Monday, September 6, 2010

MORE THAN JUST A BEACH TOWN

Saturday, September 4 - Paul gave the motor home a bath this morning. It had gotten pretty dirty at our last campground because it rained every evening and the sites were pretty light on gravel. The mud and dirt splashes up on the lower three feet of the MH. It had been awhile since it got a good scrubbing with a bucket and hose. Paul frequently cleans it using “The Solution,” a waterless type of cleaner. That works really well, but he is almost out of his supply. Needs to find someone selling it!

We took Bella up to Heritage Park in Foley.

entrance-to-park

 fountain

pavilion

Boy were we surprised. Not only was it a very nice park but they had a train for kids and adults to ride,

kiddy-train

an old full-size steam engine and several train cars,

train-engine

train

Bella enjoyed the train too.

bella-train

and the Foley Alabama Railroad Museum. This Museum contained a huge model train exhibit. The museum is housed in the old Louisville and Nashville railroad station built in 1908. It is a display of the history and culture of Foley, AL. The museum contains reminders of the days when Foley was a thriving agricultural center and the major role the railroad played in its prosperity.

The model train exhibit is a 60x22 foot “0” guage train layout. Over ¼ mile of track and a mile of wiring, along with 84 freight cars, 50 passenger coaches, and a replica of the L&N Hummingbird train.

o-gauge-train-2

There is a complete city, a circus,

o-gauge-train-5

a movie theater that had a movie showing,

o-gauge-train-drive-in

a refinery,

o-gauge-train-oil-area

mountains,

o-gauge-train-2

bridges,

o-gauge-train-3

and even a working trolley on the city streets.

o-gauge-train-6

There is over 6000 hours in volunteer labor by the Caboose Club in building this exhibit. It is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays and admission is free!

After we took Bella home, we went to Old Time Pottery.

sign

This huge building has spurred our interest as we drove by on the way to and from the beach. We couldn't figure out why a pottery store could always be so busy and be so large. Well, we found out. It's not just pottery sold here but 1000's of different household items. Everything from pottery to holiday decorations, furniture, glassware, kitchen gadgets, lamps, and rugs.

1

Need a lamp?

lamps

How about a pillow?

pillows-2

How about this type of pillow.

pillows

Need any dishes…every color, shape and size.

dishes

Now, this is a drink glass! We will take two!

paul-drinking

The place was packed!

We then went to the grocery store and home to chill out! Marsha did her exercises with a little help from her friend.

marsha-exercise-bella

Marsha seemed wide awake after the workout but what happened to Bella?

bella-sleeping

We want to take this opportunity to thank our good friend, Red Burgess, back in Canton, OH. Red taught with us at the high school and served Air Force. After we publish some of our blogs about military equipment, he emails us with more insight. He flew in a B-29 and was a Radio Operator. Thanks Red!

Sunday, September 5 – Nice relaxing day. We actually found a church with an early service. We attended First Baptist Church of Foley at 8:30. Beautiful outside and inside.

baptist-chruch

We then hit the beach again. What a perfect day. Tons more traffic today and TONS more people on the beach. Even though there was lots of people, it wasn’t noisy. This picture was taken at 10:30. By noon, we had neighbors on all sides.

paul-on-beach

Well, we did it. We went to a big tourist attraction…Souvenir City.

souvenior-city

Marsha had to have her picture taken in the mouth of this ridiculous looking thing.

marsha-whale-mouth

You wouldn’t believe how big this place is. If you need any kind of souvenir, this is the place. It is crazy, and it was packed! Need I say that we bought NOTHING!

Back of the building. CRAZY!

souvenior-city-back

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day and hope to see you back real soon!