In the last post we left off saying that we were headed for lunch to a local "annual barbecue" for which we had high hopes, followed by an afternoon visiting Bellingrath Gardens. While visiting these attractions in Mobile, AL, we stayed at Sherman State Park, MS, one of the few state parks we've seen in our travels that is so poorly marked. Thank goodness for GPS - had we relied on the anticipated brown SP signs that mark most parks, we never would have located this one. The park itself was ok, but not very well-maintained, although we had a lovely site, large and very private, right on the edge of the swamp. As you can imagine, mosquitoes and some other tiny but very active insects were very active and very painful, especially in the early morning and late afternoon, so we did not spend too much time outdoors in that site. From this campground, however, we traveled to: 1) the annual barbecue in Mobile, 2) the Bellingrath Gardens, and 3) Dauphin Island, to scope out the camping facilities on this well-known island as possible sites for future trips.
The Barbecue: in short, the venue (county fairgrounds) was extremely crowded, the day was very hot and bright, and there wasn't much "barbecue" about it - almost none of the meats were cooked in sauces of any kind, most were just basic pulled pork or beef, served as 2-3 teaspoon size servings (and that after standing in line for 20 min for each taste). Another lesson learned: when you pay $10 each for an "all you can eat" barbecue, what it really means is "all you can stand to wait for before giving up and leaving." We had been hoping to pick up some good ol' southern home-style barbecue sauce for ourselves and those waiting for us at home, but that was not to be. Still, it was fun for a while being surrounded by so much southern twang, and most of the pork, though sauce-less, was tender and good.
Bellingrath Gardens: The gardens surrounding this home are very extensive and beautifully planned. We missed the peak Azalea season by just a few days from the looks of it; lots of blossoms on the ground beneath the shrubs,
and the ones on the bushes were lightly spotted with brown, but still, this is a breath-taking place to visit. It's worth reading a bit about the gardens on
their web site, so you can appreciate better a few of the photos that I will post. In short, this 65-acre garden was professionally designed, based in part on gardens the Bellingraths saw in their European travels, and it has been open to the public since 1934. Some of their azaleas are over a 100ft in diameter, so you can imagine the impact these make against the backdrop of green grass and trees when the plants are in full bloom in their magnificent bright colors.
Dauphin Island: in short - vastly overrated by our standards - overdeveloped and not someplace we'd really like to spend the night, much less more time than that. The drive to the island, however proved interesting. This area of Alabama is a stark contrast of the "haves" and "have-nots, as was much of South Carolina and the Florida panhandle. Some people live in large, well-manicured, gated communities (I suspect a few also had moats with crocodiles to keep out the riffraff). Others live in beaten-up trailers surrounded by beaten up cars and rusty swing sets. Those in the middle of these extremes seem few and far between. On this particular drive - the one to Dauphin Island - we were passing through one such hard-scrabble area and couldn't help but notice a large sign: hand painted in red on a large mattress leaning against a tree by the road was: "Beware: pit bull with AIDS". Behind the sign was a sad-looking trailer, rusted cars, assorted other broken and rusted things....and all of this was surrounded by the most glorious, large and brilliant azaleas, blooming in vivid purples and pinks - in their full glory! What a juxtaposition of beauty and threat!
Next we moved on to Paul B. Johnson State Park, near Hattiesburg, MS. This is a really beautiful, well-maintained park, with a large, well-designed camping area right on the edge of Geiger Lake, a nice fishing and recreation lake. Sites were well-situated with reasonable space around them (ours looked out over the lake), and with a nice mix of ages camping (babies through retirees), and people visiting from a broad range of states, including locals who are rightfully proud of their park and welcoming to those of us from the frozen north. ("Y'all come back now, hear? We'll look for you again next year.") Murphy developed a following of little girls at this park who wanted to "pet the puppy". We never figured out for sure whether all dogs in Alabama are referred to as puppies, or whether the kids and their parents thought he was a young dog because of his size. We suspect the latter, after hearing our neighboring camper's fully grown St. Bernard referred to as a puppy. : ) Mommas were (by northern standards) uncommonly vigilant to teach manners ("You have to ask the lady whether you can pet her puppy - remember to say please" and "Did you remember to thank the lady for letting you pet the puppy?") The kids took the lessons to heart, obviously - when older children addressed us, it was "yes Sir" or "no Ma'm" - lovely! We really enjoyed our time in this park (4 nights) and plan to come back again.
While we were in that area, John visited an armed forces museum in Hattiesburg which he said was excellent. I'll let him tell you about that himself later. Tomorrow we're heading into Nachez for a tour of historic homes. While in this area, we are staying at River View RV Park and Resort, Vidalia, LA, just across the Mississippi from Nachez, MS. We had some trepidation about staying in this private park, which from the website looked like a typical travel park with trailers parked a few feet apart, but in fact this is a very nice campground, right on the shore of the Mississippi (just grass between us and the river - lovely). I'll post some photos of this place on the next blog....or the one following John's description of the armed forces museum. Good night to you all!
