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Just being a tourist
Saturday, June 5. Today I don’t go near the house. Instead I drive to downtown Mobile and visit a 9-block historic section called De Tonti Square featuring homes from the mid 1800s. A bit further I park and meander about two-dozen blocks in sweltering 85-degree weather that must be almost 80%!h(MISSING)umidity. I am soaked after a few blocks. I think even my fingernails are sweating. But it is an interesting walk. Dilapidated buildings contrast with lovely parks and waterfalls, huge churches, small bed and breakfasts and large hotel chains. One thing that is fairly amusing is when I drove downtown, parking is sparse. So I drive into an almost empty lot and pay my $5 to the parking lot machine. On the very next block, not only is there plenty of street parking, it is free. Oh, well. There may be a message here, but I’m not sure what it is.
I stop at Wintzell’s restaurant for lunch and while I waiting for my order, I move over to the bar and chat with the shucker who has been shucking oysters at this restaurant for 40 years. It’s a brightly decorated restaurant; its walls decorated with sayings.
Behind the bar are posted the results of 40 years worth of oyster contests. To have your name on the wall you have to outdo the latest winner. And the latest winner managed to down 400 oysters in an hour, a feat that may go down in history.
Travel suggestion: Automatic online backup. Not only saves pics but any data including notes for blogs or journals. I use Carbonite; backs up all my data for about $60 a year. What a pleasure it is to download my pictures and within minutes see the little green circles pop up, which mean the pictures are safely stored.
Move into Red Roof Inn in the evening. Room is roomy, clean, newly decorated with upgraded lav and fixtures. The bed is hard as a rock and I find myself sucking down an Advil about 5 in the morning. The pillows are lumpy and the towels a bit skimpy, but other than that it’s perfectly acceptable. It’s the parking lot where you see the biggest difference. Earlier as I drove around to my room, I spotted a shirtless man wandering around looking lost and rubbing his abs. My long and stringy-haired neighbor sat outside his
door in his lawn-chair croaking out songs. I think they were songs. And later when I walked to the office, two men were leaning against a pickup truck chatting, one was shirtless and his belly fell in folds. I may be psychically blind by the time I leave here.
A kick-back day
Sunday, June 6. Open my door to pouring rain so wait just a bit till it dies down a little. I can hear the church bells tolling from an enormous Baptist church across the freeway. I’ve been trying to take pictures of the churches whenever I can. The architecture varies tremendously. And there are a lot of them. Very interesting.
Stop at a park on the way to the house. Well, I thought it was a park since the entrance says, “Prudential Park”. But it’s a complex of buildings, medical facilities, and a hospital. The hospital was so interesting architecturally that I stop and snap a few pics. Then on to my house where I left keys for Mandy, the contractor, who starts manana and try once again to get the blinds clean. How smokers can do so much damage to a house within a year is beyond me.
I’m going to have to buy blinds for every room in the house cause they’re brown. Yuck.
Stop by a cafeteria-style restaurant on the way back to the motel. Huge line filled with people from a Church of God conference dressed in fancy, brightly-colored dresses with gorgeous hats. Don’t mind standing in line cause I have so much to look at.
At the motel I blog and look at my photos. Need to find a laundermat. I’ve already bought 3 T-shirts from Penney’s since I got here. I need to wash some clothes.
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Dot Whitelaw
non-member comment
Beautiful - Intresting
I cannot believe you are in Mobile, beautiful, My last time in Mobile was for Women In Construction Meeting. I think the year was 1998. I again envy you , keeping such good records. All my pictures, notes etc are stored in Large plastic storage box in my private Cage here at Park Springs Retirement Center. Be sure and go on Web Site and pull up " Park Springs Retirement Center, St. Mtn. Ga. " I am trying to figure out where your real home is now and where does your Daughter Live ? Dot Whitelaw