🚗2017 July 18, Tuesday, Day Trip to Discovery Park of America Union City, Tennessee

We took Highway 20, crossing into Tennessee at Highway 69 through Savannah, turning on hwy 22 to Lexington, Parkers Crossing, Clarksburg, Huntingdon, McKenzie, Dresden, and Martin to Union City, TN.

Lexington, Tn

Clarksburg, TN 

Huntington, TN

McKenzie, TN

Gleason, TN 

House in Dresden, TN

We made a quick stop at Parker's Crossing to take some pictures of the Civil War Site.

(Need to return to visit here)

The Battle of Parker's Crossroads 

We purchased our tickets at Discovery Park of America around 11AM.

We walked inside an earthquake simulator where we experienced the recreation of Reelfoot Lake.

The Legend of Reelfoot Lake

The lake is named for a clubfooted Indian Chief of the Chickasaw Tribe. The chief is blamed in the legend for the earthquake that caused the lake. Chief Reelfoot was in love with an Indian maiden who lived further south along the Mississippi River. She repulsed his offer of marriage because of Reelfoot's clubfoot. In revenge, he set out with some of his braves in canoes, raided her father's camp at night, and kidnapped the girl. 

Medicine men bitterly disapproved of Reelfoot's act and predicted it would bring disaster to his people. Their predictions were fulfilled, the legend says, by the earthquake that wiped out the tribe and formed the lake.

We spent 40 minutes in the Starship Theater, where we journeyed through space. It was an interactive movie where people in the audience could participate as engineers, scientists, or pilots.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the Cafe, where I ordered chicken fingers, chips, and a drink.

Hubby ordered a dressed hamburger, tater tots, and a drink.

After lunch, we rode the elevator up to the Tower. The tower is an observation deck where you can see both sides of the park and miles around Union City, TN.

Children's Exploration, Energy, Enlightenment, Military, Native Americans, Natural History, Regional History Science, Space & Technology, Transportation, and Made in Tennessee

It also has a glass floor, which I am not fond of.

Natural History 

Made in Tennessee

Car Museum

Science, Space, & Technology

Energy

Children's Exploration Slide

We only visited one side of the park, where we saw Freedom Square, The Chapel, The Depot, and Stem Landing.

The Chapel and Depot 

Freedom Square

Stem Landing

We took a different route home.

We traveled through Newburn, Dyersburg, Friendship, Alamo, Bells, Jackson, Finger, Savannah, and Walnut Grove, TN.

Construction Union City, TN 

Savannah, TN 

Walnut Grove, TN 

Henderson, TN

We stopped at Catfish Cabin in Jackson, TN, for dinner.

We split a seafood platter and fried green tomatoes.

The trip took about three and a half hours. We spent about five hours at the museum and another three and a half hours at home. We were home around 8:30 p.m.

We will have to go another day to see the rest of the park, visit Reelfoot Lake, and stop at the Tennessee Safari Bells, TN.  

The end of another day trip.

Growing up in the Shoals

Earline in Story-Land was enjoyed by many children in the Shoals Area, including myself, for over 22 years.
All I remember about Earline Burns was her television show and where she lived.
Both my grandparents lived in Sheffield, and one of my grandparents went to Church not too far from Earline's house.
We moved to Florence in 1962, sometimes, when we would travel to Sheffield, we would go by  Earline's house on Hatch Blvd., but most of the time, we would travel down Second Street.
I remember seeing her blue Cadillac Convertible sitting in front of her small pink house, which had been torn down.
My parents lived in downtown Sheffield when they married and moved to Tuscumbia when I was about 2 1/2.
Entertainment was watching a movie on the big screen either at the Theater or a Drive-in.
I saw many movies at the Colbert Theater, Tuscumbia Theater, Norwood Theater, Shoals Theater, Wilson Drive-In, and Joy-Land Drive-In.
My siblings and I would walk to the Shoals Theater during the summer months and watch a movie for ten cents.
I was always small for my age and could get into the theater for the cost of a child long after I was passed that age.
I remember Buck's night at the Drive-In.
We would go around the neighborhood, filling the car full of neighborhood kids.
We could all get into the movies for one dollar a carload.

I don't remember listening to the radio, but we did own a black-and-white TV.
Dad worked for Mr. Hensley Jarrett, hauling large power poles. Our TV Antenna was atop one of those tall poles. I remember the pole had spikes and Dad climbing to the top to install the Antenna and the wires running into the house to the rabbit ears sitting atop the TV.
We could pick up all the local channels.

We watched shows like Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Bob Hope Show, Calling All Cars, The Cisco Kid, Death Valley Days, Dragnet,  & The Lone Ranger.
Since I never listened to the radio, I did not know that many of the television shows that I watched were once live radio shows.

Many famous people came to the Shoals in those early years, but growing up in the Shoals, they were just another face in the crowd.

When I was a teenager, just turned sixteen,  I worked at Shockley's Pancake House, which was across the street from Holiday Inn, where many of the famous entertainers stayed when they were in town.

I served the Four Seasons, and I  had no clue who they were.
As a working girl who never listened to the radio, I had no clue who came into our restaurant.

Now that I am older, I am learning so much about the Shoals Area that I have been a part of.

I walked the streets of Florence, Sheffield, & Tuscumbia, and  I spent many hours at Spring Park.

I remember Dad bringing home a trunk that he had gotten from the Helen Keller Home that had been thrown away.
It had several books inside the trunk, one was a Blue Hard Back Brothers Grimms Fairy Tale Book.
I read that book many times.
When we moved to Florence in the early 1960s, the Fairy Tale Book must have been thrown away because I never saw it again.

I remember going to Spring Park, riding the train, and playing on all the playground equipment, which was like an amusement park.
There was a swimming pool just up the street, and inside the park was a large wading pool.
The park fell into disarray for many years, and its glory days are gone forever.

I remember the Liberty's & A & P Supermarkets where mom shopped, they gave S & H Green Trading Stamps, Plaid Stamps, and Top Value Stamps just for shopping at their stores.
When collected into multiple books, we would take them to the Trading stamp store for merchandise.

So many things we no longer have as time changes.
We now have a cell phone, no sharing party lines, and phones hanging on the wall.
We no longer use an outhouse, we now have portlets.
We no longer have to heat the house up to cook, we have a microwave and convection ovens.
We no longer use glass, everything comes in plastic.

Gasoline is no longer 100% and costs 25 cents a gallon.
A new Corvette fully loaded costs over 80,000 dollars.

In the next twenty years, many will be living in Space.

One hundred years sounds like a lifetime.
When I was a kid, I thought 30 was old, now, one hundred doesn't sound quite that old.

🎄🎄🎄🎄2015 ~ December 7, Monday, Christmas & Cards Trees, Library & Space Center

I went to the Chiropractor, for an adjustment before begin gin my journey or walking in Huntsville and Madison. 

We stopped at Chick-fil-a in Athens for lunch

I ordered some chicken nuggets and a drink. 

We rode through Christmas Card Lane in downtown historic Madison.

List of the Christmas Cards 

• Behold I Bring you good news of Great Joy.
• Birth of Christ Christmas Card
• Birth of Christ  
• Church in the snow 
• Church in the snowy woods
• Happy Christmas
• Joy to the World Let Heaven and Nature Sing
• Let it snow 
• Madison CHY Youth Orchestra
• Mele Kalikimakal Christmas Card
• Merry Christmas ! Madison
• Merry Christmas w/reindeer
• Merry Christmas w/women 
• Merry Christmas, Mele Kalikimaka, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad
• Noel 
• Peace on Earth w/dog and cat
• Peace To all Creatures great and small
• Poinsettia
• Reason for the Season
• Santa and his Christmas packages
• Santa eating cookies and his elves
• Santa Merry Christmas w/santa & reindeer
• Season’s Greetings w/Santa in sleigh 
• Shepard, Angles and Jesus
• Snow globe
• Thank You for Visiting Christmas Card Lane
• Toy Shop
• Truck caring home Christmas Tree
• We wish you a Merry Christmas
• You're Cool Christmas Card

We saw Christmas trees in Madison where people of the community had decorated to express their own creativity or to promote their business.  

We rode to the Huntsville/Madison Library to take pictures of the Christmas trees distributed throughout the library. 

We saw trees decorated with round paper lace cup mats with notes attached, A tree with jester hat, wearing sunglasses covered in cotton, lights, sticks made into Xs, and covered in toys. Another wrapped in green ribbon,and gold bows, with bugles, colored ball lights. 

A Autism Tree full of christmas balls inside picture of a child, puzzle pieces, ornaments, trimmed in red and gold ribbon. A christmas tree covered in hats, gloves and scars. We saw a tree made out of books and another covered in Christmas Cards. We saw a Christmas Tree from Friends of the Library, and Huntsville Herb Society.We saw a completely white christmas tree trimmed with red and gold rope and electrical lights. A tree trimmed with pink, blue, gold ribbons, and balls. There were many more trees that we saw, I could not describe them all.

HO!HO! HO!(Santa resting after a night of delivering presents)

Thank you for Visiting Christmas Card Lane!(Saying good-by to the last Christmas Card)

Christmas Trees of Madison 

MAC Snowman in the Christmas Trees of Madison 

I also stopped to take pictures of the artistic quilts hanging from the second floor. 

I also saw a display of Doctor Who! Doctor was standing next to the Police Public Call Box.

Police Telephone Free for use of Public 

Advice & Assistance immediately officers & cars respond to all calls pull to open. 

 There was a man sitting next to the display and I ask if he knew Doctor Who? He replied WHO?

We rode to Big Spring Park where we walked the Tinsel Trail of over 200 Christmas Trees.

There were a few trees waiting to be decorated while others were getting the finishing touch put upon them. 

Christmas music filled the air, as we walked along the path, while the sun shone brightly but not too hot. 

It was a perfect day for strolling through the park. 

We were greeted by gold fish, ducks and geese wanting to be feed. 

Christmas Tree at Huntsville Madison County Library 

Quilt Display at Huntsville Madison County Library 

The many faces of Doctor Who?

Ducks, gold fish 

Star Wars May the Force Be with you!

Big Spring Park Tinsel Trail of Christmas Trees

Big Spring Park Tinsel Trail of Christmas Trees

We went to the Space and Rocket Center where we saw Science Fiction, Science Future (where I was beamed up into space) Beam me up Scotty! I stood inside a teleportation machine while my husband at the control panels beamed me into outer space. 

We walked through the U. S. Space and Rocket Center’s latest exhibit, the Celestial Dreams, The Art of Space Jewelry, showcased by the artist Kathy Chan. She uses precious gems, minerals and metals to interpret her genuine wonder of the cosmos in her jewelry. Her display will be on display until May 2016.

Last but not least, there was a movie being made with R2D2.

We had been waiting for the movie maker to come out of the room where he was making the move and he ask if I wanted my picture with R32D2 and I said yes. 

I hope to be in the finished production of the movie.

Wow! What a day! 

I said to the movie producer that Star Wars was my middle sons favorite movie. 

There was a man controlling the sounds that R2D2 made, he made the same sounds that he did in the Star War movies. 

The film will be screened at the U.S. Space and rocket Center’s IMAX theater to promote the new Star Wars, The Force Awakens. 

Wow!!!

Beam me up Scotty!

I saw myself Inside the Time Machine

The Art of Space Jewelry

Cosmic Calendar for December

R2D2

88 Buffet Seafood Sushi Hibachi 

88 Buffet Seafood Sushi Hibachi 

We ate dinner at 88 Buffet Seafood Sushi Hibachi, that is an all-you-can-eat oriental buffet with a variety of different meats,seafood, vegetables and you can watch the chef create your dish right before you eyes.

We had a great day, good food, friendly faces, and a beautiful day. 

🚀🚀🚀1997 ~Jake and Hannah's Adventures at the Space & Rocket Center Huntsville, Alabama

Every year I would purchase the grandparents membership to Space and Rocket Center.

When my grandchildren came to visit I would take there, they loved going to the Space Center.

The grandchildren were thrilled to watch the movie that was showing at the I-Max theater.

We saw the US Air Force Spy Plane that flew coast to coast in less than 68 minutes it was called Blackbird and it sat in front of the Space Center.

There was a playground for the little ones and a Simulator where you feel the sensation of weightlessness.

There were displays of rockets, boosters, capsules, space suits used in NASA missions over the years and a summer space camp.

We would take the bus to Marshall Space Flight Center, to watch the construction of NASA's new space station.

We learned about Huntsville's role in the making of the moon rocket, the space race, the Apollo missions, we learn about the Space Shuttle program, the International Space Station and the beginnings with NASA's Constellation project.

 We saw the Saturn V, the 476 foot long. 90 foot wide and a 63-foot high spaceship that went into space and was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. 

In total NASA launched thirteen Saturn V rockets with no loss of payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a height, weight, and payload standpoint.

We saw Apollo 16 Casper,& the Apollo boilerplate which tested the launch escape system in the New Mexico desert at White Sands Missile Range. 

We saw the Lunar Module Apollo 16 LM, Sky-lab the first space station, the Pathfinder, the Liberty Bell 7-the lost spaceship, we saw Gus Grissom’s space suit, the Lunar Lander exhibit, and MMU and Spacesuit, etc.

My grandchildren were amazed at the size of the spaceships, at all the displays of history about space, and they enjoyed all the hands-on activities.

Space and Rocket Center has a space camp program where children learn about space and participate in space activities and sometimes we would stop and watch.

Once at Space Camp, we watched a man in a scuba suit swimming in a tank of water.

At the end of our trip, I would let each grandchild pick something from the gift shop. 

Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake at the Space and Rocket Center

 Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

 Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

 Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center

Jake and Hannah at the Space and Rocket Center