As we set out on a cruise on Alabama’s Intracoastal waterway, captain Ritchie Russell began the patter that marks every voyage. He joked about his first-mate Alan, and how he’d have to don a dolphin suit if no dolphins showed up. He talked about how his wife says he eats […]
Foley has an attraction that fascinated me during our visit this week. It’s a complex and detailed array of O gauge model trains that is located inside a former train station downtown. The set up is a model train lover’s fantasy–sixty feet long, twenty-two feet wide, multilayered and full of […]
The town of Foley Alabama is truly a little engine that could. Kathy Danielson joined us on our bus and introduced us to this vibrant and creative town about 30 miles south of Mobile. She runs the visitor’s bureau for the town of about 10,000 and talked about some of […]
In Alabama you’ve got to make your choice at a very early age. Unless you’re bound by your family tradition, it’s never too early to decide whether you love Auburn or The University of Alabama. Here, there is no doubt about which camp anyone is in. It’s refreshingly unambiguous. I […]
It looks like rain for the next three days. That’s always a bummer on a press trip to a beach community that likes to brag about the great weather. Oh well. Tonight we’ll stay at some condos in Gulf Shores, the beach community where you can walk down the beach […]
We drove south toward the Gulf of Mexico and on the bus we met Alex Robinson, the pretty and young chamber of commerce representative from the town of Fairport, population 16,000. She said that when she was young she used to come to Fairport to visit her grandparents, now she […]
I love these houses down here in Mobile. Among the names for these beauties are Creole and Cajun cottages. Or bungalow and mini-mansion. These are in some of the city’s historic districts. I also couldn’t resist this little cutie in a park.
Random scenes from a day in the deep south. Above AJ’s Peanut shoppe, where they roast fresh peanuts in the shell in a 30-year old roaster. The shop was once owned by Planter’s Peanuts. Next the green scenery of Bellingrath Gardens, on the Fowl River. Deco ‘man’ symbol on the […]
Just as I suspected…Mobile Alabama is full of upbeat people who have a great city to show off. I knew it and laughed when I was met with derision in the cafe when I told people my next destination. They’d start singing “Sweet Home Alabama,” and mocking my choice of […]
The Battle House Hotel is a gem that was closed for 31 years. Two years ago the retirement systems of Alabama, (in other words the pension funds of state workers), invested heavily into many tourism facilities such as cruise ship terminals and hotels in the region. That makes sense I’m […]
We touched down in our needle-thin regional jet at Mobile’s airport, where drive Bill Hyde met me and the group. It’s all women, I noted, and as I sat up front, I kept my attention on Bill, peppering him with those questions I like to ask when I first arrive […]
Unlike other times when I am about to travel, I’m not feeling like I’m forgetting something or feeling disorganized. Part of this comes from flying out at a leisurely time, I depart for Alabama at 12:30 pm and tonight we’ll stay at the historic Battle House Hotel in Mobile. I […]