The Alabama Shoals, Part Three: Tuscumbia

The Shoals is an area in northwestern Alabama named for the the shape and texture of the Tennessee River as it passed through the area. In order to make the river navigable, dams and locks were built, so that now there is a wide river and a series of lakes that are popular for sailing and fishing. 

A cluster of four towns make up the residential area here: Muscle Shoals, Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia. On one lovely afternoon I took a little artist's holiday by myself to explore and ended up spending most of my time in Tuscumbia, known mostly for Ivy Green, birthplace of Helen Keller. 

Helen Keller's birthplace

It's a small, quaint home, typical of the well-kept places we've seen throughout the area. Tucked away in a side structure, I found the video of a dramatization of Helen Keller speaking to a convention of the Lion's Club to be the most interesting part of the visit. Her speech was passionate and bold, as she asked for the Lion's Club support for blind deaf children. Although this was a dramatization, it must reflect the remarkable strength of the woman she was.  

The downtown of Tuscumbia itself seems to be suspended somewhere between collapse and revitalization like so many towns we've seen across the country. I'd say its leaning more toward revitalization right now. The county courthouse is spectacular (sorry no photo), and there is a large attractive local bookstore on the main corner that seems to be the downtown hotspot.

Best of all, from my perspective, is Spring Park, named for the Big Spring around which the town's history and development centered. 

Cold Water Falls

A sign claims that these are the largest man-made stone water falls known. The spring fills a large pond inhabited by fish, turtles and lots of waterfowl. 

It runs out through a dam, into Spring Creek...

under a covered bridge...

and a swinging bridge,

carving interesting caves and shelves in the limestone as it flows away.

In addition to the beautiful water features, the park is equipped with trails, picnic tables and shelters, playgrounds, an amusement park and a children's train that circumvents the whole shebang.  Oh, and the Claunch Cafe where I stopped for a little bit of refreshment along the way.

I think that Southerners really "get" cake. This is the slice of Claunch's unique Hibiscus Cake. Definitely great homemade cake.

That wraps up our week in The Shoals. There's more here to see and do, like the Coon Dog Cemetery, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Muscle Shoals music scene, so I hope you'll come see it for yourself sometime. 

Alabama Shoals, Part Two: Florence

I am loving Alabama! As I've owned before, I am a Northerner. Every time I come south I'm surprised by how beautiful it is. Many Northerner's like Rick and me have a lot of baggage when it comes to the south and we just have to get over it. We were inundated in school with images of poverty, flat cotton fields, little shacks and other horrors. (Neil Young didn't help.) I offer my apologies. 

Our first stop in Muscle Shoals was the Wilson Dam on the Tennessee River. We looked out across Wilson Lake, read about the TVA and drove across the dam into Florence. The town of Florence is a great example of the lovely towns we've encountered here. It's a college town (University of North Alabama), and so it clearly benefits from the influx of people and money brought by the college. The downtown was about five blocks of interesting shops and restaurants.  But more than that, like other areas of Alabama we've visited, there's a pride of place. People seem to be committed to making their homes and towns beautiful.  Thanks Alabama.

We chose to have lunch at Trowbridge's, a longtime local favorite right out everyone's memory of the good ole' days. Think Andy Griffith.

Ham salad sandwich and ice tea

We sat at the counter. The service was fast and no nonsense, but friendly. The prices were from another decade, and the food itself was too. Remember when lunch looked like this? Small plates, small sandwich, small ice cream sundae.

The counter and the menu

For dessert, Rick had a chocolate ice cream soda, which is really hard to find in this day and age. I had Trowbridge's famous orange pineapple ice cream in a hot fudge sundae. Yum. We both left happy.

Oops! Where'd that cherry go?

Trowbridge's Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop, Court St., Florence

We went looking for the Visitor's Center and found the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House. Another one! We didn't choose to take the tour. It looked like the other Usonian homes we've seen, like Kentuck Knob, but maybe more modest. This one is unusual in that it's in a residential neighborhood.  We just stopped long enough to take a few outside pictures.

We finally found the Visitor's Center and what a surprise it was! It was like a high-end museum devoted to all things Florence and the surrounding area. 

Check out the architecture and the floor art representing the river and the shoals that the area is named for.

Lee, the helpful and friendly woman hosting the center that day, directed us on to our next stop, Tom's Wall, or as Tom calls it, The Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall.

Rick and Lee at the Florence Visitor's Center

Tom greeted us at his driveway and welcomed us in, inviting us to join him on a few plastic chairs so he could give us a little talk.

Tom Hendrix

He told us the story of his great grandmother, Te-lah-nay, a member of the Yuchi tribe, who along with thousands of other Native Americas was displaced and relocated to Oklahoma during what has come to be called the Trail of Tears.  After arriving there, she made the remarkable choice to turn around and return, walking all the way by herself back to her home on "The Singing River." This wall is his tribute to her brave five year journey, during which she was in constant danger of being caught, returned or killed.

Tom built this wall by himself, placing "a rock for every step she took." He estimates that he's lifted eight million pounds of stone. In some places it's five feet hight and 27 feet wide.

"This is a sacred women's place" says Tom. 

The wall is shaped into sitting areas for individuals and groups at various places along the walk, including one near the entrance shaped like a womb.

People have come from all over the world to see Tom's Wall, and some send back special rocks to add to his wall. Tom seems happy to tell stories about every rock.

Tom and his wife live in a small house next to the wall. He charges no admission but does sell stone sculptures he's created to help cover the cost of moth balls to keep the copper heads away.  Large donations he passes on to a charity for Native Americas girls. 

It was a soulful kind of visit with Tom and his creation. People like Tom who devote their lives to their passion make life more meaningful for everyone. We headed back home on the beautiful Natchez Trace with our hearts warmed.

The Natchez Trace

(Just have to finish with this plaque from the Florence Visitor's Center. I know it's a favorite among full-timers.)

The Alabama Shoals Part One: Alloys Park Campground

We've been parked near Muscle Shoals for a week, at the Colbert County Alloys Park Campground. It's a beautiful and interesting area and I plan on writing more about it, but I just wanted to give a quick, happy shout out to the place that was our home for the week. 

Early morning on Wilson Lake 

It's a small park right on Wilson Lake, with a marina for small boats and docks for fishing.  We spent a good deal of time sitting on the docks watching the fish jump. It felt just as peaceful as it looks.

Alloys Park marina

It was off season for camping so no reservations were needed. There are about 20 full hook-up back-in sites and a manager on site. We only saw a few other people - fisherman and hunters.

Alloys Park Campground

Only the two handicapped sites are paved, the rest are narrow and uneven, but manageable. There are also a few partial hookup and tent sites in the woods. Not every site has a picnic table, but there are some scattered around the park for everyone to use. There are two clean, basic private bathrooms with hot showers. We used the campground free wi-fi and found it pretty good.  No laundry.

Our site at Alloys Campground

And here's something you don't see at campgrounds very often. Ever, I could say, but we actually saw several scattered around the area. The county must have mandated storm shelters in the community.

Storm shelter!

Honey and I were most pleased with the trails that wandered through fields, forest and down into the "holler." They are very relaxed around here about dogs, so we walked off leash most of the time.  That is, I walked and Honey ran. We took nice long walk/runs several times a day.

Walking the trails with Honey

There are very comfy bench swings scattered around the park, along the trails and by the water. Very sweet. The whole place felt sweet.

Walking the trail

Yes, "Sweet Home Alabama."  (Thank you Lynyrd Skynyrd.)

More about The Shoals in a bit...

Warming up to Thanksgiving

In this life there are so many things, great and small, to be grateful for, and the approaching holidays have inspired me to think about them more often. Here are just a few of the things I've found myself feeling grateful for this past week.


The Clinton Presidential Park Bridge in Little Rock.

We stayed at the Downtown Riverside RV Park in North Little Rock, and this was the view from our window.  It was just a hop, skip and a jump to the bridge and across the Arkansas River to the Clinton Presidential Park. It made the city seem so much more accessible and friendly. The light show changed all night.

Dog parks.

Every day I'm grateful for dog parks. We frequented two nice ones in Little Rock: McArthur Park (in town and grassy) and Burns Park (across the river in North Little Rock and woodsy).  Then we discovered a spectacular one in Memphis: Shelby Farms Park, which was the dog park to beat all dog parks. One hundred acres!! On the day we visited that worked out to about 1 acre per dog. About eight ponds for swimming, long grass for rolling in, shade for cooling off and many other happy dogs and people to play with.


Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis.

I am not a fried chicken person. I can go for years without even thinking about it. But when we hit Memphis, I couldn't help but think of Gus's. That's World Famous Gus's. For good reason. We ate at the original location a few years ago for the first time. This time I tried another location, but got the same great chicken. They are small places, tightly packed, friendly, busy, sometimes a little loud. They only serve chicken with a few sides. The chicken is crispy, perfectly cooked and moist inside, and just a bit spicy, so it has a kick. You gotta try it.


RV parks with walking trails. 

Lately this has become my favorite feature when selecting an RV Park, but it's really hard to discern before you get there. Lots of parks say they have walking trails, but that can mean anything, like saying they have a pet area and it's the size of a 3x5 card. But we've found some parks with serious walking trials, like Tom Sawyer's in West Memphis.  (Honey and I saw a fox last night during our walk on the trails.) It's great when the trails are mowed and pass through a variety of landscapes. A couple of other parks with great walking trails are Catherine's Landing in Hot Springs and The Nugget RV Park in St. Regis Montana.

Catherine's Landing's Trail

Free Radio

Remember when all television and radio used to be free?  Boy it's been a long time since I watched free TV. But I listen to free radio all the time. I love the local stations for the community news and weather (especially fires, flooding and tornadoes), what's happening (rodeos, farmer's markets and football games), what's important (like corn, soy bean and pork belly prices), and what kind of music they like (country, rap or mariachi). Thank you free radio.


What were you feeling grateful for this week?

Stepping South One Week at a Time: Hot Springs, Arkansas

Since August we've been "dancing" diagonally across the country from Montana toward our destination this winter at The Great Outdoors in Florida.  We don't really have a repeating annual pattern other than generally north in the summer and south in the winter.  Sometimes we take the short slide straight north or south, and other times we take the long crossing from corner to opposite corner. As we most often try to, we're taking it slow, driving a couple of hours, often stopping for a week at a time at locations along the way. Some are simply the right distance from the last stop, and may not be particularly exciting, while others are "hot spots" like Hot Springs, Arkansas. 

This is our second visit to Hot Springs. The first was on our RV honeymoon in the tiny rented Cruise America in '09-'10. We stopped for one night on our midwinter rush to get to California. The weather was cold, wet and dreary and Hot Springs looked old, grey, funky and forlorn, but our friends Lynn and Glenn love it, so we thought we'd give it a second chance.

Well guess what, Hot Springs was cold, wet, dreary and still looked old, grey, funky and forlorn. (Sorry Hot Springs, I just had to say it.) 

On the first night I went to the Maxwell McBlade Theater of Magic. Don't know what got into me, but I just wanted a change of routine. Like Hot Springs, it was funny, funky and a little forlorn. An appropriate experience for Halloween. In fact, I'd say that second to New Orleans, Hot Springs might be the most perfect location to spend Halloween. It's historical and mysterious, with a lot of old and/or abandoned buildings perfect for haunting fantasies.  In fact my favorite thing about that evening was wandering Central Ave, getting a glass of wine and an ice cream cone (not together) and looking at all the Halloween decorations in the funky downtown store windows. Spooky fun. 

Why am I wandering the streets alone, you ask? Well, this is football season and Rick's Patriots are doing great, so he's really into it. Me, not so much. That leaves me with plenty of time to explore and adventure on my own.  In addition to the magic show, I also indulged at the Quapaw Baths and Spa on historical Bath House Row in Hot Springs National Park. My indulgence included a private 20 minute steamy aromatherapy bath and a 50 minute massage. (Both were lovely, but there was an awkward and poorly timed 40 minute wait between them, sitting in a bathrobe in a lounge/waiting area. No explanation given. If you go, check the timing of your services.) I also did a little personal and Christmas shopping in the chain stores just south of town. And got a haircut. That was kind of fun. 

In all fairness, I know some of our impressions were due to the rainy weather, and we did have a couple of sunny days that perked up our opinion of the place, just a bit.  The sunnier perspective may have also been because on those two days we didn't go downtown to the historic bath house district, but spent them outdoors in the beautiful natural areas that surround Hot Springs. (There, does that make up for dissing it earlier?)

On our first sunny day we went to the University of Arkansas' Garven Woodland Garden, a first class, scrupulously maintained and developed garden on the shores of Lake Hamilton.  

View of Lake Hamilton from Woodland Loop

The garden was created by Verna Cook Garven who almost single-handedly designed and implemented this gorgeous place and then donated it to the University upon her passing.  It's a shaded garden, so it's a cooling break from the humid Arkansas heat that surprised us after the chilly rain we'd been having.  Despite the deep shade, there are colorful plantings and great ideas for gardeners similarly sun challenged.

Seasonal mum planting

Fall annual plantings

The Gardens are preparing for their holiday light display, which looks like it will be glorious. It starts around Thanksgiving. Wish we were going to be here for that.

Blue lights running down the streams and waterfalls 

Koi pond with matching light sculpture

Fairy Garden

Miniature train display

There are themed sections of the Gardens, including a Japanese garden and a children's garden. We crossed a few architecturally stunning bridges as well.

Full Moon Bridge

Floating Cloud Bridge

Here's one Honey wouldn't cross. Just too wide a gap to jump.  Yes! They allow leashed dogs, for a $5.00 admission fee, which was the first we've encountered. We thought it was reasonable.  

We had a great lunch at the Chipmunk Cafe. This is not your typical attraction food concession. This was really good food. I'd absolutely recommend eating there when you visit, and I'm not just saying this to fill space. (Try the Grilled Chicken Raspberry Chipotle Sandwich. You will not be sorry.)

This guy kept us company during lunch. 

The grand finale of the visit was the Anthony Chapel, designed by Arkansas architect Maurice Jennings.  It is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's style, but we thought even better.  

It is beautifully integrated with it's wooded surroundings. 

Constructed completely of wood and glass above the stone foundation, not only does it let the light and views of the trees in, it reflects the images of the trees in the glass...

...and reflects the shapes of the trunks and branches in its structures.

We thought it was architectural perfection, down to the last detail.

The Chapel is part of a five building complex that is popular for weddings. We could certainly understand why.

The Anthony Family Trust Carillon

While here in Hot Springs we are parked at Catherine's Landing, one of the RVC Outdoor Destinations.  RVC is not an ownership park, it's just a corporate chain of RV parks that are very nice. They have a modern feel to all the facilities, rather than the more traditional rustic feel we encounter at so many RV parks. We got a nice long, level, concrete, full hook-up pull-through down by the river.

Site 84 at Catherine's Landing

What I'm calling the river is actually part of Lake Catherine, created by damming the Ouachita River. The park is nicely situated on the river, with a marina and boats for rent, and is surrounded by many many acres of woods and fields with a very long trail winding through them for comfortable hiking and dog walking close to home. They've got a beautiful saline pool and a nice fenced dog park. (Oh, there's a good dog park in Hot Springs as well, just a couple of miles up the road from here.)

Lake Catherine

There's lots of wildlife in the area, including many deer who frequent the dog park. Yes, inside the fenced dog park. They just jump in and out at their pleasure.

Some of the local wildlife

On our other nice day here we kayaked Lake Catherine in a leisurely manner up toward the dam and back. 

View of our rig from the river

More local wildlife along the river

We're wrapping up our stay here tomorrow and moving on to Little Rock. We'll be at the Downtown Riverside RV Park for our next week.  If you're there, let us know!