DAY 17 - October 18, 2023

We left Paris Landing State Park this morning and headed for 

our next destination about 35 miles south on Kentucky Lake.

We saw some beautiful scenery along the way with people 

fishing either from their boats or from the banks.

We arrived at Birdsong Resort and Marina. Besides the marina, they also have a large campground, cabins and they are home to the only freshwater pearl farm in America. As soon as we arrived one of the dockhands took our picture. Later on they brought us a certificate with our picture and the day of our arrival.

Along with another couple of loopers, we were given an hour long presentation on the pearl industry by Bob, the owner of the resort. He's been here for 63 years and is the most recent owner.

Bob explained that pearls come in different shapes. The shape is determined by the shape of the "seed" placed in the muscle, or several other types of mollusks. In this photo you can see a triangular pearl on the left and in the center is the triangle shaped seed which determined the pearl's shape.

The piece the pearl jewelry is displayed on is actually a large clam shell. 

The pearl farm museum had lots of different kinds of pearl jewelry on display.

Many marinas have courtesy cars for transient boaters to go into town. This evening we joined two other looper couples to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Denise and I are on the far left. Jim and Cindy from the boat Funquest are with me in the back seat. With Denise in the front seat are Dan and Mary from their boat Full Circle.