2023 August 27-31, Trip to Hollister, Point Lookout, Ridgedale, Branson, MO., Searcy, Arkansas, Dyersburg, TN (5 Days)

Top of the Rock Lost Canyon Cave Ridgedale Mo

 Sunday, August 27, Day 1: 

Today, we left the house around 6:30, arrived at the Robertsons, loaded their luggage into our car, and began our journey to Branson.

Our first stop was for breakfast at Jack in Tuscumbia, Al.

I ordered gravy with sausage biscuits and a soda. 

After breakfast, we began our journey west on Highway 72 toward Iuka, MS.

We traveled through several small towns, entering the interstate in Memphis. 

We crossed the Mississippi River into West Memphis, Arkansas, stopping at the Welcome Center.

Our next stop was to meet friends at Western Sizzlin Searcy, Arkansas.

There, we enjoyed a lovely lunch while enjoying the company of old friends and making new friends.

After lunch, we headed north toward Missouri, stopping at South Mountain Scenic Overlook, where you can see Bryan Mountain Elevation 1760, McCutcheon Gap Snowball, Bear Creek, Searcy County Airport, Point Peter Elevation 2040, Round Mts., Buffalo National River, Boat Mountain Elevation 2221 Marshall, St Joe and Harrison, Arkansas. 

It's a great place to stop and take pictures. 

We arrived at Paradise Point Resort in Hollister, MO, checked into room 9404, and took the elevator up to our room. We had three bedrooms, a kitchen, three bathrooms, a living room, and a pool room with a view of the White River. 

We unpacked and headed outside, walking alongside the swimming pool, hot tub, and floating pool. 

We were all too full to eat dinner, so we just snacked.

Arkansas Welcome Center 

Standing near the Swimming Pool 

Monday, August 28, Day 2: 

We ate breakfast at the Hungry Hunter Restaurant, where they served substantial food portions. 

The pancakes would cover a huge plate. The bread made for French toast was homemade and served with two huge slices. 

Eggs, Ham, and hash rounds were also served. Great place for a hungry man. I could not eat all of my French toast. 

In Ridgeland, Missouri, we took a golf cart that holds four down into the canyon, a 2 1/2 miles-long tour of caves and waterfalls. We would park the golf cart and look around in several places. 

Inside the cave was a snack bar where you could get snacks and a drink. 

After we finished the tour, we took the shuttle to the Top of the Rock, where we toured the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum. The museum was filled with artifacts from the Woolly Mammoth. 

After the museum tour, we were told to return around 7:30–8 P.M. for the sunset, playing bagpipes and cannon firing. 

We rode to the historic part of Branson, stopping at B's Ice Cream Parlor for a strawberry cheesecake waffle Cone. We rode to Bass Pro Shop and then took a short trolley ride around the historic part of Branson.  

We walked along the River Landing and saw several new restaurants, fountains, and pipes that shot out fire. 

We ate lunch at World Famous White River Fish House, where I ordered 3 shrimp tacos. I could not eat all of them, so I just ate the shrimp.
We shopped at Elks but didn't buy anything. 

We rode back to Top of the Rock to see the sunset, tour the old church, and watch the canon being fired.

We came back to the condo, showered, and went to bed. 

Sunset at the top of the Rock Ridgedale, MO 

French Toast 

Tuesday, August 29, Day 3: 

We ate a cinnamon roll for breakfast. 

We rode to College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO.,  where we toured the War Memorial at the Keeter Center. 

We ate lunch at Dobyn's Dining Room at the Keeter Center. I ordered steak soup with rolled and butter. 

We toured the East End Mill, where I bought a handcrafted basket. 

Next, we toured the Ralph Foster Museum, which housed three levels of artifacts. 

This included musical talents from Missouri, musical instruments, Quilts, dishes, dolls, a circus, cars, and animals (taxidermy) such as polar bears, Grizzly Bears, Lions, tigers, buffalo, elk, deer, etc. 

It included butterflies and birds of every kind and just so much information in this one building. 

At 7:30, we boarded the Branson Belle for a dinner cruise and show.

The show was great. It started a little slow but finished with a bang.

It was another long day, so we went off to bed.

Keefer Center at College of the Ozarks
Point Lookout, Mo  

This little fellow will greet you with a loud growl!

Wednesday, August 30, Day 4

I ate a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast, and off we went.

Today, we are going to Silver Dollar City Branson, MO., for a fun-filled day of shows.

We will also enjoy a train ride into the woods only to be stopped by train robbers.

Then we will enjoy a hamburger and onion rings at the Lumber Camp Restaurant.

Today was the hottest day yet, and after all that walking, we were ready to leave the park. 

Train Robbers 

On our way back to the condo, we stopped at Little Hacienda in Branson, MO, where I enjoyed a Margarita on the rocks and a Churro with Ice Cream. 

Hubby ordered a burrito supreme. 

We were all very full when we left the restaurant.

I took a shower and went straight to bed, not waking up until 2 A.M. Everyone was asleep, so I took out my journal and wrote for about an hour and a half, then went back to bed.

Thursday, August 31, Day 5

The last day of the month and our last day in Branson, MO.

Packed our bags, loaded the car, and were on our way around 6:30–7 A.M.

We stopped to fill up with gas in Black Rock, Arkansas. 

We didn't stop for lunch until we reached Dyersburg, Tennessee

We stopped at The Bus Stop Restaurant, where I enjoyed a half turkey sandwich with pasta, which was very good. We sat outside, for it was a very nice, excellent day.

We dropped our friends off and stopped at the car wash to wash off all the bugs that we had accumulated on the highway.

We were home by 5 P.M.

We had a great trip, but glad to be home in my own bed.

Our next trip is a cruise unless we decide to take a day or overnight trip to the beach. 

2023 July 7, Day trip to Savannah and Shiloh, Tennessee

 We started our day at the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah. 

A true air-breathing MOSASAUR

The City of Florence, a St. Louis and Tennessee River Packet Company boat, was named to honor the fast-growing city at the foot of Muscle Shoals. Upbound near Coffee Landing on February 8, 1913, she got out of control and was lying cross-stream when the towboat Tomahawk, down-bound and loaded with crossties, rammed and sunk her. One member of the crew and a young passenger lost their lives in the accident.

The picture below is the ship of 2 girls.

12-year-old Ruth Tarbet (left) was one of two casualties of the sinking ship. The daughter of a prominent Saltillo merchant, Ruth, and her daughter had boarded the doomed steamer for the short trip to visit relatives in Savannah.

We saw this picture in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah.

US GRANT HDGS

We stopped to get pictures of the cannons and cannon balls before crossing the Tennessee River and heading to Shiloh. 

HAGY'S CATFISH HOTEL 

We ate fried catfish, coleslaw, hush puppies, and grilled veggies. Ava ate fried chicken fingers and fries. She said those were the best chicken fingers she had ever eaten, and she told our waitress she rated the food at 100. She ate every bite. We took several pictures at the restaurant and near the Tennessee River. 

Garfield's Cabin 

The History of Garfield 
Garfield's Cabin 
If the cabin walls could talk, they would reveal the intriguing story of Garfield Luster, an extraordinary yet excellent resident for many years.
The story begins on a hot summer day around 1920 when Mr. Narvin Hagy, a local traveling salesman, gives Garfield a ride.
During this time, Garfield worked for a family that had mistreated him for many years. He fled this harsh environment and met Mr. Norvin Hagy on an old gravel road. 
Mr. Hagy lived on a large farm, bonding with the Shiloh National Military. His parents were Frank and Mary Hagy. Frank, who had grown up on the farm, was 13 when the "Battle of Shiloh" took place around their home in April 1862.
Garfield eventually planted his roots with the Hagy family and developed a close bond with them.
During the many decades he lived with the Hagy family, he helped care for four generations.

He not only cooked but also laundered and did other basic chores around the house, and he helped raise the youngsters—a duty he enjoyed the most. He nurtured the young family of Norvin and Dorothy Hagy, showering them with devotion and care as if they were his own children. 
But Garfield did more than comfort, console, and, when necessary, scold the children; he could also entertain them. 

Many years before the fables of Uncle Remas were popularized by Hollywood, Garfield charmed the young Hagys with his folktales of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. Another of his talents was acting. He could dress up as a comical character called "Aunt Emiley" and play her so convincingly that the c children momentarily would forget that they were watching Garfield in disguise.


One of Garfield's favorite stories was about how he got his name. He always chuckled when he told how it was bestowed upon him following President Garfield's assassination.

Like his namesake, Garfield experienced hard times. He refused to dwell on the past, occasionally recalling his unhappy childhood. Garfield was born and raised in the small rural community of Red Bay in North Alabama, probably the son of a former slave.
Garfield was deprived of a formal education, although he was brilliant and could have done well in school if he had been given the opportunity.

Even though he was not articulate, his speech was peppered with homespun, folksy southern colloquialism, slow as molasses, dead as a doornail, hot a blue blazes, sharp as a tack, strong as an ox, to quote a few.

King Kong 911 1h
Garfield lived a long and happy life in Shiloh with the Hagy family.
However, he suffered much bereavement at the death of Norvin Hagy in 1960, never fully recovering from the loss of a man who had provided a sanctuary for the more significant part of his life. 

Shortly after Mr. Hagy died in 1961, Garfield was diagnosed with prostate cancer. During the last weeks of his life, Norvin Hagy Jr and his wife Teke took Garfield home for a final visit with his relatives, who, at the time, were living in Mississippi.
After his funeral at his church, Saint Rest in Guys, Tennessee, attended by the Hagy Family, Garfield was laid nearby in a small grove of trees. 
The Hagys will always remember Garfield with much love and gratitude as a person who embraced and enriched their lives.

By: the Hagy Family
Dr Don Hagy/Dean Hagy

Next, we stopped at Shiloh Battle Field. The museum was closed for repairs, but you could watch a film there. We did not stay to watch the movie. We heard gunfire and went to check it out.  

Young Park Ranger giving a demonstration. 

A young man (Park Ranger) was doing a reenactment and was finishing up when we arrived. But he did show Ave the bullet and let her feel the weight of the gun ( I think he said it weighed 10 lbs). When we stopped at the Tennessee River Museum, there was a gun ball behind glass that you could put your hand through to see if you could pick it up with one hand that weighed 7 lbs. So, she compared the two. 

Park Ranger talking to Ava about being a nurse in the Civil War

We stopped at the Book Museum, where we bought her a book about not being a Nurse in the Civil War. We walked to the National Cemetery, where a young woman was giving a talk about the battles between the North and South at Pittsburg Landing.

Ava had read several pages about the Civil War in her book and was asking several questions about the War.

The Park Ranger finished her talk, but Ava kept asking her questions. It began to sprinkle, so we hurried back to the car. We rode around the park, stopping for a few pictures. 

Shiloh Log Church 

We stopped at the old log cabin church to take a few pictures.

We started for home, and the sky got darker and darker, and it began to rain. The closer we got to Alabama, the harder it rained.

Our last stop was at Wendy's for a Strawberry Frosty. That's what Ava wanted, and I had never tried one. We all ordered a Strawberry Frosty, and it was good. Ava and I played a game all the way home in our Imaginary worlds.

2023 April 15, Cullman Walking Tour, Killen Adventure Park and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge

Our tour guide was Ben Johnson South(a descendant of Creek Indians). We began our tour inside the Cullman Museum. The museum is a replica of the home of John Cullmann, who founded a colony of German immigrants. It has a narrow front porch with gingerbread trim and twin towers.

Cullman Museum 

Statue of John Cullmann

The museum contains Native American Artifacts, Indian statues, and arrowheads spanning thousands of years. 

Pioneer life, early settlers before John Cullmann. Dutch doll, some rockers, butter churn, and kitchen articles. 

Civil War: A House Divided, Music and Pictures, Our Home Town: Growing Up in Cullman, and History of Johann Gottfried Cullmann.

We walked outside to see the statue of Johann Gottfried Cullmann and learn about his history.

We walked up the street, and our guide talked about several buildings. 

Inside the  Sacred Heart Church of Jesus Roman Catholic Church.

Our treat was going through and learning the history of the Sacred Heart Church of Jesus Roman Catholic Church.

https://uploads.weconnect.com/mce/a5b1d7e217aa227d5b2b8a84920780cf637960e2/HomePageItems/SacredHeartHistory/New%20SHC%20History.pdf 

Above is the link to read the history of this great church.

We ended the walk at the Cullman's Farmer's Market
to buy some fresh strawberries, but they had sold out.

It was getting near lunchtime, so we rode to OH! Bryan's for lunch.

Sirloin steak, sweet potato, and toast 

After lunch, we rode to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. I walked to both view areas and along the swamp boardwalk. 

I saw lots of small birds.

I saw several turtles, three chipmunks, a squirrel, Canada geese, White Egret, and a snake swimming in the water.

Saw lots of wildflowers blooming.

There were no whooping or Sandhill Cranes to be found, and I saw only four other people there. The backyard birds were chirping loudly. On my Merlin app, I heard 27 different bird sounds. It was a nice, quiet walk at the Refuge.

ChimpmunksWheeler Wildlife Refuge

We stopped at Killen Adventure Park, where Hubby and I ordered a waffle cone.

I ordered Rocky Road ice cream, and he ordered Cheesecake ice cream.

We fed the animals (ducks, turtles, fish, and peacocks) while eating our ice cream.

Many people played Miniature Golf, had birthday parties, and fed the animals.

It was a beautiful day to be outside.

Killen Adventure Park 

2023 April 1, Mule Day Parada Columbia and Mount Pleasant, TN. Grill & Museum

 Hubby and I had an excellent April 1st (April Fools' Day). We stopped at Jack in Lawrenceburg for breakfast. I ordered their single gravy, sausage, and biscuits, and Hubby ordered their big breakfast with pancakes.

We rode to Columbia to watch the Mule Day Parade. We arrived a little early and found a place to sit. Thousands of people were there for the parade and other events. The parade began at 11:00 A.M. and was over a little after 12. The Grand Marshal was Mike Wolfe from America Pickers.

At the end of the parade were a couple of big sweeper trucks to clean up all the horse and Mule poop.

Grand Marshall Mike Wolfe 

An unusual float, the Solo Cup 

Mules and Horses 

We left Columbia and drove through Mt Pleasant, stopping at Mt Pleasant Grill. It didn't appear much, but we decided to try it. It was a lot bigger on the inside and very friendly. The food was excellent. It was a bit spicy and cooked differently, but tender, fresh, and delicious. We definitely will eat there again. 

Fried Catfish, Fried Okra, Cole Slaw 

We asked about the museum next door, and one of the waitresses said it was worth seeing. So we toured the museum. It was filled with lots of memorabilia about the town. You would see things in a doctor's office, war artifacts, gowns, dresses, furniture, and so much more.

doctor office

I bought several note cards: Hamilton Place, St John's Episcopal Church, Walnut Grove, Rippavilla, and Fountain Creek Mills (historic homes, church, and mill). The curator tried to sell us a 2023 Farmers Almanac; she told us about some of the things she had read. 

Walked outside to the nearby park, where I saw those beautiful tin flowers and 2 blooming dogwood trees. The perfect time of the year to be blooming. We had a great time except for the 30 MPH winds. We saw hats, trash, and cotton candy flying everywhere. One bag blew off the vendor's rack and spooked several horses. All in all, it was a great day.

Dogwood Trees