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. 

January, we took our first cruise on the NCL Cruise Ship from New Orleans, where we visited Cozumel, Roatan Bay Island Hundours, 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 went to our great-grandson's Tee-Ball Game. 

Took Ava to several Museums and bought a new computer.

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

We went to Atlas Tee-Ball Games.

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

Attended Ava’s School Program.

Went to a baby shower.

Attended the Front Porch Story Telling Festival.

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

We flew into the State of Washington, where we boarded 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 bus trip with Diamonds in the Rough to Niagara Falls, Canada, for 7 days. 

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

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

Hubby and I rode to Granville, TN, to tour several museums about Andy Griffith and Lucy 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 Sunflower and Zennias fields. 

At the end of August, we took a bus trip with Diamonds in the Rough to South Dakota.

We saw Mount Rushmore, the Journey Museum, Wall Drugs, the Corn Palace, the High Plains Heritage Center, The Crazy Horse Memorial, and the WWII Museum in Kansas, MO. 

We toured Deadwood and the Black Hills.

In September, we took a train trip from Chattanooga to Chickamauga, Ga. 

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

We attended 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 and Portland, Maine. We took a bus from Portland to Conway, New Hampshire, to ride the train. 

We flew home out of Boston, Mass. 

We took AVA to the Renaissance Faire and the Fall Festival, Trunk n Treat 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 trolly to the Audubon Park and WWII Museum in New Orleans.

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

We visited Montego Bay, Grand Caymans and Cozumel. 

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

The next day, hubby and I rode to Decatur and bought a new car. (A Hyundai Sonada 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 medicines. 

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 at Zoey Bells with new and old friends. Hubby and I attended Haynes's fifth Birthday party at the Launch Pad. 

I attended our CBS Christmas Party at Church. 

Attended our Wednesday Night Zoom Bible Class on Dec 13. 

My daughter and her hubby are coming home for a week for Christmas, and we will be celebrating Christmas with all the 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 $28
We had an appointment at Champion Chrysler Dodge to get the oil changed in our Town and country in Athens at 11AM.
We had to ride back home to get his wallet.
We stopped in Elgin for B-12 shots and just made our 11AM 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 peddle and was not letting 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/Museum.  The park area was open but the museum was closed. 
There was a school group visiting the park and earlier that morning there was a Civil War Re-Enactment there were still tents standing in the open field. 
We walked into the Museum store, Caboose, and Train Engine.
Huntsville Depot Museum Hours
Wednesday -Saturday 10-3PM 
Gates Open 
Monday - Sunday year-round 9-5PM
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 in this passenger Depot,
Adjoining yards and shops were captured by the Union Army on April 11, 1861.
Vital east-west Confederate rial link served, CSA soldiers imprisoned here.
The depot was later used by Federals as a base for gathering supplies for Western Theater
military operations. After the Civil War returned to M & CRR Co
acquired by Southern Railway System in 1898, since1971
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 so it can 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 made the comment I was going to buy some food but my hubby did not 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 the food right up.

Goldfish and ducks 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 
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 has a beautiful garden full of 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 RSA where we filled up with gas and saw a few geese. 
We were home a little after 5PM
My granddaughter had been texting me all day wanting to know when we were coming home.
My granddaughter, her daughter, and a friend came over around 5:30PM 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 whose active service period was 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 largely made 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 once was the largest oyster distribution center in New England; now there is only one oyster-opening shop left in this state, that of 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 and so, displayed along the entire length of the keel, is an exhibit on the process of shipbuilding that takes 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, as well as 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.

🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️2000 June 24, Saturday, McFarland Swimming

At about mid-morning on Saturday, we loaded into my LS Saturn and rode to McFarland Park.
My grandson Justin, two granddaughters Hannah and Madison, and my son Ronald.
The kids had not planned to get into the water but it was hot and they stripped down to their underwear and jumped right into the cool water of the Tennessee River, hoping that a large bass or catfish would not nibble on their toes.

In water up to their knees. 

Madison kept on her hot pink tee shirt and her hair was pulled on top of her head in a ponytail.
Hannah was wearing a light blue floral top with matching shorts and Hannah's hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
Ronald was wearing blue jeans shorts and a black tee shirt with the sleeves cut out.

Ronald in his cool shades. 

They stayed near the edge not getting in over their heads. They walked along the edge of the lapping Tennessee River bending over to pick up unusual rocks.

Picking up shells 

Jumping on boulder

The kids played on the giant boulders that were dotted along the River. They would jump from one to the other.

Playing in the park 

The kids played on the playground equipment and we watched several barges float down the river.

Barges on the Tennessee River 

We also saw the Miss Nari New Orleans, LA cruise boat that was docked along the Tennessee River.

Towboat 
Miss Nari New Orleans, La
The historic towboat M/V Miss Nari is named for Mrs. Narcissa “Nari” Conrad, the late wife of Eddy Conrad, the CEO of RiverBarge Excursions Lines. Miss Nari is the only river towboat in America with a twin propulsion 3,000 horsepower Z Peller 360-degree unit, which can completely turn the entire tow in place. The Miss Nari was built in 1951 and started her career in the Delta Cities. If you check your history, on September 13, 1970, the Delta Cities’ tow of gasoline-filled barges broke loose crashing into the Port Arthur Bridge. The barges, the bridge, and the Delta Cities were engulfed in flames. The Delta Cities suffered severe fire damage and remained out of service for years. She became known as “the Hulk” for some time as she lay dormant. Today the newly equipped and refurbished Miss Nari still shows the scares of this tragedy with heat-warped decks. The Miss Nari pushes the barges along at speeds of 9 to 10 miles per hour although faster speeds can be achieved depending on river currents and conditions.

We could also hear the sounds of the traffic as it crossed the Tennessee River on the O'Neal Bridge.

Busting traffic on O'neal Bridge