Any Good Sightseeing Hints

[frank_f15]

let me get this straight. bean fest, outhouse race, could there be any correlation between the two? /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[heehaw]

yep, they cook big kettles of beans all around the county court house and folks bring in their outhouses on wheels and have a big race...in the spring, @ mid april, they have a folk festival, bands set up all over the courthouse area playing folk music...fun is had by all.
heehaw

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Around Gulf Shores: Go to Trigger's. It is a seafood resuarnt on the way to Pensacola.

Go to the Naval Air museum. It is located at NAS Pensacola. Plenty of signs. Take the same road that you took to Trigger's.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I gather that you are into golf. Lots of courses in the Gulf Shores area. If you are into fishing there are lots of charter boats, also for sailing, jet skies, etc.

I just sit on the white sugar sand beach.

There is an outlet mall near Robertsdale if that is fun for you.

Old Civil War forts on either side at the mouth of Pensacola bay. One fort is located on NAS Pensacola so you can do that when you go to the Naval Air musem.

Battleship Alabama up by Mobile. Fairhope, Al has golf and a yach club.

East Bay Merchantile (store) for those things that you just can't live without. They also have an antique store.

Just south of I-10 at the Loxley exit is a fruit stand called Burris's. It is a fruitstand/farmers market to die for. Go there hungry because they have an ice cream soda shop that will fill you up. Lots of fresh veggies/fruit. Family operation.

 

[Golfgar4]

WOW!! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

What great tips and suggestions! /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif Thanks to all who offered some ideas. I'm glad we got our digital camera this summer. We're going to need it to take pictures of all the great things we're going to be seeing! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

We head out tomorrow morning, so won't be on TBN for awhile. Boy, will that be a chore getting caught up. I talked the wife into coming back an extra day early so we can do laundry, etc. Well, that's what I tolde her anyway. The REAL reason is so I have all day to try to get caught up on TBN!! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Thanks again for all the help. Looking forward to seeing some of the suggestions! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[budman72]

If you have any interest at all in horses, stop at the Kentucky Horse Park, just north of Lexington, adjacent to I-75, a great place to see and learn about all breeds as well as enjoying some of the most beautiful countryside on the planet. There are also some Thoroughbred horse farms in the area that have tours.

 

[Golfgar4]

Hi Guys!

Well, we got back from our 3 week vacation, and we had a GREAT time! We're still unpacking and unloading, so it'll be a couple more days before I can flesh out some of the high points.

I can tell you this much. I saw a LOT of tractor dealerships on the way back as we came through Mississippi, Kentucky, and Southern Illinois. We even drove past (couldn't stop) Metropolis, IL. Isn't that where Little's, the Kioti dealer is located?

Anyway, I'll check in in a couple of days with some of the high points!

 

[Taylortractornut]

Hi Garry what part of Mississippi did you go through. I m about an hour and a half from Tunica, theres I had a load of latemodel CUT's here at my shop. I hauled them for the bank, and they auctioned them off here. A nice Kioti with a loader sold for 4500 dollars. Not many folks here ever heard of a Kioti is why it sold so cheap. Glad to hear you enjoyed your vacation Taylor Lambert

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Golfgar,

It sounds to me like Taylor had your tractor right there. That Kioti sounds like it might have been right up your alley. I don't even need another tractor but would probably have been a bidder on that.

Taylor,

Do you remember anything about that Kioti? Model number or horsepower, etc.? That really does sound like it was a bargain

 

[Golfgar4]

Taylor,

We were in Tunica for a day and half on the 11th and the 12th! We stayed at the Harrah's and actually came away with our clothes!! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Actually, we did a little better than break even, so I'm not complaining.

Was that auction in Tunica? Man, if I'd had a chance to be there, I think I'd of been towing a tractor home!! That was a good price, depending on the model. Heck, that was a good price for ANY model!

Gary,

Boy, you're sure right there. It would have been interesting to see what it was. I can't believe all the tractor dealers I saw (I was a good boy and didn't stop /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif except once). I saw dealers for just about everything, including Chinese. There seemed to be a lot of Chinese tractors down in the Florida panhandle and Mississippi. We were in Navarre Beach, Florida driving down the main drag, and while sitting at a stop light, I saw a guy on a TC33D using what must've been an 18" auger drilling holes. Looked like it was pretty easy going, what with all the sand down there. I think NH is pretty popular down there too, as we saw a lot of those around. Even saw a few truck loads of them going down the highway.

My wife got so tired of me calling out a tractor alert while we were driving along that she finally gave up and joined in the game to see who could spot the most of them! I just have to convince her that a Z-Mark mower doesn't count. There's a zillion of those things in Florida! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Anyway, she had fun doing it with me, so it's just another step up the ladder toward acquisition! /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[Golfgar4]

Hey Gary,

I should've mentioned in my earlier reply that I thought about you on our trip. We were headed for Nashville, Indiana (now there's a really cool town! /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif) and we were taking the scenic route. A pick-up towing a tractor passed us going the other way, and I started chuckling. My wife asked what was so funny, and I said that wouldn't it have been a kick if that had been Gary from Indiana that just went past us. We'd never know how close we'd been to each other.

We visited Madison too, but we weren't quite as enamored with Madison as we were with Nashville. Part of that may have been because by the time we got to Madison, it was raining pretty hard. But boy, that sure is some pretty country down there. It's very similar to the area around our state capital, Madison, WI.

 

[MossRoad]

You know, now that I think of it, it has always been raining every time I've been to Madison, Indiana, AND it has alwasy been sunny when visiting Madison, Wisconsin /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

 

[Hank]

<font color=blue>We'll be in Gadsden, Alabama, Oct 31 - Nov 3, 2002 for the National Schutzhund 3 & Police Dog Championship.</font color=blue>

Just curious, did you certify any levels? For what breeds?

 

[Golfgar4]

Interesting observation! Madison, WI does it have it's share of rain too, and based on what I saw in Madison, IN, I'll take the Wisconsin one in the rain anytme!! /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

But like I said, it sure was pretty country down there! We really enjoyed driving through it with all the fall colors. I think we hit the peak weekend, and it even with the rain it was brilliant! I can hardly imagine what it would've been like if the sun had been out!

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, Southern Indiana is a beautiful place any time of year. Before my wife and I had kids we use to take a week off in the fall and just drive around down there or the Smokies. Camp at state forests (less people).

We also did Wisconsin a few times. We really liked the Copper Falls area, although we had to drive all the way to Ashland and back for bug spray. We came out of our tent one morning and a guy came up and said, "Did you see that bear?" We said, "What bear?" He pointed out our smashed trash can and bear bites out of the styrofoam plates! Sound sleepers, I guess /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And a few years ago I was assaulted by some clowns in Baraboo... the kids loved it.

 

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"And a few years ago I was assaulted by some clowns in Baraboo..."</font color=blue>

Hmmm/w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif.....I didn't know the guys from our shop frequented Baraboo! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

After leaving Indiana, we followed the rain over to Gatlinburg and the Smokies. Again, it was really beautiful - but it rained the entire time we were there! Oh well, I guess it was good to get it out of it's system before we got Florida!

 

[Golfgar4]

Well, I did promise some more details of our trip, so here it is.

I think the best part of it all was the first week and the third week (although the second week wasn't too shabby either!). I say that because for those weeks, we had no commitments at all. We had an idea about what we wanted to do, but if we felt like it, we changed our plans and did something else. Or, we didn't do anything at all! We never had a problem finding a nice place to stay (for the most part anyway). And we saw everything we wanted to see (for the most part anyway!)

We started on Saturday, October 26th and headed for Nashville, Indiana. Jenny had heard about this community, so we thought we'd try it out. It's like the Door County of Indiana. What with all the Fall Color sightseers, we couldn't get a room in Nashville, so we stayed about 18 miles away. The next morning, we had a wonderful autumn drive through countryside, with absolutely beautiful weather, that reminded us of the area Black Earth and Mt. Horeb. We spent the entire morning in Nashville, and we could have easily spent two complete days there. It's a beautiful little town with quaint shops and interesting sights. Even the guys enjoy it!! We left there headed for Madison, Indiana. This is the little town we had driven through when we first took Tom to Myrtle Beach, and we always wanted to go back to visit. along the way it started raining pretty hard, which I'm sure didn't help. Well, we got there and couldn't quite figure out why we had been so enamored with it. It was run down, most shops were closed, and there was no one around. So, we left and headed for Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

We arrived there around 7 or 8 p.m. on the 27th. We checked into a nice Comfort Inn just across from our favorite restaurant, the Apple Barn. We had always had wonderful breakfasts there, so we were looking forward to having a good dinner. Well, we had Granny (from the Beverly Hillbillies) for a server - I kid you not. She was missing a couple of front teeth, sounded like she'd been smoking straight tobacco for about a hundred years, and didn't speak with any words that had more than one syllable. And to top it all off, the meal was less than average. Sooooo, we had some disappointment there.

The next morning, we woke to lightning and thunder - and rain - LOTS of rain! Just what you want on vacation. Well, we headed off to have a "country" breakfast in a real, legitimate grist mill. Actually, it was very good......and so was the check! Oh well, we're on vacation. We had planned on touring the Smokies and enjoying the fall colors. Lightning - remember? Thunder - remember? LOTS of rain - remember? Not to be discouraged, we did drive a beautiful fall tour on the Roaring Fork nature drive. Even in these conditions, it was spectacular!! We spent the rest of the day frequenting art galleries and local artisans shops. And just for you he-men out there - we had lunch in a tea room!! Now don't laugh, because I'll tell you. I had the best turkey sandwich I've ever had! And an apple cake with hot caramel sauce that you'd kill for! Yes, yes, we bought a recipe book that has all those recipes in it. Oh yeah, we did a little shopping in some of the outlet malls in the area. I bought a new pair of golf shoes in a Nike store for $50.00 (normally $150.00)

The next morning, the 28th, we decided to head south. The plan was to go to Savannah for a couple of days, but since we had actually gained an extra day when we skipped Madison, we threw caution to the wind and headed for Hilton Head Island! I'd always wanted to check out the golf courses there. This was the longest drive on the trip, and we arrived well after dark. You know what we found out? Hilton Head doesn't allow signs to be seen at night! Obviously they are trying to keep out the gawdy neon signs so many places end up with. And they are VERY successful. So successful, you can hardly figure out where anything is until you've driven by it. Anyway, we finally did find our way into a a nice Hampton Inn. After getting checked in, we went looking for dinner. We were fortunate to find the Hilton Head Diner just down the road from our hotel. At least we thought we were fortunate. After being seated in this throw back to the 50's diner, we ordered. As we sat there, we noticed that all of the employees, including the cooks, were all standing around this half wall by the kitchen. They were all just standing there chit chatting. You can tell how busy the place was! Well, our meals arrived, and Jenny's was so bad she couldn't eat it, and mine was on the cool side of cold. We asked our server to see if she could do something about that, and she looked like we had just called her a tramp. Well hey - if the shoe fits - right? Anyway, the manager comes over to apologize and assure us that they always make the customer happy. Oh - imagine him talking to us as if he were Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront. Remember how he talked in the movie? The whole time he's talking to us, he has his arm draped around Jenny's shoulder like he's her long lost brother. We thanked him for his consideration, informed him that we were just passing through and wouldn't have the time to partake of his hospitality, and beat a hasty retreat out of there!

The next day I thought I might try to play some golf. The only problem was that the area had been inundated with rain for the two days before we got there. Almost every course was closed trying to dry themselves out. I finally found one just off the islan that had their front nine open. So we head over there. Jenny's coming along because she wants to drive the cart! We get to the course, and I break out the new golf shoes. I go into the clubhouse and check in and head out to the first tee. By the time I get there, my shoes are cutting into my heels a little bit. Since I had to wait a few minutes to tee off, I take them off and work the backs a little to soften them up. O.K. Time to whack the little white ball. Hit a pretty good drive and away we go. Because the course is so "damp", it's cart path only, so Jenny parks, I grab my clubs, and away I go to my ball. By the time I get there, my shoes are really hurting the back of my heels. I hit my second shot and head back - more like hobble - to the cart. I tell Jenny to go back to the car and get my old golf shoes. while she's driving back there, I walk up to my next shot, take it (not bad - about 5' from the pin) and walk back over to cart path to wait. While I'm standing there, I take my shoes off and look at the back of my socks, and all I see is red - as in blood. The shoes had gouged out about a half dollar size of skin, and it seemed like it was about 1/4" deep. Jenny arrives with the old shoes and almost passes out when she sees my feet. Luckily, I'm a prepared golfer. I had a bunch of bandaids in my golf bag, so I cover the wounds, slip on the old shoes and finish my round. HEY - I'm in Hilton Head [censored]! I'm not leaving until I've played at least 9 holes! I even got a really sweet birdie on a par 5!

I don't know if it was just us or what. We didn't get a real good feeling about Hilton Head. Maybe we didn't spend enough time there - I don't know. It seemed like everything was outrageously expensive, and the people we encountered seemed to be a little snobby. We do want to go back and give it a second chance though. We did have a couple good meals at some of the seafood restaurants though.

So, on the morning of the 30th, we headed for Savannah.

I'm going to stop for now. My two fingers are getting sore! I'll send out the next installment (if anyone is still interested) in another day or two.

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, Madison was a bust but at least you got to drive the roaring forks! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif