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's 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 Darth Vader and R2D2 statues standing in front of Mellow Mushroom Restaurant. (Characters from the Star Wars Trilogy)

Darth Vader and R2D2 

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

Over Look 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 told about the Merrimack Manufacturing Co., the Huntsville Manufacturing Co., and Springs Industries Inc., 1899 1991. It also told about the Merrimack School & the Joseph J. Bradley School 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. Hubby ordered a boned chicken wings meal.

Boneless Wings 

Side Salad

We were home for about an hour when hubby got a call out to work.
Another trip to Huntsville. 
The job did not take long, and we were home by 7PM. 

My son, Andy, called and said Mom, we are going to shoot fireworks at 8:30PM, so at 8:15PM, 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 10PM, and both of us dropped into bed from exhaustion.

Demolition to Construction

Demolition of Madison Square Mall Huntsville

Demolition of Madison Square Mall Huntsville

Demolition began on February 6, 2017, and this is what it looks like at the end of February.
Sears and Penny were the last of the stores to close. It may take up to six months to complete the demolition. 
RCP Company will be developing the new MidCity at this location by 2021.

Brandon School Florence, Alabama Demolished
1899 Brandon School was named for Industrialist Charles M. Brandon 

Brandon School Demolished
1861 Sixth Ward School east of present Brandon Ministries Center site.

Once the demolishing is completed, the construction of a new Florence Hospital will be built on this site. Officials said that it could take up to 32 months to complete. 

The old ECM Hospital will not be torn down but will be replaced with a new occupant.

Construction of large-scale entertainment, a sports complex in Foley, Alabama 

Construction of  large-scale entertainment, and sports complex in Foley, Alabama  

Developers BC Foley LLC purchased more than 500 acres on the city's south side from Woerner Beach Express LLC for about 12 million dollars. The property is at the northwest corner of Foley's Beach Express and Baldwin County 20, near McDonald's. 

Coffee High School Florence before demolishing 

FLORENCE, Ala. (WHNT) - In just a few short months, Florence City Schools will begin one of the largest building projects in recent history.
The current Florence Middle School and former Coffee High School is set to be razed and a modern middle school will be constructed in its place.
More than 50 years of wear and tear are certainly noticeable in the hallways of Florence Middle School. At near capacity and facing millions of dollars in repairs, the Florence School Board decided to tear down and start over.

Demolition of Kmarts

Demolition of K-Mart, making room for Academy Sports

Tompson Station Tennessee Road Construction 

The Town of Thompson’s Station is working with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) on a re-design of the State Industrial Access (SIA) Road (State Route 6/Columbia Pike/Highway 31) leading to the entrance of the planned Phase 2 expansion of Mars Petcare’s Research and Development facility

🦋🦋🦋2016 September 8, Friday, Butterflies and Scarecrows in the Garden

Looked out my window this morning, and I saw a chipmunk scurrying around looking for food.
I grabbed my cell phone to take a video, the chipmunk was quick as lighting. I did get a few pictures.
I filled the hummingbird feeders with sweet, red, Nectar. 
They watched me from afar and waited until I went inside to start feeding. 
The hummingbirds are very territorial and will run off any other hummingbird trying to get nectar from their feeder.
I put sunflowers in my regular bird feeders. 

Hibiscus

Flowers still blooming

Stopped at my son's house to give Ava Grace a Happy Meal toy, apple slices, apple juice, and her bottle full of milk she had left a few days earlier in the week. 

Stopped at the Post Office in Rogersville to buy postage stamps (with trucks on them) and mail two birthday cards. 
Stopped at the UPS store to mail a package. 

Stopped at Chick-fil-A in Athens, where I bought a kid a two-piece chicken finger meal with a fruit cup, two fingers, ice cream, honey mustard sauce, and diet Coke for lunch.  

Chick-fil-a

Exited Chick-fil-A onto hwy 72 east toward Huntsville. 

Turning right onto Slaughter Road, turning left onto Old Madison Pike. 

I followed Old Madison Pike over I-565 to Bob Wallace, stopping at 

4747 Bob Wallace at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. 

Paid the entrance fee and began my walk through the garden

Huntsville Botanical Gardens 

My first stop was the Hobbit House, his door was shut tightly. 

Hobbit House
Our Hobbit House is inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit. Hobbits, also referred to as Hal-flings are small in size, have slightly pointed ears, are stout in stature, and have large feet. The life in houses that are built into the ground. They usually have round doors, like ours. Hobbits like to garden socialize and eat up to six meals a day if they can. 

Hobbit House 

Bird Nest 

Climb in settle down, and experience a birds-eye view in this larger-than-life bird nest. Birds, build nests from a variety of found materials, including sticks, grass, mud, feathers, horse hair, and even string. Northern Mockingbirds, Brown Thrashers, Northern Cardinals, Grey Catbirds, Blue Jay, American Crow, Bald Eagles, and Osprey build round nests with sticks, like this one. 

Next, I saw a larger-than-life bird nest. 

I walked into the bird's home and touched the egg. 

My next stop was the train village and there were scarecrows scattered throughout the village. 

Train Village with scarecrows

A new building going up at the park 

The Children's Garden.

Rabbit 

Girl 

Boy

Well
Jack and Jill
went up the hill
to fetch a pail
of water.
Jack fell down,
and Jill came
tumbling after.

Sunflowers

Maze Garden
Labyrinths and mazes have been a part of gardens since the time of England's King Arthur. Some of the World's most famous castles even have mazes.
Building a maze is harder than it looks, but we've given you everything you need to get started within the walls of our Maze Garden. 

Please No Wading 

Gold Fish 

Children's Garden 

I went inside the butterfly house where I saw three turtles sunning on a bolder. 

There was a Space Garden and a Dinosaur Garden.

Dinosaur Garden with a cool mist to walk through.

Throughout the garden were scarecrows and other sites.

Charlie Brown, Lucy in  Snoopy's Red Dog House

Frog

See Rock City Playhouse

Boathouse

Fort 

Walking through the garden would have been fun if it had not been so hot. 
Most of the time I was walking through the paths in the woods. 
I drove home from I-565 to I-65 to 72 West stopping at Arby's to pick up dinner. 

Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich 

Diet Coke 

🍔🍔🍔2014~ Nov 19, Wednesday Staggs Hamburgers

We are always stopping at places like McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy’s for a hamburger.

Most of their hamburgers are precooked, they are okay if you are hungry, and you are in a hurry. 

Sometimes, it is nice to sit down to a real home-cooked hamburger.

My husband said, If you want a real home-cooked hamburger then let's go to Staggs, they have the best. 

So, for lunch today we went to Staggs in East Florence. 

Staggs is located in an area of Florence that once was home to Sweet Water Mill, and many other industries but now has lots of empty buildings, all industry is gone. 

The train depot that sat empty for many years has been remodeled and is used for parties, wedding dinners, birthday parties, and many other functions. 

Staggs is a small diner that cooks your food on a grill right in front of you 

We watched as the girls patted out the hamburger meat, put them on the grill, and the smell filled the air.  

It was lunchtime and many workers filled the store, many would place their orders to go. 

The dinner was small and filled up fast with customers. 

The workers formed a line and a short-order clerk took their orders, very organized.

One person cooked the hamburgers, another dressed them, another bagged them. 

When their order was complete, they would walk back to the cash register to pay their bills. 

There were only three or four long tables in the cafe, I guess most of there customers were workers that came in groups. 

The table where we were sitting filled up fast. 

We savored every bite of our hamburgers, as we watched the lines of workers getting their food to go. 

When everyone finished the waitress would clear the tables.

We paid at the register when we finished eating. 

On the counter just above where the food was cooked was a tip jar.  Probably everyone shared the tips. 

The food was very good, the people were friendly, you got your food fast, and they were very organized. 

A great restaurant for its size. 

I would give it a thumbs up for a great place to eat good fast food!!!!

Staggs Restaurant East Florence