Summerdale Part 2

12/02/07 Sunday we went to O’Charlies for dinner, then returned to the park for the ice cream social and entertainment by the bluegrass group called the “Wayfarers”. They were very good and drew a good crowd.

12/03/07 Sandy went to the beading group at the clubhouse where she started making a bracelet. In the evening we played cards at the clubhouse.

12/04/07 Tuesday we went down to Gulf Shores and walked the beach and got our feet wet in the gulf. We then went to DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen and had a very good seafood lunch. After lunch we rode over around Pensacola and back to Summerdale.

12/05/07 we went over to Fairhope again and walked through the rose gardens at the city park. Fairhope is a beautiful city with their waterfront park and fishing pier. We then stopped at Wal-Mart for some supplies on the way home.

12/08/07 Saturday we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. In the afternoon we went back to Foley and Gulf Shores.

12/10/07 Monday we went for a ride up through Mobile and down the other side of the bay to Dauphin Island and got on the ferry and crossed the mouth of Mobile Bay to Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores. It was a beautiful day for the ride, sunny and in the mid seventies. Fort Morgan on the Gulf Shores (east) and Fort Gaines on the Dauphin Island (west) side were used during the Civil War to blockade Mobile Bay.

Summerdale, AL

11/27/07 Tuesday we went into Foley and the model railroad museum. This railroad layout is an extensive collection of Lionel trains that was given to the city by Alan Goldman of Montgomery, AL. with the stipulation that it be displayed for free and accessible to children. The building it is housed in was built solely to house the layout. The dimensions of the layout are 24’ X 60’ and consists of a quarter mile (1,320’) of track
The train and scenes are representive of the period of time from 1930 to the 1960’s and there are twelve different railroad lines represented.
There are many realistic scenes of varied industry sites including coal mine, oil refinery, logging operations etc. There are also a number of animated sites such as Mel’s Drive-in, a car wash, church, Union 76 gas station and a drive-in movie. This is a great display operated solely by volunteers who spend countless hours setting up and maintaining the display.

11/28/07 We took a ride over to Fairhope and walked along the beach and out on the fishing pier. Fairhope is a very pretty town right on Mobile Bay. There are a lot of nice shops along Main Street and many nice homes on the waterfront.

11/29/07 Thursday we returned to the model train museum to watch the volunteers work the trains and watch a video on the history of the collection.
On our way back home we saw three large cotton pickers harvesting cotton so naturally we had to stop and watch and take some pictures. As we were standing there one of the machines stopped and the operator asked if we wanted to ride along and soon I was in the air conditioned cab riding along picking cotton. Like we say you never know what lays ahead around the next bend. Every day is an adventure.

11/30/07 we went to see a campground near Foley that the Holiday Rambler Full Timers are going to have their spring rally. The Anchor’s Aweigh RV Resort is very new and very nice, but a little pricey.

12/01/07 we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. In the after noon we went for a nice walk then went to CeCi’s Pizza for dinner with Bob and Donna Cole our neighbors at the park.