Travel Tuesday

Last Tuesday, we went off on another geo-caching adventure. This time we landed in Athens, Alabama--about an hour and a half from home.

This mural was painted by the local high school art class. 

At our very first stop, these ducks came up to me.

They followed me around which prompted Butch to send this picture to the girls with the caption "Mother Goose!" I felt bad because I didn't have anything to feed them. Butch said I shouldn't have made eye contact with them! Hey, I'm just friendly! What can I say?

Our adventure took us to some military museum. This was outside. It's similar to the helicopter Butch's brother, Walter, flew in the early 70's in preparation for Vietnam (luckily he didn't have to go--neither Butch or Walter).

After about an hour in Athens, we had lunch. Butch always finds the best and most unusual places for us to go. This time we chose barbecue. We decided to drive through and take our meal to a nearby park. When we walked up to the picnic tables, I scrunched up my nose. They were gross! Butch took one look at me and said, "You don't want to eat here do you?" I said, "no" so we headed back to the car. It wasn't long before we realized why the tables were so disgusting. The park was right next to a high school. Apparently, the kids are allowed to eat at the park. No wonder it was such a mess. Kids don't care!

Oh, and the barbecue---nothing like we expected. Butch got the pork sandwich with the Cole slaw on it. We like that. But, it was the vinegar-y type Cole slaw. I got the chicken with a "white sauce". I was expecting shredded chicken like we have in Nashville. It was a chicken breast. I have no idea what the "white sauce" was. Looked like mayonnaise to me. It was good but different. 

After lunch, we went about 20 minutes down the road to Decatur, Alabama.  As we were walking to the first cache, I noticed this in the sidewalk.

I guess Thomas refers to the owner of the building.

It looks to be an apartment building called "Thomas Terrace." It's old, but I think it's always been apartments.

Okay, I love geo-caching and all the interesting things we see and learn. But I can never remember it all. This is some confederate bank or something. It's set off quite a ways from parking, so it's kind of impractical in today's world. As so many statues are coming down (which is why I'm happy to get to see so many now), do you think buildings will be next on the list? I sure hope not. I enjoy the architecture of these beautiful old buildings. Exactly the same on all four sides.

Next, we found ourselves along the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail. I didn't even know there was such a thing.

Although there wasn't much in bloom, it was still pretty. I might have to find out more about this Butterfly Trail and see where all it goes. That could be a fun trip too. Hmmm, maybe a girls trip.

As we strolled through Decatur, this old cemetery was our next stop.

I walked around, but it's sad that you cannot read a single grave. It's too bad that someone didn't record the information long before it got to this point.

We thought of Jack (and Connie) when we stopped here. This is the old train depot. Now it's the police station. There is a large room on the left of the building that houses the rail museum. We walked up to enter and found a couple men talking. They told us it was closed. Bummer!

But, as has happened to us more times than I can count, they invited us in anyway. People are so nice.

They gave us a tour and even turned on the trains for us. They have an exact replica to scale of the entire town of Decatur in another room. I had to stand on a box to see in to it. I forgot to take a picture. 

Next they took us outside to see the train garden. Now this isn't exactly what I was expecting. There were no plants or flowers at all. Still, it was very interesting. I think they would have kept us all afternoon if we wanted to stay! Maybe we were a diversion from their work. We were just so happy that even though they were closed, they took the time to give us a private tour. I DO love a private tour!

Our last stop was this old church. 

On our way back to the car, I noticed these cute chairs!! I should have sat in one. Butch couldn't believe that I didn't notice them when we first started out. I reminded him that I miss a lot when I have to constantly be looking down so I don't trip on all of the uneven, old sidewalks that our adventures take us on! I have to really watch where I'm going!! 

I love our geo-caching adventures. We see and learn so much. It's so nice to be outside and pay attention to the beauty right around us. It's something fun we can do during this pandemic. Really, if it weren't for geo-caching, we would never know about these places and unusual things. So fun! I love learning--even if I don't remember much of it!

We have another good one that we did yesterday. But, you'll have to wait until next week for that!