2019 Jan 16-18, 🚙Trip to Gulf Shores , Fairhope, Orange Beach & Foley, Alabama

Jan 16, 2019, Wednesday,

Hubby and I traveled to Gulf Shores stopping at Jack’s Restaurant(1360 Hwy 43 West bypass Russellville) for breakfast. 

We both ordered a sausage and biscuits with strawberry jelly at 8:56AM and spent $7.06.

We ate lunch at KFC Thomasville at @1:17 p.m.

Hubby ordered a fillip box meal and I ordered a three-piece wings meal with biscuits (that I saved for the birds), we spent $13.46.

We stopped for gas at Marathon at Rams Food Mart 19039 43 hwy  Northport and spent $22.08

Arrived Gulf Shores just before sunset  4:45-5:14PM

We rode to the beach before checked-in at the hotel, to see the sunset. 

The moon came up before the sun went down and looked like a ball in the red sky.

Gulf Shores Sunset 

After the sun went down we rode to Staybridge Suites 3947 Gulf Shores Pky Gulf Shores, Al 36542. 

We booked for two nights cost $170,84 for room 114. 

Their computers were down and the night manager said we could join everyone in the dining room for grill night.

In the food bar were grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, Cole slaw, baked beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. 

I fixed a plate with hamburger potato salad, chips, and a glass of wine.

Dinner hamburger potato salad, chips, and a glass of wine.

There were fountain drinks, tea, and a variety of wines and beers.

We checked into our room 114 ground level and hubby took a long tub bath.

I stretched out on the bed and turned on the Television. My eyes were giving me a fit so I put eye drops in them. My eyes felt like something was in them, they hurt all night.

I must have gotten sand in them it was very windy when we went to the beach the night before.

Jan 17, Thursday, 

Hubby and I dressed and went to breakfast. I ate oatmeal with nuts, & cranberries and drank orange juice.

After breakfast hubby and I rode along hwy 98 scenic highway to Fairhope.

We stopped at Valence & Fairhope Municipal Parks located along the Coastal Highway.

We saw a statue of Maria Johnson, ducks & geese swimming, boats along the pier, blooming flowers, and lots of old trees.

Fairhope’s Municipal Pier, Fairhope’s Pepper Nelson Volunteer Fireman’s Hall, flower gardens, and yellow and white buttercups blooming.

Fairhope’s Pepper Nelson Volunteer Firetruck at Fairhope Museum 

We toured Fairhope’s History Museum outside we saw the People’s Railroad train car, roses in bloom, and a statue of Craig Turner Shelton the first public state artist in Alabama’s history. 

Fairhope’s Museum of History is located at 24 N. Section St Fairhope, Alabama 36532

Inside we saw permanent exhibits such as Fairhope’s founders, the single tax theory, the town jail built in 1868, the old fire department, fire truck, fire hydrant, fire hats, & coats.

Fairhope's historic jail inside the museum 

We saw a miniature, replica of Middle Bay Lighthouse, John Bowen, Maria Howard, Della Nichols, Shuah S. Mann, Clarence Mershon, and James Bellanger people of Fairhope.

We saw old push-mowers hanging from the ceiling.

We picked up some pamphlets from the Welcome Center next door.

We ate lunch at Greers in Fairhope.

We ordered three chicken fingers, corn fritters, green beans, and cornbread.

Our next stop was Daphne at the Little Bethel Baptist Church built in 1867 took a few pictures of the church and a Historic marker nearby.

Our next stop was at the US Sports Academy Walk of Fame Daphne where we sat in the metal of runners, baseball players, football players, basketball players, Swimmers, Weight lifters, Gymnasts, bikers, and golfers.

 US Sports Academy Walk of Fame Daphne  Baseball Player Statue 

We stopped at Daphne’s Gator Walk where we saw a nice wooden boardwalk lined with a marker that said: 

Where are you in the Watershed?

Exploration of Ecosystem

Slowing the flow of Storm Water

The Big Picture of the Ecosystem

It is all about the Alligator 

What is this building for?

Along the Eastern Shore Trail

We did not see any gators along the trail but we did see a few shorebirds.

After that long hot walk, we needed something to cool us down so we stopped at Jubilee Square at Krazy Frozen Treats for a waffle bowl of creamy flavored yogurt around noon.

We chose cheesecake, cookies, and cream.

Krazy Frozen Treats  scoop of Cookies & Cream and Cheesecake

We stopped at the Foley Train Depot to watch men run the miniature trains. (They only run at certain times during the week)

Included in the collection was a Ringling Bros & Barnum Big Top Circus, a mini train carrying circus items, a ferries wheel, (that worked), cloys with balloons, a lion cage, Roadside USA, a man shot out of a canon, a tattooed lady Lulu the farebeater cost fifty cents and elephants.

Ringling Bros & Barnum Big Top Circus

The miniature town consisted of Aqua Blue Drive-in diner that served fries and hamburgers, shakes, and soft drinks.

Advertisement on the windows that said Speeds Car Wash, green & white car sat next to Car Town (new, used, l& ease) Dealership. 

A tow truck sat in front and next to the railroad tracks, (Consoled gas and power), 76 Union Gas Station, two-story homes dogs, people walking, riding scooters, mail carries, a lineman working on the power lines, 

There were bridges factories, train stations, firehouses, and trains traveling in all directions on the many tracks.

We watched the trains until they closed.

We ate dinner at 5:00PM at Bubba’s Seafood House in Orange Beach.

Hubby and I split one CaptainsCaptainsCaptainsCaptains’ combo platter that consisted of Crab legs, grilled shrimp, chargrilled Mahi, Mahi served with corn on the cob, new potatoes, and garlic butter. 

We stopped at Rouses Market where we bought a Coke, Strawberry cream coffee cake, & three large cannolis.

Sitting in a Large Blue Chair outside Bubba’s Seafood House Orange Beach

Jan 19, Friday

The next morning we met Hannah at the Ruby Red Slipper Orange Beach before he headed home.

I ordered a stack of cinnamon toast.

Hubby ordered sausage, eggs potatoes, link sausage, and pancakes.

Hannah ordered bacon, eggs gravy, pancakes & coffee.

We finished breakfast around 8:30AM  and began our long ride home. $44.52

We filled up with gas at Love's $29.78 in Loxley, Al 

We stopped at CVS to get some eyewash my eyes were red, running, and burning.

I washed both eyes out with the eyewash and slept most of the way home.

stack of cinnamon toast

We stopped at Firehouse Subs in Athens we bought a large and medium steak sandwich, with a mushroom on wheat bread. $18.42

We stopped at Aldie in Athens to pick up  a few groceries spent @20.77

We had a great trip, ate breakfast with my granddaughter, and saw many sites.

Got sand in my eyes which burned every time I closed them. 

The Groundhog mishap

We had planted our vegetable garden in the early spring of 2013 and it was growing and producing nicely.

I started to notice leaves and beans missing like someone was picking them or something was eating them.
Early one morning I saw a groundhog and later that evening I saw him again, now I know where my vegetables were going, down the mouth of that groundhog.
Hubby and I both knew that groundhog had to go!

Hubby went to the gun shop near our home to buy a pellet gun in hopes of frightening or even killing the groundhog. 

After sitting and waiting every evening to kill the groundhog he decided to borrow a cage.

Days went by, but no groundhog. 

It has been almost a month with no capture of the groundhog I guess he is just too smart for us.

I decided to put some onions and carrots inside the cage.

The next morning (May 10, 2013, Friday) I peeked out the window to see if we had captured the groundhog, I could not see clearly because it was foggy because of the downpour of rain the night before.

To my amazement, there was an animal inside the cage.

I called hubby on my cell phone and said, “We have got him!” We’ve got what? The groundhog I said.

Later that day, after the fog had cleared, I decided to go visit the animal. 

The first time I saw him he was curled up in a ball so I could not see his face.

Later that day I went back to the cage, I wanted to take pictures of him,

I guess I frightened him because he hissed at me. 

He had a long tail, and a pointed nose, and was covered with fur.

I thought to myself he doesn’t look like a groundhog.

I emailed the picture to hubby, and he said that is not a groundhog but an opossum. Hubby said opossums are not a danger to our garden.

That night when he got home, he opened the cage door to let the opossum out.

The next day the opossum was still sitting inside the cage with the door open.

That evening when hubby came home he went to the cage to see why the opossum was still sitting inside the cage. 

The opossum’s tail was caught in the latch of the door and he could not get free.

Believe it or not but hubby reached inside and untangled the opossum's tail, the opossum just sat there for he did not realize he was free to leave the cage.

When he realized his tail was no longer caught he scurried away. 

We never saw the opossum again.

We did see the groundhog now and again for he had moved his burrow to the field behind our house. The field behind our house is covered in clover which the groundhog feasts on every day. 

Not to say the groundhog did not visit our garden now and then. 

Hubby never tried again to kill the groundhog.

On May 1, 2014, hubby was looking out the window, and guess what he saw? Another Groundhog.

We just planted our garden and I guess he is scouting it out for future food!!!!!!!

The groundhog hubby saw maybe the same one from last year or one of his offspring.

We seem to attract groundhogs because the first year that we planted a garden we had a groundhog, which was May 2005.

2005 was the year that hubby borrowed a shotgun and was going to shoot the groundhog. The groundhog was cute but working in the garden is hard work. 

Hubby would sit by the window every afternoon waiting for the groundhog to appear. Every time hubby shot at the groundhog he would miss. 

So after many tries to kill the groundhog, to no avail, hubby was ready to give up. 

But to our dismay on that day, as we were leaving the house, we saw the groundhog lying on the road. The irony of the story was the groundhog was too fast for a shotgun but too slow for a fast-moving car.

2016 November 9, Wednesday, Trip to Bridge Street and NASA

Ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and after breakfast went to CBS. 

After CBS, hubby and I rode to Huntsville. 

We shopped at Toyrus (love that store) (love to shop for little ones at Toyrus) and bought my G. Granddaughter a Dory dress, necklace, and bag. We rode to NASA to pick up the hubby's check and fill it up with gas. We stopped so I could take a few pictures. 

Redstone Test Site

Redstone Test Site

We rode back to Bridge Street to eat lunch at Cantina Laredo. We ordered Mexican chicken feta served with beans, rice, onions, peppers, and sour cream.  

We were also served salsa, & chips. 

Cantina Laredo

Cantina Laredo

Salsa

Chicken Feta

When we finished eating we walked down Bridge Street which was decorated for the Christmas Holidays. There will be a Christmas Lighting on November 11 at 4:30 PM. Their extra-large Christmas tree was already up, extra-large white reindeer were everywhere, Christmas lights were strung and many stores had Christmas window displays. 

White Reindeer

Christmas Tree

Christmas Decorations

We shopped at Old Navy and Cabela's we did not buy anything. We stopped at Kohles on our way out of Huntsville. I bought a new purse, a big red dog, and a Madeline doll. 

Hubby went to Family Vision to get his glasses repaired. We stopped at Aldi's for groceries. They had eggs at 49 cents a dozen, milk at 99 cents a gallon hams at $1.09 a pound. We bought several other items. 

Madeline and the Big Red Dog 

We stopped at Wendy's for a Chocolate Frosty. 

As we started our journey home the sun shone brightly on our faces. Hubby said I cannot get used to this time change. 

Sunset 

I wanted to get into the Christmas Spirit but with this crazy weather, it has been hard. It does not feel or seem like Christmas this year. We could sure use some cooler weather. I like seasonal change, winter, spring, summer, and autumn. 

2010 ~ Sunday, May 23, Bridge Street Centre with granddaughters

I took off two of my granddaughters, Sierra,& Madison, to Bridge Street Centre. 

I parked near the Red Robin Restaurant. 

Bridge Street is beautifully laid out and has a fountain, flower gardens, a variety of stores, a theater, restaurants, a bowling alley, and a hotel. The girls posed for several photos. 

Granddaughters posing for a picture

Granddaughters posing at the fountain 

Standing outside of the NASA store was a spacesuit from NASA. Each one of us put our faces inside the mask of the space and made pictures. 

We went inside the NASA store and looked around at the displays and we talked to the people in the NASA Store. 

NASA Suit 

The man inside the store said in August there will be a day where you can visit NASA.
There were many hands-on displays that the girls enjoyed.

Granddaughter with hands-on displays

We walked to the Apple store and we played on the new IPAD.

We stopped to use the restroom and check out the Station No 2 & The Melting Pot Restaurant.

The girls playing on the escalator 

The girls at the Station No 2 & The Melting Pot Restaurant

Standing at the gate of the Westin Hotel 

We walked into the Black and White Store.

We went to Barnes and Noble where I bought a book to take with me on the plane on my trip to California. (The Time Travelers book one of the Gideon Trilogy.) 

The girls at PF Changs

We went to the Chocolate Crocodile, we each bought a soda. 

It was over 100 + degrees so we were all thirsty. 

I gave the girls my last dollar to buy a Truffle. 

Enjoying a soft drink at the Chocolate Crocodile

Walking back to the car

We walked to the car and I drove us to Cracker Barrel in Madison, where we met hubby for dinner.

I ordered pinto beans, grilled chicken, cornbread, onion, and relish

Madison ordered shrimp, macaroni, and Cheese, with ice tea.

Sierra ordered fried Chicken fingers, macaroni, cheese, and a doctor pepper. 

Hubby ate a bacon cheeseburger and fried apples.

Later that day the girls and I swam in our pool until 8:30PM

Both girls spent the night.

🎄🎄🎄🎄2008 December 21, Sunday, Ivy Green, & Tusucmbia Art Museum in Tuscumbia, Alabama,

Ivy Green 

My husband and I toured Ivy Green the birthplace of Helen Keller. 

David and Mary Fairfax Moore Keller, the grandparents of Helen Keller, built the house in 1820. 

The main house is of Virginia cottage construction, with four large rooms on the first floor with a wide hall, each room has its own fireplace. 

The house was decorated for the holidays with Ivy, Holly, Pines, and other greenery from the grounds, it is amazing what you can use to decorate without a lot of costs. 

There were holly and cedar lying on the table in the parlor, there was a cedar tree beautifully decorated in the corner of the parlor, with magnolia leaves mixed with cedar in the fireplace and on the mantle. 

Ivy Green 

Ivy Green 

Helen’s picture was hanging on the wall, another one of her pictures of Helen at age seven was sitting on the table. 

There were a couple of Victorian chairs sitting in front of the fireplace on an oriental rug covering the hardwood floor. 

Across the hall was the master bedroom where Arthur and Kate Keller slept. 

There was a bed with a high-carved headboard covered with a quilt made by Eveline Keller over one hundred years old. 

There was clothing hanging in the wardrobe of Helen and Mrs. Keller’s. 

On the floor was a Chinese rug given to Helen in 1949 by Hajji Baba Club. 

There was holly, Magnolia, and cedar lying on the fireplace mantle and a picture of Helen age thirteen. 

Ivy Green  

There was a netting basket sitting next to a rocker, a small table with a lamp, an umbrella standing next to the fireplace, another table with a picture sitting inside a bowl. 

The stairs leading to the two bedrooms upstairs were lined with ivy. 

Pictures of Helen and her parents were on the walls in the hall. 

Ivy Green 

The boy’s room was to your right, a trunk room in the middle, and Helen’s room to the left.  All the floors were hardwood coved by large rugs. 

In the dining room sitting on the table were a centerpiece of pine, cedar, holly, and apples and a set of China. Above the fireplace was Magnolia leaves around candelabras, a silver teapot set was sitting on the sugar chest, and the Jackson Press held the silver, linens, and beverages. 

Ivy Green 

Across from the dining room was where Helen’s aunt Eveline Keller slept, but now used as Helen’s Museum. 

Helen’s museum room houses some of Helen’s Braille books, a US stamp with Helen and Anne Sullivan, a bust of Helen, several pictures of Helen at different ages, and many artifacts. 

There is a bronze plate of Helen with a saying, To be blind is to see the bright side of life Helen Keller.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller

Outside was the kitchen and house cleaner’s quarters; there was the pump where Helen said her first word, “Water.” 

WATER

There was a carriage house, and the cottage, where Helen’s toys were displayed.

It had doll carriage, a child rocker, larger rocker, chest, small doll bed, and the picture inside a bowl and a kerosene lamp. In the bedroom, it has a four-poster bed, baby bed, fireplace, another rocker, and a fireplace. 

Ivy Green 

My husband had never seen Helen’s home, I had seen it several times.

My dad had gotten an old trunk from the Keller estate when I was just a small girl, inside of the trunk was a fairytale book, which I read from cover to cover and was lost when we moved to Florence.

We walked across the street to the Tuscumbia Art Museum where we viewed nine, twelve foot Christmas trees that were decorated by different groups, to capture the season.

Delta goes green by the Delta Sigma Theta: their theme was white Angles. 

The Christmas tree is Celebrating 100 years of 4-H: decorated by the 4-H Colbert and Franklin Counties. 

Their tree was decorated with several of the 4-h emblems, and their theme color was green with a green skirt and white button up top shirt from the 1950s.

Just Beachy by Pam Wright:

Pam’s theme was cool colors with sunglasses, flip-flops and other items you would see on the beach.

For unto you are born this day by Leta Mathews and Van Brown:

Their theme color was gold, & silver with twinkling lights, the manger scene, the wise men, and the worshipping of baby Jesus. 

There goes Santa Clause by Janet Cochran:

Theme color was red and white with Santa’s boots sticking out of the chimney, and Santa’s of all shape and sizes covering the tree, Santa’s sack, and presents under the tree.

Unsung Heroes by DAR:

Their tree was decorated with a fire truck, and the tree was wrapped with notes for our heroes.

Uniquely Yours by American Cancer Society and Bosom Buddies support group; 

Their theme was pink, with pink and silver balls hanging on the tree. 

White bears and presents wrapped in pink and white.

The arts of home by: 

UNA’s Department of human and environmental sciences; are many colors with a woman and her umbrella on top. The tree was decorated with things that you would find in a home.

Last, I love to read by WA Threadgill Primary School. 

Their theme color was multicolor with educational toys, books all over the tree and under the tree. 

There was Clifford the big red dog, pooh and many other characters.    

My husband talked to the curator while I took pictures of all the trees

They will be on display until December 24, 2008.