Saturday, February 11, 2017

A really nice day....


Our Location: Bluegrass Rv Park, Foley, Alabama

A warm night lead to a very nice morning, but the clouds rolled in this afternoon cooling things off a bit but it wasn't a cold day here, nor is this evening cold, just bordering on cool now at almost 9 pm. 

Miniature Train outside the museum

Our neighbours Ed & Sue, along with Neil & Carol pulled out this morning heading to Bernie, Texas. An early start they were pulling out just about 7:15 am. Happy travels to all of them. Hope to see them again in the future. 

Train ride thru the park and along Antique Rose Trail

Breakfast was a quiet event, we discussed the day ahead and made a few decisions while munching on our food, when we finished it was up and at 'em. Out the door we headed around 8:30 am to venture to downtown Foley a mere 2 or 3 minutes away. We parked near the train museum which we've been wanting to visit for some time. 

L & N Engine

Leaving the Dogsled in the parking area near the museum we once again started out on the walking trail named The Antique Rose trail which starts/ends on the grounds at the Clock Tower/Train Museum. We walked it all the way to the end of the bike path today, which was about 5 minutes past where we turned around the other day. This time the wind was directly from the south and was warm in our faces on our return trip. It's a great path and we enjoyed it but we're also looking for a new one to use. Like to keep things interesting.

Love the sign...~laugh~

Arriving back at the Dogsled at 9:45 am, but the Train Museum doesn't open until 10 am, so we gathered our things from the Dogsled and head up the block to the Museum but first I crossed Laurel/US 59 to the post office, had to mail a letter to Canada. Riley waited for me on the other side and was busy taking pictures. We managed to enter the museum about 10:05 am, where we were warmly greeted by a nice lady that offered us a bit of an introduction to the museum which is housed in the old L & N Train station. L stands for Louisville, and N stands for Nashville, so the Louisville & Nashville Train Station. The engine outside is of the same name. 

Potato Grader

The Station Museum held some interesting items from various different eras. Some of the exhibits included a wooden wheel barrow, numerous old adding machines, typewriters, farm implements, weigh scales, and even a potato grader. A few household items such as twin wooden buckets with a set of rollers in between for doing laundry, and old wringer washing machine, a very antique vacuum cleaner and refrigerator. 

Miniature farm, feed station, tunnels and trestles, along with a still....

Heading outside to go to the Miniature Train building we were greeted with warm air and darkening skies. The Miniature Train building houses a massive miniature city with multiple tracks, bridges, tunnels, farms, oil refinery, grain elevators, multiple small items including a corn whiskey still, a homeless tent area referred to as the Snowbird camp, a revenuer man in the tree being threatened by the still owner, bridge painters, as well as an entire city of people, vehicles, buildings, stop lights, train crossings, trolley cars, and so on. A circus, a drive in movie theater with I love Lucy playing, a car wash, and a drive in complete with car hops on roller skates could also be found among the many things in the city. 

Small part of the city....

There were 8 trains going today, including Thomas the Tank Engine for the young kids in the crowd. About 5 men, all volunteers were there to show us their wonderful exhibit and answer all kinds of questions. The trains circled the entire city and it was amazing to see all the street lights worked turning red and green, train crossings with working arms and bells, along with the lights, a trolley car ran around the city streets, various other items moved as well. It was extremely interesting.

Thomas the Tank Engine for the little folks in the crowd...

The entire exhibit was donated by a man name Alan Goldman who lived in Montgomery, Alabama. He donated it to Foley with the stipulation that it always be free to view by the public. The volunteers went to Montgomery to his house and in three days dismantled the entire thing which he had set up in ONE room but in various layers or heights to it. Those volunteers brought it back to Foley and spent 14 months putting it back together on ONE level. It's approximately 60' in length and about 15 feet wide. They have two 'trap doors' which they can open up for access to various parts of the display, and they can walk on any of the tracks that run along the outside of the city. It's truly a fascinating place. 

On going fire, been going for 10 years. ~laugh~

We left the museum and headed out to the discount drug store called Fred's, Riley needed some foot care items. Those purchased we came home to the Igloo and just kind of lazed around the rest of the day. I tended to the wart on the bottom of Riley's foot with some Freeze Away wart remover, it worked before so hopefully it works this time as well.  I had a little nap after that as I think the purchase of the new to us Dogsled took a bit out of me or maybe it was the smell of Riley's feet, I'm not sure which. ~laugh~ 

I spent some time reading the manual for the Dogsled and discovered a few things I didn't know about it. Roy, Vern and Paul dropped by to examine the new Dogsled, offering advice, asking questions, and making comments.Always nice to have people notice things. ~laugh~ 
 
A quick game of Yahtzee in which we both rolled a Yahtzee but Riley won again. I can't catch her cheating but I know she does. ~laugh~ 

Time to prep dinner and then some more reading as the sun slowly left the sky and darkness finally arrived just after 6 pm. Outside by 6:30 pm to BBQ dinner, not as cold as I thought it might be!!

Turkey burger is under the cheese. ~laugh~ 

Dinner tonight was Garlic Dill Potatoes with Onions, Sweet Basil/Parsley Veggies and Turkey Burgers. I must say it was all pretty good!!!!!


After a quick clean up inside and out, a trip to the dumpster, it was time to head off in our own directions. So there you  have it, not an exciting day but a very enjoyable one. Thanks for stopping by , until next time...take care, be  safe....

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