Doesn't everyone travel from Missouri to Canada via Alabama?!?!?
Day 1 we left Teresa and Charlie's home in Osage Beach, MO and headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC. We made it as far as Florence, AL before stopping for the night.
First stop, Rosewood Farms in Hartville, MO. A very nice gift shop, pretty Fall landscaping, and great handmade chocolates (fuel for the road)!
Next stop, Mammoth Springs State Park, AR. Great opportunity to get out and stretch our legs. The weather was gorgeous, sun shining on the water and trees. As you enter the State Park office/gift shop you are asked where you travelled from, we had agreed ahead of time that we would make something up to be silly and skew their statistics. Charlie tricked me by telling them I was from an Indian reservation outside of Santa Fe, NM and told them that I would be happy to tell them all about it! I exited out the rear door quickly as they began to ask questions about my made-up home.
We walked around enjoying the sunshine and learning about the early days of hydroelectric power generation. One of the original turbines is still housed in an old stone building built in 1927.
Florence, AL is home of the University of North Alabama and has a busy historical downtown area that reminded me of Lawrence. We had dinner there City Hardware, a small restaurant that had good reviews. The food was excellent. Bobby and Teresa had bacon wrapped meat loaf, I had pork chops, and Charlie had pecan crusted catfish topped with andouille sausage and shrimp.
Website with drool worthy menu pictures: http://www.cityhardwareflorence.com
To locate restaurants and hotels we used iPhone apps; TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Food Network on the Road. For the most part they were helpful and did not steer us wrong. Of course we also relied on local recommendations for eateries.
Lots of laughs were shared along the way including a suggestion that we should all get tattoos that read 'Turn right, no left'.
Day 1 we left Teresa and Charlie's home in Osage Beach, MO and headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC. We made it as far as Florence, AL before stopping for the night.
First stop, Rosewood Farms in Hartville, MO. A very nice gift shop, pretty Fall landscaping, and great handmade chocolates (fuel for the road)!
Next stop, Mammoth Springs State Park, AR. Great opportunity to get out and stretch our legs. The weather was gorgeous, sun shining on the water and trees. As you enter the State Park office/gift shop you are asked where you travelled from, we had agreed ahead of time that we would make something up to be silly and skew their statistics. Charlie tricked me by telling them I was from an Indian reservation outside of Santa Fe, NM and told them that I would be happy to tell them all about it! I exited out the rear door quickly as they began to ask questions about my made-up home.
We walked around enjoying the sunshine and learning about the early days of hydroelectric power generation. One of the original turbines is still housed in an old stone building built in 1927.
Florence, AL is home of the University of North Alabama and has a busy historical downtown area that reminded me of Lawrence. We had dinner there City Hardware, a small restaurant that had good reviews. The food was excellent. Bobby and Teresa had bacon wrapped meat loaf, I had pork chops, and Charlie had pecan crusted catfish topped with andouille sausage and shrimp.
Website with drool worthy menu pictures: http://www.cityhardwareflorence.com
To locate restaurants and hotels we used iPhone apps; TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Food Network on the Road. For the most part they were helpful and did not steer us wrong. Of course we also relied on local recommendations for eateries.
Lots of laughs were shared along the way including a suggestion that we should all get tattoos that read 'Turn right, no left'.
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