2023 April 29, Decatur Historic Homes and Garden Walking Tours

April 29: Garden Tour, led by the Historic Decatur Association 

The public is invited to a peak into some of the residents’ private gardens. The tour begins at Westminster Presbyterian Church, located at 801 Jackson St, SE.

 We had a large crowd for the Garden Walking tour in Decatur. 

Large Crowd from different towns

Everyone met at the Westminster Presbyterian Church 801 Jackson St SE. Decatur.  

Westminster Presbyterian Church 801 Jackson St SE. Decatur.

We learned the history and architectural structure of several different homes.

We finished our walk at Delano Park where there were beautiful roses in bloom.

After the guided tour everyone disbursed.

Pink roses at Delano Park 

 

This young girl set up a Lemonade Stand.
 It was a hot day and we purchased a glass. 

From 11-3PM, we tour 9 personal gardens. 3 Gardens were on Sherman St., 2 on Gordon Dr, 1 on Jackson St., and 1 on Cherry Street. 1 on Line St. and 1 on Oak St. There was someone at each location to greet us and tell us about their garden.

On the first garden tour, we saw these beautiful red lilies.

Fish Pond 

Beautiful Yellow Flower

This garden was like having a forest in your backyard.
There was a Bird Feeder, a greenhouse, walkways and so much more.

There was a story about how this statue came to this garden but I don't remember 

After the Garden tour, we enjoyed a nice lunch at Mellow Mushroom in Decatur. We ordered a small Maui Wowie on Stone Ground Crust Pizza. It was delicious.

A small Maui Wowie on Stone Ground Crust Pizza.

2023 Feb 23-24, Amelia Island, Kingsley Plantation, Fernandian Beach, St Augustine, FL. and Fountain of Youth (Diamond Travel Huey Town, AL)

Day 3:

Breakfast in the hotel was a cinnamon roll, sausage, milk, and cranberry juice.

Meet our guide loaded onto the bus for an hour ride to Kingsley Plantation which is located on Fort George Island along the St John's River. Two roads lead to the site, Palmetto Avenue, which is a dirt road that is often in rough condition. Fort George Road is paved but subject to flooding during weather events and extreme tides.

 Kingsley Plantation  and our guide

The bird we heard was House Finch,  Yellow-rump Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throat Warble, Carolina Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Boat-tailed Grackle, and a couple of Peacocks.

We had about 45 minutes to tour the house, barn, gift shop, and gardens, there we saw a gopher tortoise.

Loaded back onto the bus and headed to Amelia Island where we walked along the sandy beach.

Amelia Island Beach and sand

Loaded back onto the bus and headed to Fernandina Beach where we walked through the town and stopped to eat lunch at "The Happy Tomato", where hubby and I split a club sandwich, potato chips, and a couple bottles of water.

Club Sandwich with Lay's Chips

We walked along the pier where we saw a great-gray heron and heard several grackles.

We saw several House sparrows and a yellow-tailed warbler.

Wall of Gray Butterflies 

Town of Fernandina Beach 

Loaded back onto the bus and headed back to the hotel to freshen up.

Our last stop of the day was Apple Bees for dinner, where I ordered grilled Chicken, a Caesar salad, and a brownie.

FIESTA LIME CHICKEN

Grilled chicken glazed with zesty lime sauce and drizzled with tangy Mexi-ranch is smothered with a rich blend of Cheddar cheeses on a bed of crispy tortilla strips. Served with Spanish rice and house-made pico de gallo.

Day 4:

Breakfast at the hotel of a cinnamon roll, biscuit, and gravy with juice.

Loaded onto the bus and headed to St Augustine.

We stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up our guide. We also shopped and toured the museum inside the visitor center.

Our tour Guide

We loaded back onto the bus, and our guide told us about the many historic sites in St. Augustine.

We stopped at Flager College, (the former Ponce de Leon Hotel) and several churches.

Flager College

Rode back to the Visitor Center and were on our own for a couple of hours. 

We walked to St George Street which is a pedestrian-only filled with unique shops and restaurants.

We ate lunch at  St. Augustine Seafood Company. We ordered a shrimp plate with fries, cole slaw, and water. I also bought 2 bottles of their hot sauce to take home to my son. 

Shrimp, Fries, and Cole Slaw at St Augustine Seafood Company

We walked several blocks on St George Street stopping to take pictures of historic markers and sites.

We walked through the Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine and Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine.

Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine

Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine

We walked inside a mall area where we saw several people dressed up like pirates.

Got my picture made with them a few minutes later.

Me with the pirates

We walked back to the visitor center and did a little shopping. Hubby bought a hat, and I bought a kitchen towel. 

We loaded back onto the bus and headed to the Fountain of Youth.

At the Fountain of Youth, we walked around and stopped to taste the spring, suffer water, watch a show, watch a blacksmith at work, and the firing of a cannon.

Couple taking a sip from the Fountain of Youth 

Loaded back onto the bus and rode to Cucina Giovanni for dinner.

It took forever for them to take our orders, and the food was overcooked.

Salad 

Chicken Parmigiana topped with marinara sauce& mozzarella served with Spaghetti 

Pasta Alfredo with creamy Alfredo sauce 

Cannoli

The salad and dessert were good. We were there too long to enjoy our meal.

Day 5:

Packed our bags and took them downstairs to be loaded onto the bus.

Ate breakfast and watched a couple of Scottish men play Amazing Grace on bagpipes.

Loaded onto the bus and headed for Hueytown, Al.

We stopped in Perry, Ga ate lunch at Fire House Sub.

Club sub 

Small Philly Sub 

Stopped at the Rest Area at Lake Park Suwanee River Valley, Ga 

Rest Area at Lake Park Suwanee River Valley, Ga 

Arrived in Birmingham around 4:49PM.

Loaded our luggage into the car and headed home a 2 1/2 hour drive.

Stopped at KFC in Athens at 7:01 PM and home around 8 PM.

Had a great trip but woke up Monday morning with COVID.

 

2010 March 27, Saturday, Grandkid discovering the Natural Resources of Florence

I took three of my grandchildren to the Hall Memorial Native Plant Garden at TVA.
Where we saw the Iris Crostata, Jacob's Ladder, Bloodroot, Solidago caesia, Sessile Leaf Bellwort, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Ohio Spiderwort, Wild Columbine, Purple Phacelia & others. 
The grandchildren listen patiently as Mr. Rose told them about all the wildflowers. 
We left the garden and went deeper into the woods to see more wildflowers. 
The grandkids love walking in the woods. I am sure some of the information stayed in their heads.

A group picture at the end of the hike. 

Walking deeper into the woods looking for wildflowers

The grandkids wanted to explore the cascading waterfall at TVA. As we were walking along the banks of the Tennessee River we saw many birds. We could see the TVA Dam,  the Marriott Hotel River Heritage Park, and The tower 380 Degrees Restaurant. 

Standing on the banks of the river

the backdrop of the Waterfall 

We stopped at Domino for a pizza and we took the pizza to Deibert Park. 

After we finished eating we walked the trail where we could learn more about our environment. We stopped at the pond to watch the turtles pop their heads up out of the water. 

Watching the turtles

Watching for the Turtles

We walked deeper into the woods where we saw signs that listed the different creatures, plants, and trees that we might see.

Some of the signs that we saw were: muskrat, loblolly pine, Rufous-sided Towhee, Caroline Wren, ticks, Great Blue Heron, black cherry tree, dogwood tree, bluebirds, sweet pepper bush, cardinal, gray squirrel, and many others. 

The grandkids discovered some of the metal art that was displayed in the park, to bring a bit of culture into the park. 

Discovering Art 

The grandkids enjoyed playing on the train, monkey bars, swings, horses, tire swing, and seesaw.

We stopped at my dad's to wish him a Happy Birthday. It had been a full day for all of us. 

Riding the train 

Swinging