Our morning view of the Ohio River wasn’t quite as pretty as it was yesterday; not only was the river a good bit rougher than it was yesterday but we’d also been visited by many mayflies who died on our veranda. I’m just glad that we chose to sleep with our sliding door closed last night so we didn’t have them in our bed!
Today’s stop was Evansville, Indiana; we docked at 8:30am and left at 12:30pm. There were three excursions to choose from: the Evansville Wartime Museum, the Audubon Museum & Nature Center, and Wesselman Woods, which we chose because it looked like the one with the most walking.
I think we were right – our guide took us on a two-mile walk (I can’t call it a “hike” because most of it was on boardwalks). We saw the largest tract of virgin, old-growth forest within any city limits in the United States; they also host some raptors which can’t be released into the wild because they wouldn’t survive. We saw a bald eagle, western screech owl, turkey, vulture, peregrine falcon, and a Harris hawk – all behind chicken wire, so it was hard to take a good photo.
Our guide said that they are hoping to keep their ash trees alive despite the Emerald Ash Borer; it’s pretty clear that there are some borers at work in the woods.
I would have liked to have seen a bit of Evansville itself, but we were docked a couple of miles from town.
The program for the rest of the day includes “The American Experience” (you, too, can save money by booking while you’re on board – we already have!), a lecture about Audubon, and a return visit from Not Fade Away doing their “Forever Everly” show. Plus lots of river, a few locks, probable thunderstorms, and a very good chance of mayflies.
