was called "Books Flying Off The Shelves," and was across the street from

two Humpty Dumpies with one reading a book.  Probably a book that had flown off the shelf.  Actually, he was called "Egghead."

Can anyone get tired of seeing gazebos?  Not me, although that may be the last one I shot a photo of.

I believe the name of the structure in the back of the photo is a pergola.  Regardless, it was quite lovely.

Kathy and I both agreed that this cat had attitude!

From the whimsical to the realistic

to the absurd, this city had it all art wise.  There was at least ONE thing that would appeal to everyone.

Next we went to the park, where many of you saw the structure overlooking the fountain that wasn't working was being cleaned the day we were there.  But those photos will have to wait for another day, because we saw more gazebos (although I'm not sure if I took photos), a water park, and a zoo.  And we even had time to see the Historical Museum in its entirety, too.

Thanks for joining me on this leg of my day with Kathy.   And of course, I always appreciate your lovely comments, something I probably don't say often enough.