2024 Christmas Journal Activies

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

To all my friends and family

Hope this year brought you lots of health and happiness. 

Just a recap of our adventures this year. 

In January, we took our first cruise on the NCL Cruise Ship from New Orleans, where we visited Cozumel, Roatan Bay Island, Honduras, Harvest Caye, Belize, and Costa Maya, Mexico. 

In February, we took a cruise on Carnival Spirit from New Orleans to Cozumel and Progresso, Mexico.

In April, we did several Walking Tours: the Huntsville Walking Tour, the Walking Tour of Courtland, and the Museum Tour. 

We also attended our great-grandson's T-Ball game. 

I took Ava to several museums and bought a new computer.

In May, we went to the Cullman and Moulton Strawberry Festivals. 

We went to Atlas Tee-Ball Games.

We took Ava to several museums, including the Space and Rocket Center, the Train Depot, and the Muscle Shoals Municipal Art Display.

Attended Ava's School Program.

Went to a baby shower.

Attended the Front Porch Story Telling Festival.

Hubby and I took our third cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Encore in June. 

We flew into the State of Washington, boarding the NCL Cruise Ship for seven days.

We visited Juno, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC.

We attended Atlas's fourth birthday Party and Hazel's third birthday party. 

At the end of June, we took a seven-day bus trip with Diamonds in the Rough to Niagara Falls, Canada. 

In July, we took several day trips with AVA: to Pulaski and Lynville, TN (to see the train depot), and Corinth, MS (including the Corinth Museum & Depot, Welcome Center, Civil War Museum, and Coke Museum). We ate lunch at the old Borrums Drug Store. 

We also took AVA to the Jesse Owens and Oakville Indian Mount Museums. 

My Husband and I rode to Granville, TN, to tour several museums dedicated to Andy Griffith and Lucille Ball. 

In August,  we took AVA to the Savannah Museum, then to the Battle of Shiloh and Museum; from there, we rode to Iuka, MS.

We attended the Killen's Founder's Day in Killen Park. 

We rode to Lutts, TN, to see the sunflowers and zinnia fields. 

We took a bus trip with Diamonds in the Rough to South Dakota at the end of August.

We visited Mount Rushmore, the Journey Museum, Wall Drugs, the Corn Palace, the High Plains Heritage Center, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and the World War II Museum in South Dakota. 

We toured Deadwood and the Black Hills.

We took a train trip from Chattanooga to Chickamauga, Ga, in September. 

In October, we attended the Oktoberfest Festival in Cullman and St Florine.

We participated in the Banana Pudding Festival in Centerville, TN. 

We did our fourth cruise on NCL Gem out of Quebec.

We flew into Montreal, and the next day, we took a three 1/2-hour bus ride to Quebec, where we boarded the NCL Gem for a seven-day cruise. 

We visited Prince Edward Island, Sydney, Nova Scotia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Bar Harbor, Maine; and Portland, Maine. We took a bus from Portland to Conway, New Hampshire, to ride the train. 

We flew home from Boston, Massachusetts. 

We took AVA to the Renaissance Faire, the Fall Festival, and the Trunk-or-Treat event at Shiloh Church of Christ.

In November, my friend and I rode the AM Track Train from Tuscaloosa, AL, to New Orleans.

We took the trolley to Audubon Park and the WWII Museum in New Orleans.

We took a taxi to the Cruise Terminal and boarded the Carnival Liberty for a seven-day cruise. (This was my fifth cruise this year.) 

We visited Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. 

We rode the AM Track Train back to Tuscaloosa, where Hubby picked us up.

Hubby and I rode to Decatur the next day and bought a new car. (A Hyundai Sonata Hybrid)

That Friday, I woke up with Bronchitis, but did not go to the doctor until Monday.

She gave me a Steroid shot and several bottles of Medicine. 

I went back to the doctor a week later, still coughing, and got another shot and another round of Medicine. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with family at our house, and everyone had a great time.

In December, I attended a Christmas party with new and old friends at Zoey Bells, and my Hubby and I attended Haynes's fifth Birthday party at the Launch Pad. 

I attended our CBS Christmas Party at the Church. 

Attended our Wednesday Night Zoom Bible Class on December 13. 

My daughter and her Husband are coming home for a week for Christmas, and we will celebrate Christmas with the whole family.

And on New Year's Eve, I will be celebrating with my sisters.

Another year has come and gone. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family

2017 May 16, Tuesday, Day Trip to Huntsville, Alabama

Hubby and I rode to Tennessee to buy our bi-monthly lottery tickets. Hubby went inside, scanned his tickets, and came back to the van. 
He said I forgot my wallet. Do you have any cash? I had enough money to buy the tickets for $28
We had an appointment at Champion Chrysler Dodge in Athens to get the oil changed in our Town & Country at 11:00 A.M.
We had to ride back home to get his wallet.
We stopped in Elgin for B12 shots and just made our 11:00 A.M. appointment at Champion.

They finished our van, but the oil light was still on. 
Hubby went back inside and told them they had forgotten to reset the oil. 
The woman came out and tried; she said the floor mat was too close to the gas pedal and wouldn't let it reset. 

Had to sit in the Slingshot sitting in the Showroom 

We rode to Huntsville, and our first stop was the Huntsville Train Depot and Museum. The park area was open, but the museum was closed. 
A school group was visiting the park, and earlier that morning, a Civil War re-enactment Had Taken Place; the tents were still standing in the open field. 
We walked into the Museum store, the Caboose, and the Train Engine.
Huntsville Depot Museum Hours
Wednesday -Saturday 10–3 P.M. 
Gates Open 
Monday to Sunday, year-round, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
As we were leaving, a train came rattling down the tracks.

The Huntsville, Alabama Depot Museum 

Standing in the Engine Room 

Civil War Camps

Passenger Depot
Huntsville Alabama
Built 1860
Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company
Eastern Division headquarters are in this passenger Depot. Adjoining yards and shops were captured by the Union Army on April 11, 1861.
The vital east-west Confederate rail link served, and CSA soldiers were imprisoned here.
The Depot was later used by the Federals as a base for gathering supplies for the Western Theater
military operations. After the Civil War, the company returned to M & CRR Co,
acquired by Southern Railway System in 1898, and has been since 1971
preserved by the City of Huntsville. 

The main reason for coming to Huntsville was to see the newly renovated Big Spring Park.
There is a concrete walkway around the reshaped lagoon, where the water flows, allowing it to clean itself. 
There are park benches along the walkway, but no trees (so it will be hot during the summer).
You can walk right up to the water's edge. We saw children leaning into the pond, feeding the goldfish and ducks. 
We walked along the water's edge, and the fish and ducks followed us. 
I saw a young man feeding the fish.
I mentioned that I was going to buy some food, but my husband didn't have any change. 
The young man gave me a quarter. I thanked him, and I bought a quarter's worth of seeds. 
The fish and ducks gobbled up the food.

Goldfish and ducks are feeding. 

Big Spring Park Oriental Bridge 

Newly reshaped lagoon

Fountain 

Kids feeding fish and ducks

Huntsville Art Center 

We rode south on Whitesburg Drive to Airport Road, then onto Parkway, stopping at 
We went to Rosie's Mexican Cantina for a late lunch.
We ordered a white chip dip and shared a Chicken Fajita. 
Rosie's Mexican Cantina on South Parkway features a beautiful garden filled with blooming flowers.

Rosie's Mexican Cantina Garden 

Rosie's Mexican Cantina Garden 

Rosie's Mexican Cantina Garden 

Rosie's Mexican Cantina Garden (Singing and playing Minstrels 

Parkway South is under construction (turning it into six lanes).

Road Construction on South Parkway 

Road Construction on South Parkway 

Road Construction on South Parkway 

We rode to Ditto Landing and saw a few geese, boats, and bridges.

Gaggle of Geese

Bridge Closed at Ditto Landing 

We rode down Drake Avenue to the RSA, where we filled up with gas and saw a few geese. 
We were home a little after 5 P.M.
My granddaughter had been texting me all day, wanting to know when we were going to come home.
My granddaughter, her daughter, and a friend came over around 5:30 P.M. to swim.
I did not get into the pool because I was too tired.

🏛Visiting Mystic Seaport Village Museum Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic Seaport is the nation's leading maritime Museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America's seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to "inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.

The Museum's grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT, and include a recreated 19th-century coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America's oldest commercial ship still in existence.

L.A. Dunton Ship
Built in 1921, she is the last ship afloat of her type, which was once the most common sail-powered fishing vessel sailing from New England ports. In service in New England waters until the 1930s and Newfoundland into the 1950s. 

Joseph Conrad Rigged Ship
Joseph Conrad is an iron-hulled sailing ship, originally launched as Georg Stage in 1882 and used to train sailors in Denmark. 

Brant Point Lighthouse
Brant Point Light is a lighthouse located on Nantucket Island. The station was established in 1746, automated in 1965, and is still in operation.

Restoring the Charles P. Morgan Ship
Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship built in 1841, which was active during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships of this type were usually used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil, which was commonly used in lamps.

Figure Heads
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships, made mainly between the 16th and 20th centuries.

Thomas Oyster House
Thomas Oyster House is one of the few remaining buildings that could be classified as a typical small northern oyster house. The building was constructed about 1874 at City Point, New Haven, Connecticut, by Thomas Thomas. New Haven was once the largest oyster distribution center in New England; now, there is only one oyster-opening shop left in the state, the Bloom Brothers in South Norwalk.

Mystic Bank
The office of a shipping merchant is represented on the second floor of the Mystic Bank. In the larger seaports, some merchants specialized in operating ships.

Thames Keel &Ship Building Exhibit
The 92-foot keel assembly from the whaleship Thames is set up on blocks in a shed within the Preservation Shipyard. The keel is the "backbone" and the starting point for the construction of a ship. Displayed along the entire length of the keel is an exhibit on the process of shipbuilding, taking visitors from the laying of the keel to her launching.

Mystic River Scale Motel 

Visiting Mystic Seaport

Stonington Crew
John Flaherty, president of Friends of Stonington Crew, the nonprofit fundraising support for the team, which receives minimal funding from the school department, thanked everyone in attendance and Mystic Seaport for again hosting the team on its docks. He said the team would not be able to compete at the level it does without the support of its donors.

Roann Florence Western Rig Dragger
Roann is one of the last surviving examples of the fishing vessels that replaced sailing schooners like the Museum's L.A. Dunton. The eastern rig draggers originated in the 1920s; indeed, Thomas McManus, who designed the Dunton, was influential in their development.