IS THAT THE CAT THAT CHEWED YOUR NEW SHOES?
"Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes"… ... substitutes for these lyrics: "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?" from 1941 hit song "The Chattanooga Choo-Choo." So I think it's pretty obvious where our next stop was after we left Connecticut in late September.
Our 4 week tour of Connecticut became a lot more than our typical "visit the family" trip. It ended up being extended by an additional 4 weeks as my mother suddenly announced that she was selling her home and moving into an independent care facility! Coming from somebody who swore that she would never leave her house, this was quite a shocker. This resulted in my brother Bill, his wife Joyce, Nancy and I having to clean out my mother's house, put it on the market and move her into her new digs. My mother's new situation combined with a lot of other surprises, which I will discuss in my next blog post, resulted in our Connecticut visit being a very weird and life changing trip for Nancy and me.
Now back to Chattanooga...We really enjoyed touring Chattanooga. It was a small city which appears to be going through a rejuvenation. It is taking advantage of being located on the Tennessee River to develop restaurants, breweries, a music scene, and promoting the arts. Of course, we had to visit the "Choo-Choo." The train has been beautifully restored and is set in an area with tons of unique renovations. Chattanooga is definitely worth a visit.
Then it was on to one of our favorite state parks--Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The park contains 3 lakes all connected by a beautiful river system and is only a few hundred yards from great beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the park had 25 miles of paved bike trails through tropical foliage. Perfect!!!
Beside bike riding, kayaking and beach time, the park was located a few minutes drive to the best beach bar anywhere--Flora-Bama! This place is incredible. The bar is actually in Florida, but part of its parking lot is in Alabama. Flora-Bama is a bunch of shack-like buildings set on either the Gulf side or the inter-coastal side. It had 6 or 7 music venues, a bunch of restaurants, bars everywhere, a liquor store and a gift shop. The music there was excellent ranging from solo artists to top tier bands. One band we saw was The Big Earl Show which turned out to be a bunch of great musicians with an incredible comedy act. This is a very popular band and while we were there women were throwing bras at the band, flashing their breasts and some of the guys were mooning the band while the band provided a constant raunchy banter with the audience. It was a very weird experience. We went to Flora-Bama 3 times and had a blast. This is one place that I think is mandatory for any traveler, but not for the faint of heart.
One day as I walked out onto the Gulf State Park pier I saw a rather large shark swim by. This must have been the fellow I was swimming with earlier in the day a few hundred yards away from the pier!😮 Nancy and I also found some great kayaking in the park. Once as we traveled to the 3rd lake which was the most isolated. Suddenly, we had the largest alligator we ever saw surface next to our boats and gave us the old stink eye. Well we beat water out of there fast as images of the Lake Placid horror movies kept flashing through our minds. It was definitely a Flora-Bama night!
Just as our time in Alabama was coming to an end we were faced with a major dilemma as we had campground reservations on the Florida Panhandle. However, our current location and the Florida Panhandle were both sitting directly in the path of Hurricane Michael. This powerful hurricane had a tidal surge of well over 12 feet and since we were sitting only a few hundred yards from the Gulf at 9 feet above sea level. I figured that if we stayed or went to the Panhandle we would be hanging on to our TV antenna to avoid drowning! Holy Crap!!! So 2 days before the hurricane made landfall we bolted. And we bolted fast! We drove 13 hours straight to circumvent this meteorological monster and arrived at our RV lot in The Great Outdoors, Titusville, Florida. AND lucky we were. While this Category 4 storm was chewing up the Alabama shore and the Florida Panhandle we experienced no impact other than a gray day and a few rain showers. I love having a home on wheels!
Now we our on our way to new adventures. My next blog will be my final blog post and will explain all. Can't wait to see what's around the next corner!
CHEERS!
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| The Chattanooga Choo-Choo. |
Our 4 week tour of Connecticut became a lot more than our typical "visit the family" trip. It ended up being extended by an additional 4 weeks as my mother suddenly announced that she was selling her home and moving into an independent care facility! Coming from somebody who swore that she would never leave her house, this was quite a shocker. This resulted in my brother Bill, his wife Joyce, Nancy and I having to clean out my mother's house, put it on the market and move her into her new digs. My mother's new situation combined with a lot of other surprises, which I will discuss in my next blog post, resulted in our Connecticut visit being a very weird and life changing trip for Nancy and me.
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| An interesting sculpture garden in Chattanooga. |
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| An interesting sculpture garden in Chattanooga. |
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| Dinner at the Boathouse Restaurant overlooking the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. |
Now back to Chattanooga...We really enjoyed touring Chattanooga. It was a small city which appears to be going through a rejuvenation. It is taking advantage of being located on the Tennessee River to develop restaurants, breweries, a music scene, and promoting the arts. Of course, we had to visit the "Choo-Choo." The train has been beautifully restored and is set in an area with tons of unique renovations. Chattanooga is definitely worth a visit.
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| An interesting venue across from the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. |
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| One of the cars on the Chattanooga Choo-Choo is a brew pub. |
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| An interesting building in downtown Chattanooga. |
Then it was on to one of our favorite state parks--Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The park contains 3 lakes all connected by a beautiful river system and is only a few hundred yards from great beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the park had 25 miles of paved bike trails through tropical foliage. Perfect!!!
Beside bike riding, kayaking and beach time, the park was located a few minutes drive to the best beach bar anywhere--Flora-Bama! This place is incredible. The bar is actually in Florida, but part of its parking lot is in Alabama. Flora-Bama is a bunch of shack-like buildings set on either the Gulf side or the inter-coastal side. It had 6 or 7 music venues, a bunch of restaurants, bars everywhere, a liquor store and a gift shop. The music there was excellent ranging from solo artists to top tier bands. One band we saw was The Big Earl Show which turned out to be a bunch of great musicians with an incredible comedy act. This is a very popular band and while we were there women were throwing bras at the band, flashing their breasts and some of the guys were mooning the band while the band provided a constant raunchy banter with the audience. It was a very weird experience. We went to Flora-Bama 3 times and had a blast. This is one place that I think is mandatory for any traveler, but not for the faint of heart.
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| One of Flora-Bama's interesting restaurants. |
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| A Flora-Bama music venue on the Inter Coastal. |
One day as I walked out onto the Gulf State Park pier I saw a rather large shark swim by. This must have been the fellow I was swimming with earlier in the day a few hundred yards away from the pier!😮 Nancy and I also found some great kayaking in the park. Once as we traveled to the 3rd lake which was the most isolated. Suddenly, we had the largest alligator we ever saw surface next to our boats and gave us the old stink eye. Well we beat water out of there fast as images of the Lake Placid horror movies kept flashing through our minds. It was definitely a Flora-Bama night!
 |
| The main stage at Flora-Bama is adorned with bras above the performers. |
Just as our time in Alabama was coming to an end we were faced with a major dilemma as we had campground reservations on the Florida Panhandle. However, our current location and the Florida Panhandle were both sitting directly in the path of Hurricane Michael. This powerful hurricane had a tidal surge of well over 12 feet and since we were sitting only a few hundred yards from the Gulf at 9 feet above sea level. I figured that if we stayed or went to the Panhandle we would be hanging on to our TV antenna to avoid drowning! Holy Crap!!! So 2 days before the hurricane made landfall we bolted. And we bolted fast! We drove 13 hours straight to circumvent this meteorological monster and arrived at our RV lot in The Great Outdoors, Titusville, Florida. AND lucky we were. While this Category 4 storm was chewing up the Alabama shore and the Florida Panhandle we experienced no impact other than a gray day and a few rain showers. I love having a home on wheels!
Now we our on our way to new adventures. My next blog will be my final blog post and will explain all. Can't wait to see what's around the next corner!
CHEERS!
Cute picture of you two at the Boathouse Restaurant.
ReplyDeleteClose call with the hurricane, good move getting out of there. We are headed to Gulf Shores mid February and will have to check out the spots you mentioned!
ReplyDelete