🏛Visiting Mystic Seaport Village Museum Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.

The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT, and include a recreated 19th-century coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America’s oldest commercial ship still in existence.

L.A. Dunton Ship
Built in 1921, she is the last ship afloat of her type, which was once the most common sail-powered fishing vessel sailing from New England ports. In service in New England waters until the 1930s and Newfoundland into the 1950s. 

Joseph Conrad Rigged Ship
Joseph Conrad is an iron-hulled sailing ship, originally launched as Georg Stage in 1882 and used to train sailors in Denmark. 

Brant Point Lighthouse
Brant Point Light is a lighthouse located on Nantucket Island. The station was established in 1746, automated in 1965, and is still in operation.

Restoring the Charles P. Morgan Ship
Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship built in 1841 whose active service period was during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships of this type were usually used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil, which was commonly used in lamps.

Figure Heads
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 20th centuries.

Thomas Oyster House
Thomas Oyster House is one of the few remaining buildings that could be classified as a typical small northern oyster house. The building was constructed about 1874 at City Point, New Haven, Connecticut, by Thomas Thomas. New Haven once was the largest oyster distribution center in New England; now there is only one oyster-opening shop left in this state, that of the Bloom Brothers in South Norwalk.

Mystic Bank
The office of a shipping merchant is represented on the second floor of the Mystic Bank. In the larger seaports, some merchants specialized in operating ships.

Thames Keel &Ship Building Exhibit
The 92-foot keel assembly from the whaleship Thames is set up on blocks in a shed within the Preservation Shipyard. The keel is the “backbone” and the starting point for the construction of a ship and so, displayed along the entire length of the keel, is an exhibit on the process of shipbuilding that takes visitors from the laying of the keel to her launching.

Mystic River Scale Motel 

Visiting Mystic Seaport

Stonington Crew
John Flaherty, president of Friends of Stonington Crew, the nonprofit fundraising support for the team, which receives minimal funding from the school department, thanked everyone in attendance, as well as Mystic Seaport for again hosting the team on its docks. He said the team would not be able to compete at the level it does without the support of its donors.

Roann Florence Western Rig Dragger
Roann is one of the last surviving examples of the fishing vessels that replaced sailing schooners like the Museum’s L.A. Dunton. The eastern rig draggers originated in the 1920s; indeed, Thomas McManus, who designed the Dunton, was influential in their development.

Mystic Pizza a Slice of Heaven 🍕🍕🍕🍕

Kat and Daisy are sisters and rivals: Kat studies astronomy works at the planetarium in the famous Whaling Museum of The Mystic Seaport, as well as the restaurant, and has been accepted to attend Yale University on a partial scholarship. Daisy just wants to find love through lust while trying to get out of Mystic. Kat is the apple of her Portuguese mother's eye, while Daisy is not because her mother feels she is wilder and is not as goal-oriented as her younger sister.

Mystic Pizza History

THE DAY HOLLYWOOD CAME TO TOWN……

Incredibly, Mystic Pizza caught the eye of screenwriter Amy Jones, who was summering in the area. Ms. Jones chose Mystic Pizza as the focus and setting of her story of the lives and loves of three waitresses. The movie was filmed on location in Mystic and the neighboring towns. “Mystic Pizza was released in 1988 and was a hit, even Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up.

Enjoying a slice of Heaven @ Mystic Pizza 🍕🍕🍕

Visiting Botanical Gardens 🌹🌸🌼🌷🌻

💐 🌷Bellingrath Botanical Gardens Theodore 2002 with hubby
Touring Bellingrath Gardens and Home means experiencing 65 acres of year-round beauty. Within this beautiful estate are gardens and landscapes that showcase their own specific variety of wonder

💐 🌷Huntsville Botanical Gardens 2006 with daughter *& granddaughter 

💐 🌷Huntsville Botanical Gardens 1997

💐 🌷Birmingham Botanical Gardens with hubby 2013

💐 🌷Taking a trolley ride through the Norfolk Botanical Gardens 1996

💐 🌷US Botanical Gardens in Washington DC with my grandson in 2002
It’s balmy year-round inside the U.S. Botanic Garden on the National Mall. Considered a living museum of plants, the lavish garden rooms are housed inside a glass Conservatory. Exhibits range from plants native to Hawaii and tropical territories, deserts, medicinal plants, orchids, and a Children’s Garden. The museum is free and opens every day of the year from dawn until dusk.

💐 🌷Birmingham Botanical Gardens with granddaughter & daughter  2009

The Gardens' 67.5 acres contain more than 25 unique gardens, 30+ works of original outdoor sculpture, and miles of serene paths. The Gardens features the only public horticulture library in the U.S., conservatories, a wildflower garden, two rose gardens, the Southern Living garden, and Japanese Gardens with a traditionally crafted tea house.

💐 🌷Norfolk Botanical Gardens with sibling 2010
The Norfolk Botanical Gardens offer many different signature and theme gardens for guests to stroll around, such as the Virginia Native Plant Garden, the BBristolButterfly Garden, and the Enchanted Forest.

💐 🌷Creation Museum Botanical Gardens 2016
The Creation Museum’s beautifully themed gardens and three-acre lake invite guests to enjoy more than a mile of paved and accessible trails. Crossover five bridges and view a variety of waterfalls as you explore the Koi Pond, Carnivorous Bog Garden, Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden, Rainforest Garden, a mining sluice, and more.

💐 🌷Huntsville Botanical Gardens 2016
Huntsville Botanical Garden is an oasis of calm and tranquility. The garden has winding roads surrounded by trees, flowers, streams, and waterfalls.

💐 🌷Callaway Botanical Gardens 2013
Callaway Gardens is a 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) resort complex located in Pine Mountain, Georgia, just outside Columbus, Georgi

💐 🌷Dothan Area Botanical Gardens with grandkids 2008
the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens consists of 50 acres of cultivated gardens, nature trails, and an undeveloped, wooded landscape.

2005 March 29, An Early Works Adventure with grandkids

🍕🍕🍕The family enjoyed a Meatlovers Pizza topped with classic marinara sauce, authentic old-world pepperoni, all-natural Italian sausage, slow-roasted ham, applewood smoked bacon, & smoked pork and beef  from Pizza Hut 

Shopping at the Grocery Store

Learning the art of Ginning cotton.
The earliest versions of the cotton gin consisted of a single roller made of iron or wood and a flat piece of stone or wood. A narrow single roller was necessary to expel the seeds from the cotton without crushing their seeds. 

Having fun at the Water Table.

EarlyWorks Children Museum was designed for children where they can touch, climb, pull, and explore.

Listening to the Talking Tree
Talking trees form sapient trees in mythological stories. According to Greek mythology in Avatar,  The tree of souls, besides being a connection to Eywa.

Exploring 

Trying on Clothing inside the Federal House

Taking a wagon ride, formerly called a wain, and one who builds or repairs wagons is a Wainwright.  A wagon usually has  four wheels used for agricultural purposes and to transport people,

Playing the Giant-Size Banjo at the Alabama Band Stand
the banjo is often associated with country, folk, Irish, and bluegrass music.

Trade Day at the General Store where you can buy items such as milk, bread, and various household goods such as hardware and electrical supplies. 

Sitting in the Chicken Coop 

A chicken coop or hen house is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside hen houses are often nest boxes for egg-laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features.

A chicken coop usually has an indoor area where the chickens sleep and nest as well as an outdoor area where chickens will feed and spend the majority of the day. Inside the chicken coop are dropping boards or litter (such as straw) to collect chicken feces. A chicken coop should be cleaned every two to three weeks and the litter shifted every day, like a cat's litter box. A coop should be locked at night with all the chickens inside of it so that the chickens are protected from predators.

A coop may have an outdoor run. Both the inside and outdoor floors of a chicken coop are often strewn with loose material such as straw or wood chips to deal with chicken droppings and to allow for easier cleanup.

Karaoke Time singing into the microphone 

Exploring the 46-foot Keeled riverboat that may be rowed, poled, or towed full of freight.
Fur trading included fox, mink, ermine, otters, sable, seals, coyotes, chinchillas, raccoons, and possums.

Ready to Blow up something

Stopping at Sonic-Drive-in for an icy treat  a Blue Raspberry Nerd Slushy  

A Sonic Slushy 
Slush is made with a mixture of sugar and water. To prevent the mixture from freezing solid, there must be between 12% - 22% of sugar present in the solution. The sugar acts as an antifreeze in the solution. The slush machine stirs or rotates the mixture at a constant speed so that the sugar and water molecules bond together before the water gets a chance to freeze. In this way, a soft, wet slurry mixture is formed.

🚙2017 January 31, Tuesday, Day Trip to Guntersville

We left home around 9:00AM, stopping at Helping Hands Clinic for a B-12 shot.

We stopped at Foodland to get a Diet Coke and a Diet Mt Dew canned drink out of the vending machine.

Next, we stopped at Dollar General for a package of Fig Newtons made with real fruit and no high fructose corn syrup only 110 calories.

Being later in the morning traffic was not too bad as we rode north-west on I565 to 231 NW into Guntersville.

Our first stop was at the small Guntersville Airport to visit the Homer B. Wilson Vintage Museum but no one was there.

Glover Hotel
built 1933 by Campbell Wallace Glover sold in the 1950s and used as Dept of Pensions and Securities for 15 years.  In 1987 sold to George Kappler, and he opened a restaurant that now is for sale.

As we rode through Guntersville we noticed many of the old store buildings were remodeled and occupied. The Glover Hotel (built around 1950) was up for sale.

Abraham Lincoln Display Timeline

We rode to 1215 Rayburn Ave to the Guntersville Museum & Cultural Center (once the Rock Armory)

The museum is a unique historical setting with permanent collections as well as current exhibits. The museum is free to visit it is open to the public Tuesday-Friday 10-4PM Saturday & Sunday 1-4PM.

The door is locked from the inside and you have to ring a bell for service.

You are greeted by a curator of the museum, given a little history of the museum, and the location of each exhibit, and told you can visit all day if you want to.

Once inside the walls were covered with plaques about the history of Guntersville.

 There was a boat on display that represented all the activities that one can do on Lakes Guntersville. We saw Crusader, the Mechanical wonder Horse on which many a child had ridden. We saw a sign advertising "Bargains Days every Tues. and Wed. Adm "10 & 15 cents" including tax along with adjoining theater seats.

We saw an old spinning wheel, piano, trophy from Boat Race, wooden benches, a character readings machine, a fire hose cart, and a cardboard copy of Will Rodgers (He is the grandson of John Gunter, a namesake of Guntersville's).

The next rooms were TVA and the making of the land, This one is for the birds, a view of the past with Native American artifacts, local art, and famous sons and daughters of Guntersville. 

The grand room was a display about the life of Abraham Lincoln with a cardboard life-size statue of Abraham and a sculptured head inside a glass case.

We stopped to visit the Culbert Cabin next door to the Guntersville Museum and across the street was the Guntersville Theater.

Guntersville Theater

Chicken Plate (3 chicken fingers, coleslaw, biscuits, Chocolate chip cookie, and a drink) 

I shared a chicken dinner with Colonel Sanders at KFC

We traveled along 227 into Guntersville State Park passing through Short Creek, Hurricane Creek, Town Creek, and Minky Creek. We stopped at the lagoon in the state park to visit the donkeys, emus, goats, and ducks.

We stopped along the waterways to take pictures of Mabrey's Rock of Ages, Guntersville Lake, and the waterfowl. (saw no Eagles)

Mabrey's Rock of Ages

There were hundreds of ducks bobbing in the water

We stopped to take a picture of a deer. He looked right at us turned around and began grazing. He knew we would not shoot him.

We continued climbing the mountain to the top stopping at the State Park Lodge, and chalets overlooking Lake Guntersville.

I walked down to a rest area to take pictures of the view below. There I meet a woman eating her lunch. She said her husband had gone fishing and she was going to enjoy the day at the park.

She said before the tornado came through this area that you could not see the RV Park or the camping Area below. I also saw a couple Zip-lining. 

View of Campground from the Guntersville Lodge atop the mountain

Our last stop before starting home was Bucks Pocket State Park which is located on Sand Mountain in the community of Oak Grove. 

The road and picnic area had seen better days. The fencing around the cliffs was well and the view was awesome  Right now the thousands of trees below are necked and bare but in the fall will be vivid with color.

Sunsetting over the Rocket at the Space and Rocket Center Huntsville 

The sun was setting as we traveled into Huntsville and before we reached Athens it was pitch black.

We could see the stars above and a crescent moon.

We ordered a to-go meal from Taco Bell.

It had been a beautiful day, not too hot or too cold, a perfect day for traveling and hiking in the State Parks.