2017 July 4, Tuesday, Day Trip to Huntsville, Alabama

Hubby and I rode into Florence to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I ordered one scrambled egg, two slices of bacon, and two slices of sourdough toast with strawberry jelly. I also ate Hubby's fried apples.
Hubby ordered the big breakfast...
We traveled Highway 72 east to Rogersville, stopping at Foodland to pick up a couple of canned drinks.
We rode to Rogersville Park, where they had just installed a splash pad for kids.

Splash Pad Rogersville 

Playground and restrooms, Rogersville Park

In Huntsville, we rode through Providence Town Center, where we saw statues of Darth Vader and R2-D2 standing in front of the Mellow Mushroom Restaurant. (Characters from the Star Wars Trilogy)

Darth Vader and R2-D2 

I wanted to see the construction work where the Old Huntsville Mall was once located, so we rode there next.
The mall is gone, with its piping and wiring all dug up, leaving only dirt remaining.

No longer a mall 

Next, we rode through the Twickenham District to Monte Sano Mountain.
We paid the admission price to enter the park, stopping at the restrooms at the campsite. We stopped at the overlook near the one-room CCC Museum, which was closed. 

Overlook near Birding site 29 (overcast day)

 CCC Museum (one-room museum) 

We stopped, and I took pictures of the Burritt Museum and Trough Springs Markers. 
We rode down the mountain onto Governors Drive, passing the Hospitals. 
Next, we rode to Brahan Spring Recreation Center on Ivy Avenue Southwest.
We stopped at the park, where we saw the  Merrimack Marker.
The marker mentioned the Merrimack Manufacturing Co., the Huntsville Manufacturing Co., and Springs Industries Inc., from 1899 to 1991. It also mentioned the Merrimack School and the Joseph J. Bradley School, established in 1900 and 1967.
Next, we stopped at Brahan Spring Park for a few pictures and to use the restrooms.

We started home, stopping in Athens at Zaxby's to eat dinner.
I ordered boneless wings and a side salad. My husband ordered a boneless chicken wing meal.

Boneless Wings 

Side Salad

We were home for about an hour when my husband got a call to go to work.
Another trip to Huntsville. 
The job didn't take long, and we were home by 7 P.M. 

My son, Andy, called and said, 'Mom, we're going to shoot fireworks at 8:30 P.M.' So, at 8:15 P.M., we rode to my son's house.
We sprayed ourselves with bug spray, grabbed our fold-out chairs, and off we rode to my son's house.
We had a great time with family, watching them shoot off fireworks.
These three bulldogs hated the sound of the fireworks, and we had a hard time keeping them away from chasing the fireworks.

We were home by 10 P.M., and both of us dropped into bed from exhaustion.