Sometimes You See the Strangest Things

I love finding quirky things when I travel. Route 66 through Oklahoma was a treasure trove of quirk. In fact, the travel guide we followed for those two trips included “big alerts” for things like giant pop bottles or the worlds tallest totem pole made out of concrete. Of course we stopped to see everybody one. Today we found two pretty quirky sites right here in southern Alabama: Bamahenge and The Lady of the Lake.  Along with these two “sculptures” were assorted dinosaurs, knights in the woods, spiders and a fountain topped by King Neptune.

Here’s a little background information. George W. Barber JR. is considered to be one of the wealthiest men in Alabama. He was the heir to Barber Dairy which he sold in 1998. He was a race car driver and a car enthusiast. When he sold the dairy and retired he began to build the worlds largest collection of motorcycles which eventually became a museum in Birmingham. He also built the Birmingham Motorsports Park, a racetrack dedicated to developing race car drivers.  At his museum and race park he also began to collect strange sculptures ( www.barbermuseum.org) . Around 2008 Mr. Barber began to build the Barber Marina south of Elberta, AL, on the shore of Wolf Bay.  For years Ken and I would see this giant metal building when we would take our annual dolphin tour. About 4 years ago the name went up on the side of the building.  It was the warehouse for Barber Marina. Mr. Barber expanded his strange sculpture collection on and around the marina. According to    https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/36349 the  sculptor Mark Cline received a request from Mr. Barber for a replica of Stonehenge to be built on his property. The resulting sculpture  was christened Bamahenge. Having been to the real Stonehenge I can say it’s a nice replica but it doesn’t replace the real thing. However, it was a peaceful spot in the middle of the piney Bama Woods.


A few years later Mr. Barber’s assistant called Cline and said that Mr. Barber wanted a 50 foot sculpture of a lady. Not the entire lady, just her head and knees. And he wanted her to float. Cone puzzled over this but finally settled on building her core out of foam and covered her in fiberglass. Her face was modeled after Sara Evans and Catherine Zeta-Jones. When she was complete Mr. Barber decided to install his Lady of the Lake in his newly completed Marina basin. She is visited by dolphin boats and curious folks like me.


We left Barber’s and drove to Foley where we ate lunch at Stacey’s Rexall Drugs. This is a 1927 drugstore complete with an authentic soda fountain. We had sandwiches but did not partake of the ice cream.  It looked delicious though and was served in old fashioned ice cream dishes.

We ended our day with a quick shopping trip to The Orange Beach store and Matt’s Ice Cream. Dinner followed dessert and consisted of my delicious shrimp creole made with our favorite  Lartigues steamed shrimp.

This has been an odd week for us with crummy weather, bad restaurant meals, a lackluster dolphin cruise and Ken having a terrible cold. I think we were both grateful for today and have our fingers crossed for one last wonderful day at the beach tomorrow.

Drives and Books and Beaches and Storms

I haven’t written in awhile.  The promised posts about our Route 66 adventures got lost in funerals, school and time.  Maybe I’ll come back to that someday. It was an interesting trip. On our drive down to Alabama this past weekend I was reading some of my blogs from trips gone by. It was interesting to read them because I’ve forgotten bits and pieces of detail.  The memories are there but they are big picture, lacking all the small details that make a trip worthwhile. My blog posts brought back some of the minutiae.  Today, sitting on the balcony of our rented condo, I read some of my dear friend Stacey’s blog articles again.  She’s a fantastic writer and I’ve really enjoyed reading her blog this past year. But, the side effect is comparing my writing to hers...not even in the same ballpark but I’m going to plow ahead ( two lame metaphors in one sentence) and write anyway.
Our drive down was long, uneventful and pleasant. I always marvel at how the culture changes as you drive south. Not just the way the language slides into a southern drawl but how the houses and towns and restaurants change. There are still a few vestiges of the sharecropper days with minuscule, ramshackle houses dotting the landscape.  Every town has at least three churches: Baptist, AME and Pentecostal. Every once in awhile there might be a Catholic Church as well.  Cafes offer fish fries.  Convenience stores sell boiled peanuts in a vat by the door.  I’ve yet to try them.

Our first night on the road was spent in Jackson, Mississippi. I’ve read the book “The Help” several times and practically have the movie memorized. You might remember that it takes place in Jackson although modern day Jackson looks nothing like it did in the 1960s. Then there’s the Johnny Cash-June Carter song “Jackson” so of course I was singing that song in my head all day and thinking about Abileen, Skeeter and Minnie. I would’ve loved driving over to the Fondren neighborhood to eat at Brent’s Drug. However,  Ken was afraid he’d have to eat some of Minnie’s pie if we did so we just skipped dinner.  Our hotel was the beautiful Old Capitol Inn in downtown Jackson.  We must’ve received an upgrade because we had a lovely one bedroom suite. The inn is just down the street from the original capitol building. It dates back to pre-Civil War and was spared by Sherman’s Army. Behind the inn is the brand new Mississippi History and Civil Rights Museums. I would love to come back and spend a day or two in Jackson just to visit these museums.

Saturday we took our time and moseyed down to Orange Beach. We only drove through one tiny rain shower, quite a change from previous years. We arrived at our condo a few minutes early so we walked over to the snack bar, bought a drink and said hello to th Gulf with a toast. I’ve been a little apprehensive about our condo since booking it. You just never know how accurate VRBO is and we chose a one bedroom this time as opposed to our usual two bedroom. We were pleasantly surprised. It is very nice and really just right for two. It isn’t fancy but it’s been updated and is quite attractive. I’m not a fan of the steep stairs up to the bedroom but that’s not a deal breaker either.  We like this complex because although it’s the oldest complex in OBA, it is right on the beach, doesn’t allow unaccompanied people under 25 and is gated. That translates to 0 distance to the beach, no loud parties or drunks and is a little more secure. After checking in we spent a couple of hours on the beach, went to dinner, WalMart and to bed.

I’ve been watching the weather forecast for the past week, noting that it changed every day.  About Thursday it started looking as if it wasn’t going to be a pleasant week. I’m not embarrassed to admit that along with my worrying I’ve been doing a lot of praying for good weather here. The wettest hasn’t been the best but it could be a whole lot worse. Yesterday we dodged a few rain drops but still spent several hours on the beach. Last night it poured which on the metal roof sounded like a herd of buffalo (we’re on the top floor).   Today we went to the Visitor’s Center, to a store Imwantd to go t (closed) and to make Dolphin Cruise reservations (no one there). The clouds started to darken, as did my spirits, and by the time we got back in the condo it was pouring again. I had about a 30 minute pity party and then shook it off. By 1:00 p.m the rain had stopped.  We were able to spend all afternoon beach sitting.  Ken has a cold so he covered up with a towel and snoozed a little. The rest of the week is supposed to be clear. Winter Storm Toby is on his way to the NE, hopefully without causing problems for my friends and family in its path.

We ate dinner at the always fun Hangout and I am so full I’m uncomfortable. Just chillin tonight.

Valerie asked me what I was reading. I like to read books that don’t require a lot of thinking when I’m here so I put Prairie Fires on hold for now. I figured that I didn’t need t read The Help for the third time so I brought a book I found when I did some cleaning last summer. I first read Giant by Edna Ferber in High School so I thought 40 years wasn’t to soon to read it again. I’ve read that Texans were not happy about how it portrayed them or the state of Texas.That’s very similar I think to how Jacksonians felt about The Help when it was published. Anyway, I’m enjoying Giant very much.

OBA and Gulfshores have changed since we were here in 2016.  There are several new restaurants and a couple of new hotels. Of course condos multiply faster than rabbits down here. The neatest change is the upgrades being made to the Gulf State Park.  There are several new boardwalks, two pedestrian crossovers and by fall there will be a brand new lodge.

If we actually do anything other than sit, read and eat I’ll write more later this week.

Miss y’all but I don’t mind being here.

Happy Sun Day!

It's been a beautiful week of Beach Sitting and relaxing but sadly it's been much too short, as usual.  We haven't done much this week and that's just fine with me.  Ventured out to a couple of restaurants but mostly, just beach sitting.  The weather has been perfect but tomorrow is going to be another story.  There's an 80% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow so possibly no beach time unfortunately.
Sadly, the Panama City chaos of drunk teens seems to be migrating west.  There were 115 arrests just yesterday for underage drinking.  A young man died Sunday from alcohol poisoning.  Very sad.  Our beach area is still relatively calm although I think there were more young people here than in the past.  Not real thrilled with that. 

Today we went to the Gulf Shores History Musuem.  The museum is housed in historic home that was moved to the municipal complex of Gulf Shores.  At first glance it looks like a very nice museum.  We were greeted as we walked in the door and invited to watch a video.  Ok, a video about the area would be very interesting.  Perplexingly, the video was not about Gulf Shores.  It was a segment of "Big History" about the importance of gold throughout history.  I'm not quite sure why that particular video was being shown but after about 10 minutes we decided to tour the museum instead of finish the video.  I'm really not sure who put the museum together or how the exhibits were designed but it was one of the most confusing museums I've ever been to.  It all looked like it went together but when I really started reading the display cards,  I realized there was no rhyme or reason to the displays.  We didn't stay long.

From there we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall where I bought a pair of Skechers that just screamed my name.  Very colorful and tropical.  Can't wait to wear them to school.

Went down to the beach around 2:00 and spent the afternoon reading, walking and snoozing.  Around 5:00 there was a lot of excitement around a young man who was fishing.  We watched him reel and reel and reel his line in.  Low and behold he'd caught a sting ray.  Everyone was very excited but the young man wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do.  Luckily there was a young woman nearby who just happened to be a marine biology student who works with sting rays.  She got a towel, threw it over the tail and kneeled down on the tail so the ray couldn't sting her.  She pulled the ray up by its nostrils while the man removed the hook.  She let people touch the sting ray and take photos before she let it go.  It was very cool to see a wild ray that close up.  The girl said it was a male Atlantic Sting Ray.  Don't know how it got clear over to the Gulf...must be on spring break too.

We were going to fix Shrimp Creole for dinner using Lartigue's shrimp (the best shrimp I've ever eaten) but we were still too full from lunch.  We just gorged ourselves on the cold shrimp instead.  After dinner we decided to try out Matt's Ice Cream Shop based on rave reviews on Trip Advisor.  It was delicious.  Took a short ride over to Florida and then turned around and came back to Alabama.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  Still want to go to the Gulf State Pier and explore the Gulf State Park a little if the weather isn't bad.  Hopefully there will be enough space between rain drops that we can have one last day on the beach.  Friday we are going to head to New Orleans and the National World War II Museum.  I've wanted to do that for many years.

So, until then...

Rainy Days and Saturdays..."

Greetings from Sunny (finally) Orange Beach Alabama!

We made it!  There were a few times yesterday that I found myself praying for safety as Ken drove because of the heavy rain and the traffic.  God is good and we made it, later than we thought, to our condo at Sugar Beach.  Poor Ken was exhausted so I put him to bed without his supper shortly after we arrived.

I always enjoy driving through the southern states, especially Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  They have a different flavor than the Plains states.  There are places where it seems that time has stood still and metropolitan areas that are modern.  I would like to spend more time exploring in the future.  We are always in a hurry to get where we are going when we come down on Spring Break so we haven't explored as much as I would like.

One place I really wanted to stop at was the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee, Arkansas.  This is the internment camp where George Takei lived with his family as a little boy.  The museum is housed in the refurbished train depot where the detainees arrived at the end of their journey from the west coast.  I can't imagine what they thought, or how they felt as they looked across rural Arkansas.  There were two camps near McGehee-Rohwer and Jasper.  These camps took the names of the towns they were near.  About 17,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to the camps, significantly increasing the population of the area.  Governor Homer Adkins was not in favor of the camps coming to Arkansas because he hated the Japanese (according to the docent) but once he saw the economic benefit to his state, he relented.  However, he would not allow the Japanese Americans to take significant jobs outside of the camps. Many local people resented the Japanese American detainees because their living conditions in the camps were much better than their post depression living conditions.  As one exhibit narrative asked though, was it better to be free to do and go as you please or to have a comfortable cabin 2000 miles from your home that was taken from you?  Camp Jerome closed 18 months after it opened and those detainees were sent to Camp Rohwer.  Camp Jerome then became a German POW camp (whose prisoners COULD work outside of the camps).  Camp Rohwer closed after VJ day.  Of the 17,000 Japanese Americans detained in Arkansas, only one family of 4 remained as permanent citizens of Arkansas.  The wife lived to be 99 years old, passing away in 2014.  She was instrumental in establishing the museum and preserving the cemataries at both camps.  The museum is small but very well done and I highly suggest a visit if you are in the area.

We zipped, or crawled depending on conditions, on south, stopping in a very seedy section of Jackson, MS for lunch.  Ken had to repeat our simple order 4 times and then it still wasn't right...

      "You want a foot long coney and a Sprite Zero with cherry?"

       "No, I want a regular coney and a Coke Zero with Diet cherry"

      (silence) " and a #1 combo with what to drink?"

       " I want a #1 combo with mustard and a Coke.  I want a regular coney and a Coke Zero with Diet Cherry."

      (silence) "You want a #1 combo with a coke and a foot long coney with a Sprite Zero"

       "No...(repeat the order)"

       "Ok.  I have a #1 combo with a Coke.  A regular coney and a drink with cherry"

So, when she finally brings it out we get a #1 combo with MAYONAISE and Coke, a regular coney and a SPRITE zero with cherry.

Call the carhop back...we wanted a Coke Zero with Diet Cherry...well, what'dya get?...we got a SPRITE...ok I'll be right out.

I bet she spit in my drink.

South of Jackson we ran into traffic and a terrible rainstorm.  It only lasted for about ten miles but it was harrowing and there was no place to stop.  Plugged along to Mobile and headed toward the shore.  Right after dark it started pouring again.  Traffic was heavy with all the spring breakers heading to the Gulf.  We finally made it about two hours later than originally planned what with our stop and the weather. 

Our condo is older and a little shabby but not bad.  Kind of on the tacky décor side but it's beachy.  We ate breakfast at Kitty's Kafe and once there, we realized we'd been there before.  It was excellent.  Shopped at a very picked over WalMart with tons of college kids.  The alcohol was definitely the item of the day for them. 

I am going to stop here as I hear the beach calling my name.

Sun and Sand to you till we meet again.

Days of Museums and Motels

I used to love and look forward to staying in hotels. I have to say, after this last trip, I don't enjoy it as much anymore. I've always been very picky about where I stay. There have been times in the past that we've pulled up to a place and promptly canceled our reservation based on outward appearance. These days, with TripAdvisor and other online review sources, it is much easier to find decent hotels. What is becoming more difficult is finding decent hotels at decent prices. I remember when I considered $49.99 to be an astronomical price for a hotel room. Then it inched up the scale. Nowadays you are lucky to find anything coming in under $100.00 a night. Oh I know about Priceline and Last Minute where you name your own price. I'm just too Type A to trust that I'll find a room that meets my standards. This past trip was interesting. Our first stop was a motel in West Memphis. The rate was $59.00. I was skeptical but the reviews were awesome. I was pleased with the quality. It was definitely low budget to the point of no alarm clock in the room but it was clean ( my biggest priority) and comfortable and perfect for one night. They got a good TA review from me. In Birmingham I wasn't sure about my choice prior to arrival. I loved that room! It was a Residence Inn and was newly remodeled. The colors were red and brown. The furnishings were lovely. Gorgeous bath area. I wish we'd had more than one night there. Frankly it spoiled me. Our next three stops were nondescript and frankly all looked alike. Nothing wrong but nothing spectacular either. And I have a question. Why does every breakfast buffet consist of eggs, sausage, gravy, biscuits and wheat toast?  I know they've come along way from donuts and cereal but really, couldn't we have a little variety?  I really think it would be nice to have an RV. At least you'd be in your own space every night. I guess I'm just getting old.

You could call this trip the Museum Marathon. In the course of 6 days we visited 8 museums: Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Stone Mountain, Atlanta History Center, Margaret Mitchell House, Johnny Cash Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame, National Quilt Museum and Rocky Ridge Farm. A very eclectic mix for sure. By the time I got to the Quilt Museum I could hardly stand to read about the quilts. The words were all running together and my feet were exhausted. I think my favorite was the CMHF in Nashville. We were there more than four hours. It is a wonderful museum. The exhibits are well interpreted and cover the broad spectrum of country music. Of course Rocky Ridge was beautiful and fed my soul. I needed my "Laura fix".

We were gone 14 days. We visited 10 states and drove 2999 miles. It was an interesting trip and I'm glad we went. Next time though I think I'll find something adventurous to do.

Atlanta

Greetings from Atlanta!

This is our second day in Atlanta. I can't say as I have had a relaxing time here. Siri needs to get her directions figured out because she's sure led us on some interesting adventures here. I can see how people get lost on logging roads in the mountains!

Today we did manage to find the Atlanta History Center up in Buckhead. The museum has several different galleries including the Centennial Olympic Games, the Civil War and folk art. All three were interesting. I was very impressed with the Civil War section and have to say I learned quite a bit. It was comprehensive and they have a wonderful collection of artifacts. While we were in that gallery, quietly reading and taking on the exhibits, a loud group of teenagers literally stormed through. They were from the Y and there was one adult with about 50 rowdy kids. The teacher part of me immediately bristled and I told Ken that they obviously weren't MY class. I gave several of them my most withering teacher glare and I'm proud to say it worked. Mercifully the "cloud of grasshoppers" moved quickly on to the cafe...more on that in a bit.

There is a 1920's era mansion on the grounds called the Swan House. It was used in the Hunger Games movie. We had planned to walk out to see it but it started to pour rain. No problem, we'll just eat lunch in the Chick-fil-a Coke cafe until the storm passes over. Well, the cloud of grasshoppers got there before us and all that was left was one wrap and a salad. The very nice young man running the place gave us our drinks for free because he felt so bad. Unfortunately it didn't stop raining so we didn't get to see the Swan House.

The Margaret Mitchell house was next on our itinerary. It is several miles south of the Center in the midtown area. The house itself was built in the early 1900s and later converted to apartments. The Center acquired the house in 1994 and despite two arson fires opened the house and museum in 1997. The significance of the house is that Mitchell wrote her lone novel Gone with the Wind in apartment one. Mitchell was an interesting woman. Only 4' 11" ( like LIW!), Mitchell was quite the rebel in Atlanta society. Her first husband was a bootlegger, a fact she didn't know until after she married him. They divorced six months later and she married John Marsh. In 1931 Mitchell was in a car accident and was laid up for several months. After bringing her every book in the library, John brought her a sheaf of newsprint and told her to write her own book. So " in a weak moment " she wrote a book.  And the rest is history. She was an odd person. Whenever she' d finish a chapter she'd put it in a manilla envelope and hide it in her apartment. Once she was finished, she gathered up the envelopes, put them in order and sent them to her publisher. The original manuscript was over 80 chapters long. The final product was 60 chapters. In 1948, Mitchell was hit by a taxi cab in Atlanta and was killed. Her husband destroyed all of her unpublished writing following her death. She did not want her life to be on display after her death so unfortunately there are few artifacts from her actual life.

The movie display is also very sparse. They do have the actual door from Tara which was used in the movie and the portrait of Scarlett from Rhett's bedroom.

We were both tired so we abandoned our plan to go to the World of Coke and after getting lost in downtown Atlanta we headed back to our hotel. Tomorrow we will head to Nashville and the Johnny Cash Museum. I hear The Old Spaghetti Factory calling my name...

Birmingham

It's difficult to believe that Gulf Shores and Birmingham are in the same state; a short 4 hours apart. I woke up on a beautiful beach and spent the afternoon viewing the chronology of one of America's worst stories.

My day started at 3:00 a.m.  I don't know why I woke up but I lay there worrying until 4:30 when I decided I might as well get up and take care of what I was worrying about. So, at 4:30 a.m. I was packing the cooler and doing the last minute dishes. By 6:00 we were saying goodbye to the beach and following a quick breakfast at the Waffle House,we parted ways with the Griffith's and headed for Birmingham.

Ken dropped me off at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute while he went on to the Civilian Marksmanship Program store in Anniston. I immediately crossed 16th street to walk around the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of the 1963 bombing. It was very moving to walk around the church and to stand in front of the window where the 4 little girls were killed. I read "The Watson's Go to Birmingham" to my class every year so it was interesting to see the church firsthand.  They don't give tours on Saturday so I wasn't able to go inside the church. I thought about sneaking in with an African American group but I figured they'd notice me since I wasn't wearing one of their shirts.

I then went to the Institute which tells the story of racism and the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham. Birmingham became a town in 1871. The town grew up around the Sloss Furnaces, a pig iron factory. Freed slaves and European immigrants came to the area to take jobs in the mines around the iron mill. Over time the town became segregated, first by choice, then by code. By the mid 1900's Birmingham was the most cruelly segregated cities in the US. It was so bad that in a 1961 TV special a young black girl was quoted saying that no one should live in Birmingham. It was known as Bombingham due to the number of bombings.   By 1963, children were organized into nonviolent protest marches to stand in the place of their parents who were unable to march for fear of retribution. The children were attacked by police, dogs and firehoses. They were arrested and jailed. Many were held in outdoor pens because the juvenile jail was full.  In September of 1963 the KKK planted a bomb on the 16th Street church in retaliation for hosting the marches.

The Institute is a nicely interpreted museum. The exhibits are designed to draw you into the time period. Highlights for me were the burned out hull of of the Freedom Rider bus that was burned in Anniston, the jail bars from Martin Luther King's jail cell and the Bull Connor crowd control tank.  However, I was most drawn to and moved by the small display case which held Denise McNair's shoes, purse, necklace and bracelet that were found on her body after the bombing.  It brought home the fact that she was just a young girl all dressed up for Sunday School. Watson's has a scene where Kenny thinks he found his sister in the debris because of the Buster Brown logo in a shoe.  There, today, in Denise's shoe,was Buster Brown. Wow.

After the museum I took a quick turn through Kelly Ingram Park, where the Children's marches took place. There are life-like sculptures through out the park depicting the dogs, the firehoses and the children who wouldn't give up.  I didn't spend much time in the park because it was hot and there were some shady looking people around the fringes. I walked up to 20th street,about a half mile away, and caught a bus to our hotel. That was a little nerve wracking but I did it.

For dinner we drove over to Irondale to eat at the Irondale cafe. The cafe was the inspiration for the book and movie called Fried Green Tomatoes. I had to try the FGTs and Chess pie. They were OK. We left full but underwhelmed.

Tomorrow we head east to Stone Mountain and Atlanta. The Griffith's are making one long drive and should be home in the wee hours of Sunday.  It's one thing when we make that drive. It's another when it's your kids!