I got up this morning feeling a little tired, as I did not sleep well last night, but it was Wandering Wednesday, so tired or not, I was going wandering!
Of course, my GPS tried to be funny...
My first stop was The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. The monastery was established by Mother Angelica in 1962. You cannot take pictures inside the church, but I did take some outside.
After leaving the Shrine, I made some friends...
I then headed to the Ave Maria Grotto. This is a place I've wanted to go for several years, but no one ever wanted to go with me, but Wandering Wednesday has been partly about me getting out of my comfort zone and doing things by myself, so it was finally my chance to go!
Once again, my GPS decided to be funny and told me I had arrived at "Avenue Maria Grotto".
If you are not familiar with the Ave Maria Grotto, it is a 4 acre park on the grounds of the St. Bernard Abbey, with more than 125 miniature replicas of biblical structures and wold famous buildings. It also contains some Bavarian folklore scenes, such as Hansel and Gretel's castle. The St. Bernard Abbey is the only Benedictine monastery of men in the state of Alabama. MOst of these miniatures are the handiwork of Brother Joseph Zoetl, O.S.B., who was a monk in the Abbey for almost 70 years. However, there are a some miniatures that were created by Mr. Leo Schwaiger, who at the age of 87 is still there working in the park daily. He was pulling weeds put of a section he had built when I was there. I spent several minutes talking with Mr. Leo and he was a fascinating gentleman, whom I felt quite honored to have met. He told me that a lot of people never realize that he is there and still working. He also made it a point to tell me that he built the Lizard Condo and the Chipmunk Crossing.
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| The Cemetery. (Except the Chipmunk Crossing, which was not in the cemetery. I've included a larger picture further down.) |
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| Mr. Leo and his creations! |
Once I had walked through the Ave Maria Grotto and the cemetery where Brother Joseph is buried, it was time for lunch. I called my cousin, James, who works in Cullman and my friend, Bill and let them know I was headed to the restaurant. I loved having company for lunch, but they distracted me and I didn't take a picture of the restaurant or my meal!! We ate at Rumors Deli and I had the Mouth of the South Sandwich, (I only got a half a sandwich) with a side of potato salad and a delicious glass of sweet tea! http://rumorsdeli.com/ The Mouth of the South is Ham, turkey, roast beef, combo of onions, peppers,olives, mushrooms, lettuce &; tomato, 3 cheeses, mayo,spicy brown mustard & special sauce on a white hoagie. It was delicious!
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| My very pleasant and attractive lunch buddies! |
After a very pleasant lunch with two extremely handsome men, it was time for them to go back to work and for me to continue wandering. Just around the corner from the restaurant is the Cullman County Museum, which has a nice selection of artifacts relating to the history of Cullman County, including a nice exhibit on the 1863 "Mule Brigade" Raid by Abel Streight through North Alabama.
The gentleman working at the Cullman County Museum was very friendly and informative.
I still had two more stops I wanted to make, so I went back to my car and got on the road. I did stop to take this picture though.
About the time I arrived at the Clarkson Covered Bridge Park, it began to rain. I sat it out in my car, charging my phone a bit, so I could take some pictures. I won't copy and paste from the website, but her is a link to the website telling about the history of the bridge and park. http://www.cullmancountyparks.com/clarkson.htm You will see Abel Streight mentioned again on this website.
I almost decided to head back home, but programed my last stop into my GPS and realized it was only about 6 miles away, so I figured I was already that close, I may as well go!
So, my last stop for the day was the Crooked Creek Civil War Museum. I took a few pictures, but my battery was almost dead on my phone and once it gets so low, the camera quits working! http://www.co.cullman.al.us/Press/crooked_creek_museum_opening.html
Mr. Wise, the owner of the museum, came out and greeted me and was eager to show me around. He took me through the museum and insisted I pose for some pictures, so he took a couple of me. He was a quite interesting guy, who obviously loved Civil War history and loves that he owns property where a battle took place! He had some artifacts that had been found on his property.
In addition to the museum, he has camping available for 10 dollars a person (no hook-ups) Mostly tent camping, although he told me that my pop-up camper would be okay. He is working on a store and he has a cabin that he moved to his property by numbering the logs, taking it apart, moving it and putting it back together. It's a nice little cabin, with the dogtrot closed in the make the kitchen area and he put a bedroom upstairs, so it is two bedrooms. He calls it a Bed and Breakfast, but said he doesn't cook you breakfast, he just stocks the fridge with food for the breakfast. He said it rents for 100 dollars a night in the summer, 120 in the winter, with the increase to cover firewood. That is the rate for a couple. He said the price is a little higher for a family. I actually would love to go stay there!
I didn't go down the trail to look at the area where the battle took place, simply because it was getting late and I needed to head home. I think this place will go on my list of places to go back to!
I had budgeted $25 dollars (excluding gas) I spent $30.00. However, it worked like this:
Ave Maria Grotto -$5.00 admission with AAA membership
Cullman County Museum--$5.00 admission
Civil War Museum--$5.00 admission
Lunch--14 and some change. This was only because I treated my cousin to lunch and it was worth every penny! I enjoy seeing him and loved spending some time with him.
Everything else was free, so I feel like it was a relatively inexpensive day!
Some humorous pictures from the women's bathroom at Rumors Deli.
I know, I forgot to take a picture of my food, but took a picture of the toilet. What can I say!!
The ride home was uneventful, but I did pass a tow truck that made me chuckle.
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| I love the writing behind the cab: "If you can read this I'm going broke" |
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