Wandering Wednesday 4

I had planned to have company today for Wandering Wednesday, but my friend had something come up. I kinda hated to continue with my plans, as she is who brought my attention to my first stop, however, I decided to go ahead and follow through with my plans.  When getting up this morning, I considered not wandering today, because the weathermen were calling for heavy bands of rain to move through the state. But I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.

The place my dear friend Ree had told me about was Orr Park in Montevallo. Orr park is a beautiful park that has many cedar trees throughout it.  However in 1993 a storm had damaged some of the trees and some were dying and it looked as if the trees would be removed at some point.  An artist, Tim Tingle  sought permission from the city leaders and he turned many of these trees into works of art.

I arrived at the park and walked across a small bridge and began walking through the park.  I started out walking on the sidewalk, but it was difficult to stay on track because I kept seeing another face or creature in the trees off the main path. Here are some collages of some of the pictures I took.

 This picture didn't get put into a collage and I thought it was very good, so here it is.

I enlarged this picture so hopefully you can see the real squirrel sitting on top of the carved squirrel. 

I made a quick stop at Eclipse Coffee and Books, because my friend Brie had told me I should.  I wasn't ready for lunch, so I got a brownie and a root beer.
 I had hoped to go to the Aldrich Coal Mining Museum, but I had already learned it was closed on Wednesdays, so I just drove by and got a picture.

This is the info I found about this museum:

"The company store of the former Montevallo Coal Mine displays pictures and artifacts of local history such as the community of Aldrich, coal mine, prison, stores, churches and post office. Collection teaches history of coal mining in Alabama. Has only coal miner monument in Alabama.

The coal mine museum now contains the Simulated Coal Mine." I obtained this info from http://www.bhamtodo.com/Attractions/Aldrich-Coal-Mining-Museum.aspx

I think it would be interesting to go back some day when they are open.

 

I decided to head to Columbiana, Alabama since I had discovered that there is a museum there with art and artifacts connected to George Washington. Yep, right there in little bitty Columbiana, Alabama is the Karl C. Harrison Museum of George Washington. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated.

 However, I used my GPS to find nearby attractions and decided to go by the Alabama National Cemetery before leaving the Montevallo area.

 I just drove through the Alabama National Cemetery and then headed on the the Karl C. Harrison Museum of George Washington in Columbiana.

The kind gentleman there allowed me to take a few pictures after he showed me around, providing they were for my personal use and I did not use a flash.  Since this is my personal blog and I am not making any money from it, just sharing with some friends, I think this is my personal use. 

The museum was quite interesting and the curator was very informative.  I was the only person there, but just as I was leaving, a group of three came in.  I meant to leave a donation in the donation box, but got distracted and forgot.

It was a little after 1:00, so I decided it was lunch time.  My friend Shelley had told me that her brother owned a barbeque place in Columbiana called  Beverly's.  It didn't automatically come up as a nearby food place on my GPS, but when I typed in the name, I found it quickly and it was just around the corner.

After a good meal of Barbeque, potato salad and slaw, accompanied by a glass of freshly made sweet tea and a chat with Shelley's brother and sister-in-law, I was quite content. My meal cost a few cents less than what the price on the chalkboard said, so either there was a lunch price I didn't see, or knowing someone came in handy.  The prices were reasonable anyway though.

As I was finishing lunch it began raining pretty hard.  I was planning on going to the Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery and then heading to Clanton to see a friend, but decided that I might need to head on home before those forecasted  "heavy rain bands" hit.  I texted my friend telling her I wasn't coming and decided that with the rain I would head to the interstate instead of taking back roads.

On my way to the interstate, the rain slacked up and I saw a sign for the confederate cemetery, so I turned around and went back to the road by the sign and started looking for the cemetery.

Just a few miles down the road and I found it. I turned in and parked my car.  It was right off the road, but it was remote and wooded, so I was a little nervous being out there by myself. However, I got out and walked through the cemetery. It began raining again while I was walking around, but it wasn't a heavy rain and actually was kind of nice.

I decided that I would go on to Clanton and see my friend, so I sent her a quick text and hopped back in the car and headed that way.  I made one quick stop to buy a bottle of water. I got to Clanton and found the Winn Dixie (she was at work) luckily I caught her on a break, so we had a few minutes to chat before she had to go back in to work.  I went in and since I've been craving carrots, I went and got some carrots and went through her line, paid for my carrots and hugged her bye.

It was after 3, so I decided to head towards the house.

Wandering Wednesday number 4 cost me, including the carrots, a whopping 18.00. Plus, I had a carrot and water to snack on on my way home. (not including gas)

I forgot to take a picture of Brie or the Winn Dixie, but Brie never liked having her picture taken and Clanton Winn Dixie wasn't any more special than other Winn Dixie, so I guess that is not a big deal.

I did, however snap a picture of the Clanton Peach!