WHATA BUMMER!

May be 1st photo of trip as we are approaching Mississippi River Bridge ~

 This 2-lane bridge leaves the Mississippi Delta on the eastern side and arrives in Helena, Arkansas.

  

 

This was a trip to see some fall foliage and a different landscape than our Lower Alabama home

where it is mostly flat and has very little of the colors of autumn.

 

The trip was hampered by gloomy weather and even rain at times making the visibility poor.

 

We had our Canon and Sony cameras with us but only took a few photos.

.

We arrived in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Sunday, October 25, 2015,

and visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Afterwards we enjoyed lunch in Rogers, Arkansas, where we had a wonderful meal of Red Beans and Rice at Copeland's of New Orleans since 1983 while enjoying the live music of a jazz combo.

 

This day included the HIGHS and the LOWS of the trip.

 

As we were traveling down the interstate, traffic in front of us came to a complete stop.

We slammed on our brakes and avoided hitting the vehicle in front of us.

A second or two later, we were rear-ended by the vehicle behind us.

After going through all the necessities required after such an accident,

two Springdale policemen took us to the local airport,

which was the only place to rent a car.

 

From that point own, we just headed back toward home as speedily as possible.

 

Silver Lining:  Neither of us were injured nor the people who hit us.

 

Photos from the trip (such as they are):

Fall Trip 2015

 

 

No Big Deal, But Wait!...

...It Was A VERY BIG DEAL!

We are so glad we considered it a big enough deal to show up for our youngest granddaughter's graduation from Baptist College of Health Sciences.

This graduation was a big deal beyond our expectations. It had been a long time since we had been to a college/university commencement ceremony, and we were so proud to see Sarah receive her diploma after four years of studies. She is now a Radiation Therapist. Having said that, we've told you pretty much all we know. When I saw her with a book entitled Anatomy when she was in her first year, I knew she was going to learn all kinds of "stuff" I did not know and didn't want to know. Did I say we are proud of her? It's more than that, but hard to express our feelings. It would have been such a shame to have missed her graduation after her studying for four long years to attain her diploma.





The above photos are of the interior and exterior of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, where the commencement ceremony took place. To say it is a large church does not describe what this church is like. I have to use the term "mega church" to attempt to explain what it was like. So many people attended this celebration that not even enough programs were printed for the occasion. The prelude, procession, and the awarding of the diplomas and honor awards were all so very impressive. The commencement speech was the best I'd ever heard. Special music was "You Lift Me Up" by a violinist and soprano, that did exact what it's title says.

Some photos from our trip >>>>>>>
Trip for Graduation


Definitely was a BIG DEAL!

Whirlwind Trip To Texas

Just to grab your attention, we're putting a pleasant photo in this blog now.

Putting this post on our travel blog is really a duplication of our Flickr photo album -- almost. Let us just tell you that we (with Jerry and Ella Jane) crammed in just about as much as oldsters can in three days in the Arlington, Texas, area. It usually takes us the better part of two days to make a trip from Foley, Alabama, to Arlington, Texas. So, that's what we did.

The Hatfield's kept apologizing for the fact that some time was spent showing their house and other real estate sales activities so that they could finalize a contract for the sale of their current home. That's really why we made the trip because it had been quite some time since we had visited with them. It was pretty much now or never unless we visited them later in the year in California.

We really did have a good visit -- so much so that the weight scales will likely reveal a sizable increase from all the delicious food we consumed while in Texas and on the way to and from there. After all, isn't that a good part of what enjoyment is? Trying to get you (any readers we may have) to agree with us.

We'll just close with the photos we took because they speak for themselves.

2015 Texas Trip

P.S.: Hope you can comprehend how interesting the tour of the Money Factory was without any photos. A picture from the parking lot showed what a beautiful Texas sky with puffy Texas clouds occurred on that day. Mae Dean added to her T-shirt collection that day with "the buck starts here"

Fourth Annual Oyster Cookoff

WHEN? Saturday · November 5

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama

We attended last year's Oyster Cookoff at The Hangout ,but the milder temperatures this year made it more enjoyable.

We knew the "lay of the land" which was about the same as it was last year outside The Hangout in the Beer Garden with teams set up in booths cooking oysters to vie for honors with judges. When we arrived, we found some friends at about the same table in the garden. An event for entertaining all ages, it was a good chance to "people watch."

The three categories for the competition were: Oyster Rockefeller, Cajun Oysters, and Chief's Choice Raw. I had a couple of the first two categories but left before the final competition began. Recorded music was played until around 1:45 when The Rantmakers, a band from Nashville, Tennessee, began performing live on the stage. They were very good. I had hoped to show you a video of one of their songs, but I did not punch the right buttons on my camera. I did manage to get a photo of one of the band member's bare feet, which was sort of like Jimmy Buffett's concerts. I love anything that laidback and could not resist including such a photo.

Check out our photos on Flickr at:

Fourth Annual Oyster Cookoff at The Hangout

Mississippi Gulf Coast

On a very brief trip over to parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we wanted to share some of our experiences and photos from mostly the return trip to Alabama today.

We took care of some business in Waveland, Mississippi. Actually, I’d say the first part of the visit was more like a mission trip that was accomplished because it was not impossible. Then the last part was visiting with old-time friends.

On Monday, we took Interstate 10 into Gulfport to shop at Best Buy. As we speeded up to enter the interstate, I notice a stone sign about the Katrina High Water Mark. I did not get a photo and did not find one by searching the internet, but I do believe this article on July 22, 2011, is about the sign: Bay wants to ‘camouflage’ storm markers

---

We chose to come back a little longer route by heading south to get on Highway 90 and then drive along the world’s longest man-made beach. That’s the trivia WDS seemed to know, and I’m taking his word for it.

Parts of the drive home were a little depressing because there were still signs of damage from where Hurricane Katrina destroyed areas which were empty of residences and businesses. However, much had been built back. Also the weather was great as compared with the very hard rains we drove in coming over.

We divided the photos into two parts. The first album is:
Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The two last photos were taken in Mobile, Alabama, where we stopped for a late lunch.

Gulf Islands National Seashore encompasses territory in both Florida and Mississippi, and is therefore separated into two districts. The Mississippi District includes Davis Bayou, and may be reached in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which we traveled through today on the way back to Alabama.

We enjoyed visiting their Visitors Center and boardwalks and seemed to have the place to ourselves except for one small skink we encountered on the boardwalk just behind the Visitors Center. Our photos from the visit may be seen at:
Davis Bayou ~ Gulf Islands National Seashore.

We have no photos to show we drove through a nice old fashioned downtown in Ocean Springs that we hope to return to and just walk around there. Somewhere in the same area is the Walter Anderson Museum of Art we hope to visit on another trip.

Been on the Road

... and in the air at times.

Have you missed us?

Hope not.

It's been so much trouble to fool with the photos, we're just going to show them to you and let that do it because we really don't feel like doing a blog post. Seems like maybe it's too much trouble to go into detail.

Does that make sense? Well, it does to us right now because we have things to do and places to go in Lower Alabama.

Here's the photos from a week of travel in Mississippi, Tennessee, and the upper part of Alabama.

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday

Manci's Antique Club in Daphne

The above images are from the website for Manci's Antique Club. The bar-restaurant is located at 1715 Main Street, Daphne, Alabama (Phone: 251/626-2124).

After you look at the website, you will know Italian immagrant Frank Manci purchased an old wooden produce warehouse in what is now downtown Daphne in 1924 and built a gasoline station on the property. This caught my attention because of my own life's history, but I'll get back to that later.

Twenty-three years later Arthur Manci, Frank's son, took over the business. After obtaining a liquor license in 1967, Arthur started to hang bottles and various items on the walls of what is now a full fledged bar, which has resulted in the establishment holding the largest collection of Jim Beam decanters on display. But Jim Beam decanters are not all that decorates the interior of Manci's. All manner of old items are outside and inside such as two antique gravity gas pumps and a wooden schulpture in the inner chamber of the Ladies Room.

Alex Manci, Arthur's son, took over the club in 1987. He holds the title for the "Bloody Mary Capital of the Eastern Shore." So, naturally, I had to try the Bloody Mary. Since I'm not any kind of authority on Bloody Marys, I'll not critique it, but I will tell you it was so hot with spice that I didn't finish it.

In 1995, Alex and his wife Gwen started serving food in the club.

Southern Living and Coastal Living have carried articles about this historical place.

The entire west side of the 1700 block of Main Street (Old Scenic Highway 98) is filled with restaurants. The other two, Guido's and Cousin Vinney's, are owned by the same owner but have separate kitchens. Another restaurant we noticed that seemed to be doing a booming business was East Shore Cafe located about two blocks away on the east side of Main Street (1506). All you need to look for is the old yellow house surrounded by a white picket fence. After reading reviews, I understand they serve Philly Cheese Steak. Hope we can check out that one of these days.

---

Here's the part about how the history of Manci's Antique Club
sort of coincides with mine.

All along, I had known that both my sister and I were born at home. Are you ahead of me? What I did not know was:

I was born in the back of a gasoline station where Daddy worked and my parents lived at the time.

Think about it. The country had not fully recovered from The Great Depression in 1936, so Daddy had the good fortune of having a job and all of us were lucky to have a place to live.

---

We took a few photographs while we were there enjoying the food, drinks and atmosphere, which you can see on Flickr at Visit to Manci's Antique Club in Daphne.

---

Since I'm a very curios person, I still want to go back there when few, if any, customers are there and check out that fig leaf. I received an early warning with a VERY LOUD buzzer before I went into the Ladies Room and put 2+2 together. Still wanta know what's under it :)

USS Alabama Battleship Park

WHEN? Sunday · April 25

WHERE? Mobile Bay · find us on the map

Today's day trip occurred after Ella and I went to worship at Marlow UMC located four miles from our place on County Road 9. We stopped briefly to try our hand again at getting a better photo of the Malbis Greek Orthodox Church and went to a Mexican Restaurant for lunch before going over to Battleship Park beside Mobile Bay.

This is a very exercise intensive activity involving going up and down steep stairs and lots of walking. The women only made it to the deck of the submarine, so we only have a couple of photos to share on that part. You'll get some idea why we were "tuckered out" as you'll notice in our anchor photo (above) as we left the park to return home for some well-deserved R&R.

To view today's photos, go to:

2010-04-25 of Hatfield's Visit

Today's Vacation

WHEN? Friday · January 29

WHERE? Mobile & Baldwin Counties · Alabama

After this morning's VA appointment in Mobile, we paid a second visit to The Museum of Mobile to take a few pictures we missed on our first visit. We've combined the photos from both visits, and there's even a couple of short videos:

The Museum of Mobile - 2 visits
on flickr

While in Mobile, it was interesting to see how SO PREPARED Mobile is for their many Mardi Gras Parades. Mobile had the first 2010 Mardi Gras parade on January 16, the day we left on the Caribbean cruise, another one on January 23, and another will be held tonight. Thirty-seven more are scheduled before the parades are over for 2010.

We also took the opportunity to swing by the USS Alabama Battleship and get our photos at the anchor, which is a family tradition going way back. It was not a good day for pictures, but we took a few anyway, which you can see on Flickr at Battleship USS Alabama.

Market by the Bay · Photo credit Traveling Shoes

We had an early lunch at Market by the Bay in Fairhope (365 South Greeno Road, 251/929-7203), which has quickly become one of our favorite restaurants in this town. Although they don't appear to have a website, word-of-mouth has evidently worked for them. We both think they have the biggest fried shrimp and oysters we've ever eaten in any restaurant. That just may be why they always seem to have plenty of customers.

Fort Condé

WHEN? Wednesday · February 4

WHERE? Mobile, Alabama · find us on the map

WHAT? Fort Condé

Today's visit to Fort Condé came about because we weren't hungry enough for lunch when we finished with a VA appointment. A friend in Mobile suggested visiting this downtown museum before she joined us for lunch.

Several school buses were parked outside the fort, and we were joined by students on a field trip. Since it was a cold day, we concentrated on the fort's indoor artifacts, including many historical photos, some of which were from early Mardi Gras and the reign of King Felix III, the first royalty associated with this annual festival. You'll notice in our Fort Condé photos on Flickr that the decorations for Mardi Gras were everywhere we went.

This fort has had many names and was much larger when it was needed for protection. As it now stands, what visitors see today is what was recreated for Mobile’s 1976 United States bicentennial celebration. To learn more about the fort's history, visit Fort Condé on Wikipedia.

Some gave all

WHEN? Thursday · February 21

WHERE? Camp Shelby, Mississippi · find us on the map

Motorhome parked at: Paul B. Johnson State Park

After providing various proofs of citizenship, legitimacy and identification, we were allowed onto Camp Shelby military training post to visit its Mississippi Armed Forces Museum. Its exhibits include wartime memorabilia of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Despite what this historical plaque suggests ...

... Camp Shelby really is in Mississippi

See more Armed Forces Museum photos on flickr

Boomtown

WHEN? Tuesday · December 18 · (today's first post)

WHERE? Kilgore, Texas · find us on the map

Motorhome parked at: S&S Apache Camping Center in Jackson, Mississippi for routine service

The story of Kilgore's oil-rich history is a Texas legend: Discovery of the world's largest pool of black gold, derrick-lined streets, and one plot of ground known as the world's richest acre. We lived and learned the legacy of those boom years in the East Texas Oil Museum at Kilgore College.

As one of six cities in the Holiday Trail of Lights, over eighty steel replicas of Kilgore's 1930's wooden oil derricks are topped with a fantastic display of lights, maintaining its title as the state's official City of Stars.

See more East Texas Oil Museum photos on flickr

Kentucky's coal heritage

WHEN? Tuesday · October 9

WHERE? Stearns, Kentucky · find us on the map

Read all about Mae Dean and Wendell's ride along Big South Fork Scenic Railway:

LIVING ... MAEDEANS STYLE
Ridin' the Rails

Birth of a leader

WHEN? Friday · October 5

WHERE? LaRue County, Kentucky · find us on the map

Last night's accomodations: Comfort Inn · Cave City, Kentucky

After an early breakfast-and-goodbyes with Jerry and Ella, we could hardly wait to see more of this remarkable state. Our next destination was only a one-hour drive away - the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site:

• Sinking Spring Farm, where the 16th president was born in 1809
• The old homestead: Lincoln's Boyhood Home at Knob Creek
• Exhibits in the Visitor Center, including the original Lincoln family Bible
• The Memorial Building, which features a reconstructed symbolic birth cabin
• And an extra treat - The Nancy Lincoln Inn, a nearby museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places

See more Lincoln Birthplace photos on flickr

LIVING ... MAEDEANS STYLE: Humble Beginnings

Rolling into Bowling Green

WHEN? Thursday · October 4 · (today's first post)

WHERE? Bowling Green, Kentucky · find us on the map

With time to kill before meeting relatives for lunch, we stumbled upon the recently-opened Historic L&N Depot Railpark and Train Museum.

See more Bowling Green train museum photos on flickr

Home of the Original Recipe

WHEN? Friday · September 28

WHERE? London, Kentucky · find us on the map

Mae Dean and Wendell toured the Kentucky Fried Chicken Museum * * * * then ate lunch where it all began:

See more KFC Museum photos on flickr

Anyone for potted lunchmeat?

WHEN? Saturday · September 8

WHERE? Austin, Minnesota · AKA SpamTownUSA · find us on the map

Airstream parked at: Beaver Trails Campground & RV Park

Until today's visit to Minnesota's Spam™ Museum, Wendell and Mae Dean would've never thunk that there's so much to learn about potted lunchmeat — or that it could be so much fun.

See more Spam™ Museum photos on flickr

Western Showcase

WHEN? Friday · August 31 · (today's second post)

WHERE? Cody, Wyoming · named for William "Buffalo Bill" Cody · find us on the map

Airstream parked at: Devils Tower campground while Wendell and Mae Dean checked into the Buffalo Bill Village Resort Holiday Inn, anticipating several days of local sightseeing.

Known as the Rodeo Capitol of the World, Cody is home to the world-class Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which is actually five museums in one:

• Buffalo Bill museum
• Western art gallery
• The firearms that won the West
• Native American cultures and art
• Yellowstone natural history

The three-minute promotional video below highlights the features of this multi-faceted attraction. Or even better — choose your favorite from over thirty BBHC educational and promotional videos available on YouTube. Video play times range from one to seven minutes.

Podunk Paradise

WHEN? Wednesday · June 20

WHERE? Aladdin, Wyoming · find us on the map

Aladdin General Store has served area residents and travelers since 1896.

Click on the porch door to have a look around inside with Wendell

Sundance Kids

WHEN? Tuesday afternoon · May 8 (today's third post)

WHERE? Back in Sundance, Wyoming · find us on the map

Airstream still parked at: Mountain View Campground

Before returning to the motorhome, a stop by the Crook County Museum included a bronze statue of convicted horse thief The Sundance Kid serving time in the local jail:

Sundance, Wyoming's claim to fame

See more Sundance photos on flickr

Thanks to Wi-Fi available at the campground in Spearfish, Wendell has listened to several Mississippi State baseball games.