Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Helena, Alabama

Came into Helena, Alabama, south of Birmingham, which sports banners on their light posts as being voted one of America's top 100 towns to live in by Money magazine 2007. All the houses we saw were brick and upscaled. There were many gated communities. Couldn't see any industries, etc. so figure it is kind of a bedroom community for Birmingham. Highly recommend this place if you are in the area.


We found a charming little campground through Passport America there in Helena called Cherokee Campground. It sits on a lake and in times past they had a man-made beach. It was very popular with the locals who came to swim and boat. Then the beach closed down and in what is now the campground was cleared out for dances. They had lights in the trees and sported live bands on weekends. Then in 1985 it became a campground. It is charming with lots of tall trees. I can image how pretty it must be in the summer with all the gree foliage. We had a peaceful night's sleep.


Drove on this morning towards Summerdale in the Mobile area and got here by 3:30 pm We really like Escapees Rainbow Plantation Park and it felt like "coming home" as we drove down through Robertsdale into Summerdale. After checking in we sat outside the rig and relaxed in the 75 degree weather. It sure felt good, as we haven't been able to sit outside for a month in Kansas. Later we drove into Foley and ate at the Shrimp Basket. Tonight they were featuring 25 cent oysters, so we ordered half a dozen. Jim had two and I downed the rest with lemon and hot sauce.... splurping them from the shells. Oh, they were GOOD :) Tomorrow we will visit Tanger Outlet stores and go to Billy's Seafood for fresh shrimp to put in the freezer. Tomorrow for dinner I will make a salad and we'll devour another pound of steamed shrimp ....yummmmmmm!!!

Oh, we called our Escapees friends, Lesle and Bill, who remain in Coffeyville for another week of working at Amazon.com. Seems the weather got down to 13 degrees and with the wind-chill factor, it felt like minus 3 degrees. Boy did we leave at the right time. Bill called yesterday to say they have changed their plans of spending winter in Colorado and Arizona and are now going to travel to the southeast instead and will happily will be spending time with us in Bushnell. Snow in LA and Las Vegas, plus minus 19 degrees in Denver helped convince them, along with all our comments about warm Florida. Anyone else want to join us???





Our daughter sent us this photo from Santa Fe - yes, Santa Fe with that much snow. Those are candy canes for curly hair. The snow will probably paralyzed the town as they only have 5 snow plows for the whole city.

I have enjoyed reading Knitting by Anne Bartlett. In it the main character describes a woman as having "a careless propensity for joy". Isn't that lovely? I wrote those words in my sayings memory book; those are words worth remembering and striving to become.

I haven't been able to get to sleep at night - too long sleeping during the day I guess. It's 8:30 pm so I'll try again now. Good night, dear friends and remember......you are loved!

2 comments:

  1. We are so happy to read that you are on the road again, and in WARM weather. I can imagine how grand it felt to sit outside in 75 degrees after the COLD and the WORK in Kansas. Nice to know that you fattened your bank account, though, isn't it?

    We are still in Loma Linda, where the weather seems cold to us - until we turn on the Weather Channel. Our highs have sunk to the mid-50's, and there is snow on the mountains ringing the L.A. basin - very pretty.

    Keep up the gteat blogging, Bobbie. It seems as though your inner writer was just waiting to be unleashed.

    Safe travels,
    Laurie (and Odel)

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  2. Yes, there definitely IS life after Amazon and Coffeyville. I'm glad you found some warmer weather. I'm gradually getting there on my way to California. I love the quote and will save that one.

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