Wanderers in Wonder

Staunton, Virginia…lovely Colonial town with a wonderfully restored downtown. Birthplace of the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson’s birthplace and first home…front and back. Wilson’s beloved Pierce Arrow touring car. Wilson loved to have his chauffeur take him for afternoon drives. He himself never learned to drive and never had a driver’s license.…

Pittsboro Courthouse, 1881. Ye Olde Fashion lunch counter and cafe…Malt Shakes, Dreamsicle Shakes and Egg Creams. Hiking and Camping at Jordan Lake State Park. Lunch with my sister and her husband after a lovely hike around Jordan Lake. Beach time at Jordan Lake. Downtown Apex, NC. Lovely time with my sister Ruth and her husband with the…

Rain, Rain and then more Rain. Being Desert Rats for the past forty-five plus years has not prepared us for the onslaught of water and trees. Had two weeks of almost daily rains. Can’t see anything but trees…boy do they muck up the vistas.  Of course all of this rain does make for some gorgeous water falls!…

Summer of ’85 we were on our way East living on a shoestring, skipping as much of so-called civilization as possible. The pick-up wound up at the entrance to Shiloh National Battlefield. The gate was locked. It was late so we just pulled off on a dirt shoulder and camped for the night.  In the…

I now see why Sam McGee left “Tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows…”  What a mess! Good news…all of this modern entertainment cuts down on the traffic in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ten miles down the road. River Right and Left 1 were taken from a pedestrian Bridge across the Little Pigeon River in downtown Pigeon…

The Walnut Street Bridge built in 1890 was the first non-military bridge across the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. The bridge was decommissioned in 1978. It was allowed to fall into disrepair for more than ten years. Then the citizens of Chattanooga rallied to save the bridge. Today it is part of the lovely downtown Riverwalk. Hunter…

The second bloodiest battle of the Civil War, after Gettysburg, Chickamauga (18 – 20 September 1863) might have been a bigger turning point of the War than Gettysburg. The South carried the field at Chickamauga but they did not destroy the Union Army of the West. The tables would be turned two months later when…

Vulcan — atop Red Mountain. The largest cast iron statue in the world…56 feet tall, 100,000 pounds. Vulcan was the most popular exhibit at the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis before being installed on Red Mountain. While our Birmingham friends Katie and Jabriell disagreed on the best BBQ in town, both recommended Nikki’s West…

The oldest Major League Baseball Park in the country. The place was locked up when we arrived for a look-see. There was a side service entrance gate open so we wandered in. As we took some pictures a young man who was cutting the outfield grass came over and we commenced to talk. An hour…

Bombingham was ruled by the notorious racist Sheriff Bull Connor. There were no African American policemen on his force in the 1950’s and most of the 1960’s. His response to peaceful protests by African Americans were attack dogs and water canons. The African American leader of the Bombingham protests was the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Every…