Road trip wrap up

Someone pointed out I stopped posting early on into the road trip. We had such a great time. We rolled into bed exhausted every night! Cathedral Caverns State Park in northeastern Alabama was the highlight of the trip. 

Very fun experience and really fascinating. I did see the prized Mississippi kites that were flying over Alabama. I was delighted to be able to tick those birds off my life list! We drove all over. 

Rosie got to drive a lot. On Thursday before we came home she drove on Highway 64 from Cleveland TN almost to Ducktown. A curvy mountain road but she did super! Then through poor planning I got stuck driving out of the mountains at night and in dense fog. Scary! 

 Spent the night in Dahlonega and drove south toward Atlanta. Did a bit of shopping. Then got off I-75 to drive the back roads. Had dinner at an incredible place called Fresh Air Barbecue in Jackson, Georgia. What a trip! They only serve BBQ sandwiches and Brunswick Stew. We had sandwiches, served on white bread no less and at family style tables. What an adventure. Good food. Memorable restaurant. Arrived home that night at 1:30 a.m. !

Tropics

So Katia, kah-tyah, is a hurricane now, but despite what you see on the TV news, it isn't coming here. It doesn't even appear to be threatening to come here!

However, the little business cooking up in the Gulf of Mexico could make the weather a bit dicey over the weekend. Not likely, but you never know. If both systems zap all the moisture out of our air however, that will not be good. Our plants are toasty dry. We need rain .... but not as much rain as they had in Vermont.

Chili's tonight for a University High Spirit night. Three days into a renewed effort to do the South Beach diet thing. Not going so well.

However, last night I popped pork chops in a Pampered Chef baking stone 9 by 13 pan, sprinkled liberally with citrus basil rub, topped with sliced zucchini and yellow squash. More rub. Convection roast for about an hour while I walked three miles at Gemini Springs. Perfection!

Thursday

Today was a lovely day. We had great fun together and Cathedral Caverns was really awesome. And at $12 a person, a really great deal. Rosie drove most of the day. She did great. We drove over to Chattanooga and then to Cleveland, and had dinner at a little diner. Had no luck withstanding a camping spot again sadly . So we drove too late and had a hair-raising trip thru the mountains in the fog. Found a beautiful clean newly renovated Quality Inn in Dahlonega. Managed to get a room with two queen beds for $58!!!

Road trip with Rosie, Wednesday

So we've been busy. We spent Monday night in Monroeville, Alabama, home of Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird. Tuesday was pretty much all about the Civil Rights movement. We visited the Courthouse in Monroeville, which was completely reproduced in the Mockingbird movie. It was fascinating. Rosie drove much of the day and she did a great job. We drove from Monroeville through Arlington, Alabama, then up toward Demopolis where I had heard they had swallow-tailed kites and Mississippi kites. I wasn't disappointed. Saw both. Was thrilled.

Afterwards, we drove to Selma, visited the small interpretive center there for the Civil Rights March of 1965, when many people from the area planned to march to Montgomery to demand that the area's black residents be allowed to vote. But shortly after leaving and crossing the bridge over the Alabama River at Selma, violence ensued and a black man was killed. Several days later they made the march and by the time they got to Montgomery, more than 25,000 people had joined the march. A National Park Service interpretive center halfway along has great exhibits and was very moving. We drove all over downtown Montgomery, seeing the odd conglomeration of Confederacy memorials, civil rights memorials and the state government buildings. Fascinating.


Then we drove through Talladega, Alabama to see the Superspeedway, naturally. Finally we stopped and spent the night in Oxford, where I was able to use my Choice Hotel points for a free room! We had a nice leisurely morning. Then we went shopping -- Rosie's favorite activity! We hit Target, the AT&T store and TJ Maxx.

Left there and visited Cheaha State Park, the tallest point in Alabama. Pretty, but not terribly exciting. Rosie didn't drive at all today. Couldn't tell if she was frustrated, tuckered out or just wanting to text all day long.

Today was kind of a rough day. Things didn't work out exactly like I'd planned. I wanted to camp at Buck's Pocke State Park but the camp ground was exceedingly buggy and no one was there! Not a single soul. And we didn't have cell phone signal, so we decided not to stay. We called Lake Guntersville State Park but their camping area was closed because of the tornadoes. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. We decided to drive on to Cathedral Caverns but they closed at 5. We made the best of it and found a very nice Best Western on the shores of Lake Guntersville.

Tomorrow Rosie is driving! And we're headed to the Caverns. From there, probably headed toward southern Tennessee and northern Georgia.

Link to our photo album from the trip

Road trip with Rosie

August 15

Great day today. Lovely morning at the Marriott, then Rosie drove us to Pensacola. She did so great. We drove thrtough Gulf Islands national seashore . It was beautiful. No major meltdown Today ! Yeah. Saw the battleship Alabama.Today In passing drive buy. So surprisingly big

Road trip with Rosie - Day two

Today we woke up and hit the continental breakfast at the hotel. Typical sausage gravy and biscuits, but they also had fruit salad and scrambled eggs and TANG! Who remembers Tang, breakfast juice of the astronauts. I had two glasses!

We headed over to church and had to drive through the FSU campus. So pretty, but Rosie blew lots of raspberries at the Seminoles and got tickled when she saw some kid walking through in a Gator's jersey. After church, we passed Doak Campbell Stadium.

We headed south out of Tallahassee to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. What a gorgeous place. Thousands of birds and marshes and a historic old lighthouse. This area experienced one of Florida's few Civil War battles. I could have stayed all day. I counted 37 black skimmers in one flock and also saw three black-necked stilts. Totally cool.

We drove east toward Panama City Beach. Traffic was not busy so it was good driving for Rosie. We found a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly that was dying on the pavement at a gas station and picked it up. Rosie cradled it all afternoon



Stopped and had dinner at a tacky touristy restaurant right on the beach, Toucans, and the food was surprisingly good.

Arrived at the Marriott about 7:30. Lovely property and such a great price on the room $89.

Road trip with Rosie - Day One

We pulled out of DeBary at 4 p.m., after doing all the errands and things I'd hoped to do. Uneventful trip to Tallahassee. Rosie drove great, even though we were both pretty stressed out.
I always love that feeling of driving up Apalachee Parkway into Tallahassee and seeing the Old Capitol dome and the Capitol Office Building looming over everything. Whether you like what comes out of there or not, it's a bit of a thrill to think about the history.