Thursday, August 6, 2020 - Exploring Viscennes, IN - What a Great Day We Had!

Thursday, August 6, 2020 - Exploring Viscennes, IN - What a Great Day We Had!

We had a good night's sleep with the fan running, and an overnight low of 67.   After posting the blog, I enjoyed reading everyone else's.  I've missed that while so much was going on the last week of July. 

After eating breakfast and making sure my "chores" were done for the day, we left the campground to explore Viscennes.  It was founded in 1732, and is Indiana's first city. 

Before we made it to town we made a stop just outside of the campground to take this picture of the Wabash River - notice how close the railroad is to the bank - there are places where there are no weeds on the far side, and looks like it could almost be a straight drop-off.  

The Wabash River.

As we drove towards the downtown area on Business 41, there was an entire block, with these new townhouses being constructed.  What a lovely set of homes.

These are currently under construction and are quite stunning.

We were making our way to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.  It is a massive granite memorial located on the site of the British Fort Sackville.  During 1779 the post located at this site was captured by Lt. Col. George Rogers Clark and his army of 170 frontiersmen and Frenchmen.  Click on the link above to read more about it.

Pictures taken inside the Memorial.

We walked a portion of the Riverwalk along the Wabash River.  I loved the bridge and especially how it reflected in the water.

While we did not visit the Old Cathedral we enjoyed listening to the chimes on each hour - it was 11:00 a.m. when we were leaving.  

It was nearly 11:30, a good time to break for lunch before the noon rush.  We spotted a MacAlistor's Deli earlier.  We enjoyed a sandwich and side before we left shortly after noon.  

Of course, I could not pass up a stop at the beautiful Knox County Courthouse in downtown Vincennes.

We planned our outside visit for the morning while it was cooler.  After lunch we headed to the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy.  I've wanted to visit ever since we passed through here 5 years ago.  It was well worth our time to stop and visit, bringing back many wonderful memories sitting with my Papa and Nana Blackledge or/ as we gathered around the TV at home with my parents and sisters to watch Red entertain us.  

I promise not to overwhelm you with all of the pictures I took.  It was a well documented story of his life, with many letters, outfits of his favorite characters, information on movies and radio shows.  I'll share a few of my favorites with you.

This flag was hanging down aganist the pole when we pulled up, I wanted to take a picture of it but not like that.  I was hoping for a bit of wind, when all of a sudden the wind picked it up and what a picture!

The Red Skelton Museum 

Dean took a picture of me here - but it seems to have disappeared!  Did he really take it or did he delete it?  LOL!

This story moved me...that he could do so much to raise soliders morale while he was going through a difficult time in his life.

Who doesn't remember Clem Kadiddle Hopper, or

Freddie the Freeloader?

I remember reading that Red was an artist.  These are the original items he used when painting.  There are numerous paintings on display.

I loved the details in this one

But this is what I remembered most about him from my teenage years:

I wanted to include a video of him reciting it but I was unsuccessful.  At the end of the video he stated after he was out of school two more states were added along with two additional words, UNDER GOD.   I love my country and I'm proud of it.  It's not perfect, but for me, it's still the best country in the world.  

Another of his clown paintings

What a message!

Red brought laughter and hope to many people.  

Our next stop was at his childhood home just two blocks away.   Red had three brothers.  His dad died two months before he was born.  

Most of the sites still available were for tents, no hookups.

We were tired and headed back to the campground.  Here are a few pictures I took as we drove in, and a picture of site #24 where we were supposed to park.  We prefer the campsite we are in versus this one.   It would have been a tight fit lengthwise for us.

We still had several hours of the afternoon left, so we decided to walk some of the nearby trails and completed part of Trail 4 and all of Trail 5.  They were not as long as I hoped but we got some steps in and that was great.

After our evening meal, we set outside around another fire for a couple of hours.  It was a perfect time to be outside with temperatures in the low 70's.  

We've enjoyed our time here in Vincennes.  Tomorrow we will head north to Crawfordsville, IN for a one night stop in Covered Bridge Country.  Looking forward to some exploration there!

If anyone has found a good tutorial to the new Blogger - especially about adding a link to an article I'd love to see it.  I finally had to set it aside until I could finish it this evening, and then I reverted back to the old blogger platform to get it done.  As with anything new there are always changes to work through.  Lol!