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Road Trip: Georgia/Alabama, 2014 – Part 2

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After visiting Georgia, we trekked to Alabama. Part of our time there involved a trip to Tuscaloosa. My wife had never been to The University of Alabama, and I managed to snag tickets to Alabama’s game against South Florida. (Later on, you’ll see how tough a ticket that was.) It’s always nice to return to the Capstone, and here are a few photos from that trip.

The historical marker at Tuscaloosa City Hall is kind of worn, but I like it that way.

Evergreen Cemetery is adjacent to Bryant-Denny Stadium, and houses perhaps even more history than its more famous neighbor.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen more text on one historical marker than I’ve seen on this one for Tuscaloosa’s Evergreen Cemetery.

The entire time I was in school at Alabama, I never ate at Rama Jama’s. I fixed that error.

“Alabama, listen, mother, / To our vows of love….”

The South Florida – Alabama game featured a canine halftime show!

For the first set of photos from this trip, click here or click here for the next set.

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Road Trip: Marquette, 2014

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In August 2014, I was part of a quick trip to Marquette, Michigan. It was a quick trip, but it nonetheless took me to several interesting places. Because of the distance involved, the trip north involved a few stops; my favorite was in Clare.

Cops and Doughnuts

Cops and Doughnuts has never disappointed. The baked goods are always excellent, and the staff are always friendly. The shop’s existence is also a great story, with the city’s police officers having bought the bakery when it was at risk of closure. If you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a stop.

Things got historic in the Upper Peninsula. There are so many amazing sites to visit, and I always feel like I missed so much even when I visit a lot of different places. The ore dock in the lower harbor is one of the great landmarks in the entire UP, in my humble opinion.

Lower Harbor Ore Dock, Marquette, Michigan

Engine House #3 at the Cleveland Mine, Ishpeming, Michigan

Michigan Iron Industry Museum, Negaunee Township, Michigan

The Iron Ore Heritage Trail offers some great views. This one is in Negaunee Township, Michigan.

All trips end one way or another. This one ended with Wembley doing Wembley things in my suitcase after I had (mostly) unpacked it.

He’s so very special.

Non-Road Trip: Alabama, 2016

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In June, 2016, I traveled down to Alabama to help take care of my mom while she recovered from a knee replacement. Normally, I would have driven to Alabama, but my doctor discouraged that, given that I had surgery scheduled a little more than a month from when the trip started. So, I flew to and from Alabama, making this a non-road trip, even if I did some driving while in Alabama. I still took photos of things during my travels, because that’s just what I do.

When this trip took place, we didn’t have Chick-fil-A restaurants popping up all over Michigan, so this sign was a welcome sight, because I knew waffle fries were in my immediate future.

This is the post office I visited when I was growing up.

This is Phoebe. She allows my sister and brother-in-law to live with her.

She also felt the need to carefully inspect my camera.

The folks who named this place were doing it right.

It was nice to explore a bit of history while awaiting my flight home.

This is Fisherman by Frank Fleming.

My mom sent me home with toys for the cats. Here, Wembley shows his approval.

Photographs: Trains, an Observatory, and Two Cats

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As I go through the photos that I want to post and share, I’m randomly selecting photos from the virtual pile, organizing them, posting some to my Flickr account, and then sharing a few here. I’m not going in any particular order; actually, I’m avoiding it by letting a random number generator pick the photos that I work with on a given day. Here are the things that I thought were share-worthy from this batch.

Grand Elk Railroad engine 4002 in White Pigeon, Michigan

Grand Elk Railroad engine 4017, also in White Pigeon

Albion College Astronomical Observatory

Wembley’s feet are huge.

His nose is stinkin’ cute, though. (Also, see what I did there?)

Gobo has so many toys that he ignores. Bottle caps and cardboard, though, get his undivided attention.

That said, Gobo did like this pillow for a little while.

He’s not dead. He’s just sleeping *really* hard … on top of his head.

Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 3

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The last full day in Mobile featured a fun 5k and some more sightseeing.

Ben Mee branch, Mobile Public Library

This is one of the best-ever backdrops for a race finish.

The Government Street Presbyterian Church is one of the myriad historic sites in Mobile.

All good things come to an end, and we had to take our leave of Mobile and make our way back to Michigan.

This sign needs to be everywhere.

My hotel waffle-making skills are strong.

It’s also nice when someone else makes the waffle. Yes, I had waffles twice in one day. #sorrynotsorry

One does not simply walk into Waffle House and make a breakfast taco. Wait, one totally does that.

No matter how well they treat him, Wembley fears cat-sitters. He was very happy that we returned home.

That’s it for this trip! If you missed the previous parts of this series, you can check them out here and here.

Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 2

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A visit to the USS Alabama (BB-60) was the centerpiece of the road trip. Literally, it’s the thing that was on the schedule first. My father, who as a young child donated to the effort to bring the Alabama home to Mobile, had never seen the ship in person. That had to be corrected. Here are a few photos from our visit to Battleship Memorial Park.

 

A panoramic shot of the USS Alabama

 

Three of the Alabama‘s 16-inch guns

Sight for a 20-mm machine gun

Looking toward the bow from a perch several decks above the main deck

The superstructure of the USS Drum

If you’re curious about part 1 of the photos from this trip, click here; for the next part, click here.

Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 1

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I’m way behind on a number of things; one of those things is in sharing photos. I’m 2-3 years behind on that stuff, so I’m trying to dig out the backlog. This post will share a few of my favorite photos from the trip that my wife and I took to Mobile, Alabama, in May 2017.

Pretty much every trip south for us hits a Waffle House early. We don’t have those in Michigan, so Waffle House is a must-visit location. This one is in Daleville, Indiana.

Waffle House, Daleville, Indiana

The next highlight of the trip was in a little commercial strip in Athens, Alabama. Here, we found Joe’s World Famous Pizzeria. In most cases, the phrase “world famous” is a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s not really the case here. Joe Carlucci has won multiple world pizza championships and hold a couple of Guinness world records for his pizza skills. Joe left my wife and me feeling like we were his long-time friends, and prepared amazing calzones for us. He shared a number of stories from his pizza-making adventures, and treated us to cannoli for desert. We look forward to our next visit to Athens.

The man himself: Joe Carlucci performing his wondrous craft

Legendary calzone (well, half of one)

Our first day proper in Mobile featured a walk around downtown Mobile and a trip to GulfQuest, the national maritime museum of the Gulf of Mexico. Given that I enjoy photographing ships and neon signs, both of these destinations worked well for me.

GL Calmena

Naman’s Department Store neon sign

Hoffman Furniture Company neon sign

For the next parts of this series, click here and here.

What I See When I Run: Whovian Edition

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For a few days, flooding has kept me off most of the Lansing River Trail. There was a bit of trail near downtown that didn’t flood, though, and I visited it during my 11-mile run on Saturday.

Along the trail, starting at Impression 5 (a museum) and extending south(ish) toward Potter Park Zoo, there are markers that represent the planets (and Pluto, which was no doubt considered to be a planet when these markers were installed) in our solar system, spaced to scale how they are generally spaced in the solar system. It’s a nifty way to make walks along the trail into educational opportunities.

All of that leads to this photo, taken along the trail near the marker for the fourth planet.

My friends who enjoy Doctor Who will understand and appreciate it when I say that these are, obviously, the waters of Mars.

By the way, I am not looking to pick a fight with folks who aren’t down with Pluto’s having lost its status as a planet. Personally, I’m neutral on the issue; I’m not planning to visit any time soon, so I just can’t get worked up about it. If you firmly believe that it should be classified as a planet, I won’t argue with you about it.