The Friendlist Town on the Loop

We've stayed put for a few days in this sweet little town, mainly because we had some work to catch up on from back home at the office that needed our full attention...Day 1 in Ottawa IL consisted mainly in doing laundry and buying groceries...we cleaned Ithaka from stem to stern...had dinner at a pub called Crawdads right here at the marina. Ah yes, the marina...Heritage Harbor. For those of you traveling down the river behind us, this is one of those tips you'll want to make note of...as you enter their basin off the Illinois River, Heritage Harbor Marina has a sign that reads, "Welcome Loopers and other friendly boaters" ...I must say, possibly the friendliest and most accommodating marina we've stayed at on the entire loop. Captain Moe is a wonderful fellow with a great knowledge of the rivers which he is happy to share. --A fairly new facility; by next summer they'll have added a pool and other services. We used their van to go into town (about a 2 mile hike) three times in the past few days...After working all day we watched one of the movies we had on board: The Prestige. Most nights we read but, it was fun to turn in early and watch a flick (we don't get very good TV reception, which is fine with me, but we do have an interesting selection of movies on board).

Day 2 was set aside for some sight-seeing...we went to the Visitor's Center and were met by two gals, both of whom actually knew what a looper was, too! I really think these folks are smart to cater to the 100 or so loopers who cruise by and stop every year...anyway, they loaded us up with lots of good information about Ottawa. Here in Washington Square, in 1858, Abraham Lincoln first spoke in public. He debated Sen. Stephen A. Douglas. This town with a population of barely 10,000 had over 14,000 people turn out to witness the debate! They say this debate got Lincoln noticed and made him a presidential contender for 1860. The bronze statues of Lincoln and Douglas grace the fountain in the town park. The farmer's market close-by was wonderful. We bought freshly baked apple bread and home made jam as well as locally grown, organic sweet corn which we enjoyed for dinner last night! Public Art was developed to revitalize Ottawa's downtown, and it has created quite a cultural attraction. To date, there are now 8 wall murals painted on the sides of building depicting the people and events important to the town's history (do you see anyone familiar in the picture attached? Remember, you can click on these photos to make them bigger)! There are Lincolnesque "Top Hats" painted on barrels by various local artists, too, done as a fund raiser. Of course, we also did a little bit of shopping...couldn't leave town without contributing to the local economy. Lots of quaint shoppes & antique stores. You can tell there's a lot of scrap-booking and quilting going on in Ottawa. One shop in particular I will recommend for all who visit Ottawa...Deja Vu...whimsical and fragrant...great gifts! I could have done all my Christmas shopping in one stop!

Last night we attended mass at a beautiful old cathedral-like church. I had never before been to a Catholic church named St. Columba. It was my great-grandmother's first name...I didn't even know Columba was a saint...of course I 'googled' it and found several saints with that name...none of whom were Italian...One of the stained glass windows caught my eye, which I will post here, of a cross on one side and an anchor on the other.

We are fogged in this morning, so we are getting a later start than intended...Looking forward to doing the loop again someday and stopping back to Ottawa IL, the friendliest town on the loop!

"People travel to faraway places to watch in facination the kind of people they would ignore at home." ~ D.D. Runes