Day 1: Thursday, October 23, 2008
For breakfast I ate a waffle, my husband ate cereals, we both dressed and left the house about 9 A.M.
We did a double take to make sure everything was turned off or closed.
We slid both slide outs in and we loaded the car, we were on our way.
We traveled down I-65 through Birmingham; we took exit 261 a north toward Gadsden, Atlanta onto I-20 for 1.2 miles.
We took exit 126A toward Sylacauga and Zoo Gardens onto 280 east for 109 miles. This took us over the mountains, it was a four-lane but not an interstate.
We stopped at Logan’s in Opelika, Al 2400 Gateway Dr. Opelika, Al 36801-5401.
My husband ordered a hamburger, I ordered chicken fingers, with fries, fried mushrooms, and tea.
I ate two rolls, one chicken finger, I took two chicken fingers; fries and one roll with me, I gave them to the grandkids.
We merged onto I-85 north toward Atlanta, Columbus, Phoenix for 3.2 miles we then took exit 62 toward Phoenix then we turned slight right onto Columbus Parkway US 280 for 61 miles, crossing over into Georgia when 280 becomes GA-520 east, south for 44 miles.
We merge onto US 82 Jefferson Davis memorial parkway heading toward Tifton Camilla, which was another 8 miles.
US 82 become US-19 for 33 miles, at the caution light, we turn at right onto 93 and follow the signs 93 through the city of Pelham.
We turn right behind the Pelham Elementary School, we went about three miles came to the stop sign at County Line Road, we turn left onto Mill Pond Road for two miles.
We went to the end of Mill Pond Road where we saw a large old cemetery, both on the left and right side of the road.
The church and the house were on the right side of the road.
The boy’s soccer games were canceled because of rain.
We stopped at a fruit stand where we bought a five-pound bag of peanuts and some boiled peanuts.
When we arrived everyone was glad to see us
I went to the car to get the leftovers, and the peanuts, I took them inside.
The food soon vanished and we parched some of the peanuts.
We played word games on TV with Charity, Dakota, and Sierra.
I went to Wal-mart while Andy, my husband, Montana, and Nevada watched a football game.
The first night my husband and I slept in Dakota’s bed, it did not sleep very well.
Day 2: Friday, October 24, 2008
My son and his wife left about 10 A.M. they are going to Atlanta, GA, to a ministry conference.
Today we are taking the kids to The Flint Riverqurium.
It poured rain all day, it was a great day for indoor activity.
I decided to buy a family year pass at the Riverqurium so, my son and his wife can bring the kids back, the cost was $79.00 for the entire family for one year.
Our picture was taken and put on the two cards.
This is what we saw:
Explore Amazing Exhibits at the Flint Riverqurium.
We saw more than 100 kinds of fish, turtles, alligators, snapping turtles, and other creatures that make the Riverqurium Blue Hole their home.
The Flint River Gallery we saw both freshwater and saltwater tanks, plus a live fish hatchery.
Discovery Caverns were fun games and eye-opening exhibits.
Control the weather is an interactive area that tests your knowledge of local weather and it has three buttons for three people to play.
Change the way a river flow in this area the kids played in a sandbox while water flowed to make their own water route.
The kids climbed into an underground cave to uncover mysterious subterranean creatures.
At first, Montana was afraid to go into the cave so, I told him that Sierra would go in front of him and I would follow behind.
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| Discovery Caverns |
| Changing the way the River Flows |
We had to crawl up and down slide tunnels, we enter small caves where we could see small fish tanks and there were windows where we could look out as we travel through the tunnel.
It was very hard crawling on my knees so when it was time to get out, I slid out. It was a lot of fun but not for more than one trip.
The boys enjoyed the cave so much that they went through it several more times.
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| Riverqurium |
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| Riverqurium |
We stopped at the gift shop where each grandkid picked out souvenirs.
We went to the Adventure Center where we walked through the world of catfish.
There was a walk through catfish where you could see the heart, liver, gills, and other parts of the fish life size.
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| Catfish |
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| Inside of a Catfish |
We stopped at Burger King in Camilla, GA, where we ate lunch.
For supper, we cooked two pizzas and I parched some peanuts.
After supper Dakota wanted to go to a football game in Cairo, so we all loaded into the van and took him.
I gave Dakota $10.00 for the game and my husband gave him another $5.00.
That night we watched movies, Harry Potter and the Scorer Stone and the Haunted Mansion.
We watch movies until 11:30 P.M. we went to bed.
Montana slept with my husband and I slept in Andy’s bed.
Sierra slept on the floor, Nevada & Dakota slept on the sofa.
Day 3: Saturday, October 25, 2008
My husband took Dakota to soccer practice at 9:30 A.M. but the practice must have been canceled, a few people showed up but no coach.
It was a beautiful day so we took the kids to the Turtle Park in Albany.
There were turtle statues all around and one of the neatest statures was the large turtle made of cork.
The turtle was huge it was like climbing a mountain, it had a large head were the kids climbed onto for me to take pictures.
There were several different types of slides, swings, climbing equipment, and lots of other stuff.
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| Standing on a cork turtle |
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| Standing on a cork turtle |
Turtle Park was located next to the Roaring Flint River that was overflowing because of all the rain we had lately.
We walked across the street to the Ray Charles Plaza, where we saw a life-size statue of Ray Charles playing piano on a rotating pestle.
It was amazing, around him were piano keys and music notes.
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| Ray Charles Plaza |
The view from the park was amazing you could see the roaring Flint River and an old train trestle; you could see the Flint Riverqurium and the Civic Center.
We ate lunch at Riverfront Bar-B-Q 105 Broad Avenue, just across the street from the park.
We each ordered a barbecue sandwich, we spent $38.50.
We left the park and rode to Chewhaw Wild Animal Park Zoo.
Charity had given me $50.00 so, I bought a family pass to the zoo.
I also bought tickets for Boo at the zoo for that night the cost for six tickets was $19.25.
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| Chewhaw Wild Animal Park Zoo |
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| Chewhaw Wild Animal Park Zoo |
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| Chewhaw Wild Animal Park Zoo |
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| Chewhaw Wild Animal Park Zoo |
As we enter the park we were told to go to see the Cheetah exhibit.
We went to see the Cheetah’s they were amazing their speed and need to run.
We saw the red wolf, black rhinoceros, cheetah, black-and-white Colobus monkeys, four species of lemurs, and beautiful giant antelopes known as bongos.
We also saw a tiny duiker antelopes, Grants’ zebras, black bears, American bison, bobcat, and serval.
Zoo visitors can also enjoy the sight of birds such as the ibis, flamingoes, crowned cranes, ostriches, bald eagles, and the colorful trace.
The kids enjoyed watching the black bears run, play and one climbed a tree.
At the alligator outpost, we saw over two-dozen American alligators.
One especially large alligator caught our interest, at first sight, he looked liked fake, but he was not.
It looked like he had just eaten for his jaws were bulging.
Our last stop was at the reptile house were we saw Burmese python, bright blue and black poison dark frogs, such slithery wonders as the king snake, rattlesnake, and rat snake, as well as lizards.
There were several snakes in the same cage and were entwined with one another.
The rattlesnake looked like was waiting for his food for he was very active.
The zoo closed at 4:30 P.M. because they are getting ready for Boo at the Zoo.
So we went to the playground area until 6:30 P.M. at which time we are going back to the Zoo for Boo at the Zoo.
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| Boo at the Zoo |
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| Boo at the Zoo |
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| Boo at the Zoo |
Montana dressed as Spiderman, Nevada dressed as a Ninja, Sierra wore a long black dress and cape and Dakota wore a green hat.
Boo, at the Zoo, is the zooiest trick-or-treat in town!
We had a spooktacularly good time as the Zoo transformed into a traffic-free trick-or-treating merry-not-too-scary event.
It featured monster-ous thrills and chills Boo-Choo-Choo train rides, Goblin Games, Ghoulish Goodies, and the Trick or Treat Trail!
The kids played the goblin game, walked the trail with anticipation of finding ghoulish gobbling and treats along the way.
There was a cemetery with buried ghosts and there were goblins around every corner.
We stopped at Winn Dixie to get hotdogs for supper.
The kids spent the rest of the evening playing games and watching TV.
I downloaded the pictures that Sierra had taken that day.
Day 4: Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday morning, was church day for the kids, I had Dakota put Montana and Nevada into the bathtub, he helped them get ready for church.
While the kids were getting ready for church I cleaned the house.
At 10:00 A.M., I took the kids to church, made sure that there was someone from the church that was going to watch the kids until Andy & Charity arrived that afternoon.
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| Going to Church |
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| Going to Church |
We had to get back home, we stopped at Burger King in Albany for lunch.
We bought gas at Flash Foods in Pelham, Alabama.
In Athens we stopped at Wal-mart for gas $31.05, we ate supper at Cracker Barrel, we were home by 6:00 P.M.
Lora called, she said her dryer was broke, she wanted me to go with her to Ronald’s to dry her clothes.
This was the end of another nice vacation.
