2022 April 26-29, Trip to Knoxville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN (4 days)

 Travel to Knoxville, stopping at Baxter's Botanical Gardens, which is only open to the public during April as part of the Dogwood Arts Festival in Knoxville. 

Baxter's Azalea Garden

In the garden, we visited The White Garden, the Maze, The Bluebird Garden, the Lotus Pond, the Dogwood Rambol, the Gazebo, the Azalea Garden, the Iris Garden, the Asian Garden, The Ellipse Garden, the Fuji Garden, the Balustiade Garden, the Hannah Garden and the Birds of Baxter's Garden. 

We spent about 30 to 45 minutes here. 

We then traveled to Pigeon Forge and checked in at Margaritaville's The Island Inn.

We walked around the Island and stopped at Mellowmushroom for dinner. 

Mellow Mushroom at the Island Pigeon Forge, TN

We ordered a Hawaiian Pizza with a drink and spent $30.57.

Day 2 Wednesday, April 27

Ate scrambled eggs, 2 slices of bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits with strawberry jelly, and cranberry juice for breakfast at the hotel.

We rode to the Trolley Center at 186 Old Mill Ave beside Patriot Park, where we bought tickets to take the trolley to Dollywood for the day. The cost for all day was $3 each.

We bought senior tickets at Dollywood, which cost $166.10 for the day. 

All through the park, we saw flowers designed in character form. We saw Busy, Busy Bees, Ring-tailed Rascals(Raccoons), Family Times (bear family), Round as a Peacock, Turtle, frogs, butterflies, Coat of many colors, Colorful umbrellas, Duck days, The Dolly wood Tree, Fines Farm, Doctor I. B. Painless Dentist, and Topsy Turvy.

Wildwood Grove at Dollywood 

We rode the train and carousel. 

We bought cinnamon bread with coke at Dollywood Grist Mill and spent $15

We ate supper at Huck Finn with green beans, catfish, creamed potatoes, and shrimp.

We stopped at the Margaritaville Store, where we bought 2 tee shirts. 

Coat of Many Colors Flowers

Day 3, Thursday, April 28

Today, we ate breakfast at the hotel: Muffins, sausage, & potatoes.

We rode to Old Mill Park, where we saw pigeons, geese, and mallard ducks.

We rode to Parrot Mountain and paid $53.11 for tickets, where we saw and fed many exotic birds. 

Parrot Mountain

Some of the birds we saw were the red-billed Tucan, Swanson Tucan, Keel-Billed Tucan, Kookaburra, Scarlett McCaw, Catalina McCow, African Pied Crow, Von Der Dickens Hornbill, Green-wing McCaw, Sun Conure, Mustache Parakeet, Golden Conure, just to name a few. 

We ate lunch at Firehouse Sub, where we ordered a small Steak and Cheese meal and a Medium Italian Sub meal. $21.75

We rode back to the Trolley Center at 186 Old Mill Ave to buy tickets to ride the trolley to the Gatlinburg Trolley Center.

At the Gatlinburg Trolley Center, we rode the trolley to Gatlinburg. We had a very entertaining driver, which made the ride enjoyable. 

Ankeesta and Black Bear 

We bought tickets for Ankeesta, where we rode the sky-lift up the mountain. $58.08 We bought a lemonade and walked around, then we took the Treetop Skywalk with a beautiful view. 

We rode the sky-lift back down the mountain and walked around Gatlinburg, stopping at Bubba Gumps for supper. There, we ordered Forrest Seafood Feast, which we split. Which included shrimp, fish, fries, and Cole slaw. 

Forrest Seafood Feast at Bubba Gumps

We took the trolley back to Gatlinburg Trolley Center and from there to Pigeon Forge Trolley Center.

At the Old Mill, we bought Relish and a self-rising Corn Meal. $12.91

Day 4, Friday, April 29

We ate breakfast in the hotel: bacon, eggs, biscuits, jelly, fried potatoes, and cranberry juice.

We traveled home, stopping in Athens for Gas.

2020 May 25, Parks of Decatur, Alabama

Hubby and I decided to ride to Decatur to stroll through the beautiful parks of Decatur. We have not been on many of our daily travels because of the CROVIRUS.

At Delano Park, we saw Pink Roses, pink, blue, and white hydrangeas, shrubs, hostas, and orange daylilies. 

We saw several Beale’s Barbery evergreen shrub that is native to mainland China, they were full of grape berries. 

Sitting on a limb of the Beale Barbery Shrub was a Mocking Bird. 

I wonder if he eats Beale Barbery berries?

We saw several squirrels scurrying about in the park. 

At River Wild Delano Park Garden, we saw several blooming magnolia trees.

We also saw dotted along the path several informative plaques about the animals, trees, & plants. 

Some of the plaques we saw were Prothonotary Warbler, Eastern Hellbender, Biodiversity, limestone, turtles, fish, frogs, Eastern Red Cedar, Rabbits, great blue heron, etc. 

We also saw odd-shaped boulders. 

We saw a huge carving of turtles you could sit up in Turtle Cove Story Circle.

We saw a rabbit nearly my height, a frog on top of a rock, a beaver, and a dragonfly sitting atop a pole. 

We saw flowers and shrubs as we strolled along the concrete sidewalk.

Delano Park 

Delano Park Hydragenas

Magnolia Bloom

Turtle in Children's Riverwild Park 

Pink rose Delano Park 

Red crossover Bridge Frazier Park

Hydrangea in Frazier Park 

In the Japanese Gardens at Frazier Park, we saw a Red Bridge and, beneath it, a bubbling brook. 

We saw Blue and white Hydrangeas and orange Daylilies. Frazier Park is located near the old downtown area and is not as big as Delano Park but just as pretty. 

Hubby and I stopped at Jack’s in Decatur for dinner I ordered a fried chicken, bacon cheese sandwich, fries, and a drink. (It was more than I could eat)

Hubby ordered a hamburger on Texas toast and a strawberry milkshake. 

(We were the only ones dining inside at Jack’s)

We both took a nap when we arrived home. 

Tomorrow will be the last day of physical therapy for my left knee.

2019 Mar 2, Day Trip Wings to Soar Wheeler Wildlife Refuge & Senior Prom Pictures

I traveled across Wheeler Dam on Highway 101 heading toward Town Creek, but the road was out, so I turned around and traveled the road where the paper mill once stood. 

I arrived at Wheeler Wildlife Refuge a little after 10:00 a.m. I used the restroom and found a seat in the front row. 

I was there to see Wings to Soar rescued Birds of Prey.

I saw a couple of Owls, Gilbert, the falcon, a couple of eagles (Osceola, a 25-year-old eagle), and a pet turkey vulture named Cayce. 

Casey the Black Turkey Vulture, a human-imprinted, always steals the show. 

The birds of prey are sent flying out over the audience several times. If you are close enough, you can feel the wind from their wings as they fly over the audience.

The 11AM show was a packed house, and after the show, you could get your picture taken with the blue Merlin and Buddy, a fully grown Screech Owl.

I stopped at Aldi's in Athens and bought a few groceries.

1-2PM I stopped at the Library in Rogersville to listen to Mike Ezell talk about the many rivers and their tributary in Alabama. 

River basins of the Tennessee River, Coosa/Tallapoosa River, Sipsey/Warrior River, Tombigbee/Mobile River, Alabama/Cahaba River,  Chattahoochee River, Conecuh River, Chipola River, Yellow and Blackwater Rivers, Perdido River and Escatawpa Rivers

He also talked about the Highland Rim (where we live), the Cumberland Plateau, Piedmont Upland, and the East Gulf Coastal Plains (along the Fault line old shorelines of Alabama). 

He talked about TVA, Rogersville, Dams, the weather, climate, fish, and the game of Alabama. 

I got a call from my son asking if I would meet Charity and Nevada for prom pictures at Wilson Park at 3 p.m.

Traveled home, put away my groceries, and traveled into Florence, stopping at Tri-Cities Memorial Gardens to take pictures of the Pink Tulip Trees in full bloom. Our upcoming weather is predicted to be below freezing for the next week, and I knew the cold would kill all the blooms.

Made it to Wilson Park, and by this time, it was getting cold outside. 

I took several pictures, said goodbye, and traveled home. Hubby was bringing me a taco pizza from Taco Bell for supper.

By this time, I had a splitting sinus headache. 

Ate supper and went to bed. 

It had been a long day since I had traveled to Decatur, to Athens, back home to Florence, and back home. 

I left that morning before 9AM and did not arrive home until after 5PM. 

What you will see at Lakes Regional Park & Train Museum🚂🚂🚂 Fort Myers, Florida

Locomotive 143

Locomotive 143

The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia built #143 for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1905. #143 was used to switch freight cars in rail yards around Charleston, South Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was the first railroad to serve the Ft. Myers area beginning in 1904. Similar steam engines worked A. C. L. tracks in the Ft. Meyers area. 

Agrico Chemical Company purchased #143 in 1944 for use in Florida’s phosphate mining industry around Mulberry. The locomotive hauled cars to and from the mines for interchange with mainline railroads. #143 was retired from service in 1959 and placed on display at Agrico’s offices at Pierce. In the early 1970s, #143 was moved to Webster, FL, and displayed at the short-lived Orange Belt Railroad. 

Number 143 was eventually moved to Tampa and stored on a short piece of track near a cement plant. Its condition deteriorated over the years. Before being scrapped, it was obtained by the Railroad Museum of South Florida in Ft. Myers. Number 143 was moved to Ft. Myers in August 1992, then to Lakes Park in 1995. Restoration work started in 1999 and was completed in April 2001. 

Seaboard served Ft. Myers from 1926 to 1952 

The Seabord Air Line Railway came to Ft. Myers during the Florida land boom of the 1920s and directly competed with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The extension to Ft. Myers originated off the Seaboard line to Boca Grande at Hull, FL, near Ft. Ogden, and terminated in Naples. 

At Punta Rassa Junction, where Six Mile Cypress Parkway crosses. Ten Mile Canal, a branch departed the main line and ran through what is now Lakes Park. The right of way entered the southern end of the Fragrance Garden and continued to a point about where this marker stands. The railroad grade then ran just south of the present-day boardwalk and causeway across the lake and then curved to the southwest exiting the present park boundary along the West Trail. Therefore the line ran beside and south of present-day Summerlin Road to a farming area called Truckland, in Iona. The branch never reached Punta Rassa. 

Large amounts of produce and gladioli were once shipped from this area. Late in 1952, the Seaboard abandoned its Fort Myers Extension and the Coast Line resumed its monopoly. 

At a later date, the Atlantic Coast Line constructed a short spur track off their main line to serve the lime rock mining that created the present lakes in the park. On June 1, 1967, the SAL merged with the ACL to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.

Paddle Boats 

Lakes Park offers a variety of ways to enjoy the park train rides, bicycles, surreys, kayaks, pedal boats, fishing, and walking trails. 

The park has over 279 acres of wonder to explore. 

Scurry

Bicycles

Paddle boats & Double Kayaks

Miniature train ride