Alabama Get Away, One Down 999 Places to Go

As promised, all about our time in Alabama. The ride from New Orleans to Point Clear took about two-and-a-half hours. Point Clear is a beautiful place. Our vacation spot was right on Mobile Bay. We could see Mobile in the distance and we experienced the blessings of beautiful sunsets and the awe of summer thunder and lightning. A few days of swimming, fishing, and enjoying some real summer days was just what the doctor ordered. We also spent some time exploring Point Clear, nearby (about a half hour) beaches, and Fairhope. First, I should tell you that the water in Point Clear is brown; it is clean, but it is brown. From our small dock, we could walk our literally hundreds of yards and the water was still only up to our shoulders. One day, we drove towards Gulf Shores and spent an afternoon at a wonderful beach, with great sand and the blue-green water we associate with the beach. In fact, the sand was singing, reminding those of us from Massachusetts of Singing Sands!

We fell in love with Fairhope. What a great place to visit or live! It has a very nice commercial district, a small French Quarter (mardi gras started in Mobile), and exceptionally friendly folks. The original Double Mint Twins grew up in Fairhope. We had a great lunch in a small pub, walked around and spoke with lots of very nice and welcoming people. We also learned about the Jubilee. Mobile Bay is also known for the Jubilee, a phenomenon that you can learn about here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee ; it seemed that all of the conditions were ripe for us to experience the Jubilee, but, alas, we did not. I did, however, purchase a Home of the Jubilee in a Fairhope store.

As it turns out, this area of Alabama, including Point Clear and Fairhope, is in the book, One Thousand Places to Visit Before You Die http://www.1000beforeyoudie.com/m/

New Orleans Reflections

I am sitting here in my bedroom in Point Clear, Alabama. We arrived on Friday and we have had a houseful of my son's family. It has been great, but, more on that later. My younger son was here for just the weekend and then headed back to New Orleans with his girlfriend. Getting time to spend with everyone, especially our grandson, has been, you guessed it, priceless. A final thought for now about that: Children need to be surrounded by love. It is pretty simple really.

Our time in New Orleans was fabulous. We had a wonderful time, especially taking our grandson or our son's dog for a walk. The sites and sounds of the city are so diverse and add so much to the city's renewed vitality. At left, above, is the Pagoda House on St. Charles. Above, on the right, is the stadium where the Zephyrs play.A dinner at Pascal's Manale, with or without oysters, is an experience that I strongly recommend. We had a great time, going to watch the Zephyrs play; their first baseman went 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and a double. On Thursday night, we made in to Vaughn's where we saw one of our favorite performers, Kermit Ruffins. The music was great, the dancing was spirited, and the red beans and rice was free. There is a small cover charge, but the beers were on $2.50 and once you hear Kermit call out, "All aboard", be prepared to party. We had a chance to chat with him briefly creating an additional show on the dance floor. before and after the first set. Uncle Lionel was there, dancing and adding to the ambiance and energy on tthe dance floor. Heather Graham was there too, enjoying herself, with some friends on the dance floor. Below: Kermit, Vaughn's, Pascal's Manale on Napolean:

In our week there, once again, we only barely touched the tip of the iceberg. The city is unique among American cities, a real treasure that by visiting you can not only have an expreience that you won't forget, but you will also be helping its economy grow.

More from Alabama coming soon.

From Tuscaloosa to New Orleans

The ride from Tuscaloosa to New Orleans was pretty uneventful. We did however get some real summer weather with temperatures in the mid-nineties. Meanwhile, back at home, the temperature was barely 70 degrees with more rain and cloudy skies. One can almost feel the summer slipping away in the northeast.

Driving on I-10 heading west into the city, you can get a sense of the ongoing rebirth of the city in the almost four years since Katrina. There are definitely noticeable improvements, at least on the surface. There is still a long way to go. But it is so important that this amazing place continues it renaissance.

So we finally arrived in New Orleans to see our sons, daughter in-law, grandson, in-laws, and friends. It is special being in a home with a young child. Our grandson is 22-months old. There is something to be said for the sounds of a young child in a home, from the pitter-patter of footsteps to the joys of playing with mommy and daddy. As parents, we are always hoping that our children experience success, however they may define it, love, wherever they find it, and peace, from whatever spiritual guides they discover.

From Virginia to Alabama

Just a brief note today. It is about 7:20 AM, here in Tuscaloosa. We stayed at a Comfort Inn. Those coupon books they have at the Welcome Stations along the interstate can save you a lot of money. We saved about $30.00 on the room over the regular rate. made pretty good time, except for a speeding ticket stop (79 in a 65 mph zone). I guess Virginia is not really for lovers, after all. A simple warning would have sufficed.

We also played the word game that we invented. We will share it with the world at the right time. The world really needs another good game that parents can play with kids, especially in the car and even at home. Enough with the video games. This one will have be great for road trips and for living rooms. It will be challenging, fun, and for those among you who like games like Pictionary, will include a "full-contact" version. Just a little more tweaking....

Tuscaloosa is another college town. I am going to hypothesize that college towns are good places to visit and/or stop along the way when you are travelling. The folks here are very nice. The Comfort Inn is not the newest hotel, but the night manager, Michael, was very accommodating and it is clean. The breakfast has all you need (coffee) to get the day started. Fox News Morning isn't my favorite, but that is what's on and besides, I am writing and checking email anyway.

We ate at a Cracker Barrel (actually we did take-out). I really don't get Cracker Barrel. I had a catfish sandwich with cole slaw. The sandwich was okay, nothing special and the cole slaw was good. I think it is the second time (it might be the first) that I had a Cracker Barrel meal. The best part was waiting for the food, checking out all the old style penny candy, toys, etc. and talking with the other people. I guess if it is there and you are hungry, you might as well check one out.

We should be in New Orleans by mid-day and we can't wait to get there.

Oh yeah, as promised, here's Buster:

Better than Wonderful and Cats are Smarter than People

So, we got ready to get on the road yesterday. It is now about 5:45 AM and I am sitting in the lounge area of a Hampton Inn in Winchester, VA where we spent the night. Winchester is a nice small city, a college town, although I forget the name of the school here.

So as we tried to get a reasonable start, we had the car packed and all that was left to do was take our cat, Buster, to this place called Puppy Tails or Tales, where he stays when we go away for a long stretch. I guess as one gets older, we ask our friends to do less and realize that as adults, we have to pay for certain things. Also, that way, friends will be there when things don't quite work out. Like getting Buster to Puppy Ts. He knew something was up and took off for our cellar (not to be confused with a basement). There are lots of hiding places down there and nothing we could do was able to get him to come out, not food, not even the little laser toy that he loves to chase around (maybe he really doesn't like to chase it around, after all). So we decided we had to get going. We made arrangements with a friend to bring Buster to Puppy Ts later on or today (which was at that point, tomorrow).

We hit several intense thunder storms in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. I took a couple of pictures and videos with my cell phone just because I could and I figured it could turn out to be something to write about at another time.

It was better than wonderful to finally see some sun after all of the gray and rainy days at home. The folks at this Hampton Inn are very nice. I am getting used to being an AARP member. After we checked in we looked for something to eat. As we were pretty tired, we opted for KFC; it has been many years between KFC visits. While it was not better than wonderful, the grilled chicken breast dinner (1 piece) was pretty darn good. All in all, dinner for two for a little over $11 was not bad at all. And so far, so good on the digestion side of things. That is always a plus.

Hopefully more pictures and videos to follow, and I have to get one of Buster..