Alabama: Mobile Bay (Day 2)

Day 140
No Boat Travel

It took over two hours but we finally managed to get our rental car this morning.  We called for a pickup from Enterprise at 8:00 and eventually drove out of their parking lot in our rental at 10:00. We got a surprise when the agent picked us up as she stopped at Dog River Marina after our stop at Turner Marine to pick up another costumer.  Much to my delight the other customer turned out to be our friends on Drifters.  We had a lovely chat in the car driving to Enterprise and found ourselves in their lobby in no time.

Last night we made arrangements with Colin and Dawn on Movin' On to pick them up once we had the car and go touring around the area.  By the time we got the car back to the marina and took care of some urgent flood insurance business that could not wait, it was 11:00 before we set out for our sightseeing.  We decided to visit Fair Hope, Alabama as multiple people have told us what a quaint town it is.

Fairhope is on the opposite side, East side, of the bay and Dog River is on the west side, so we had to go all the way around the bay to the other side.  The drive took just about 45 minutes. Since Clark was driving, Colin in the "shotgun" seat in the car was responsible for capturing on-the-road photos today. I was seated in the back with Dawn.

Ev and Dawn

Along the way we spied the USS Alabama.

USS Alabama in Mobile, AL

Once we exited the highway the trip into Fairhope was a very pretty one, and Colin had his camera on the ready as well as ours.

Road into Fair Hope, AL

The town proved to be well worth the trip for a look around.  Being from New Jersey I am not used to seeing flower-lined streets in mid-November.  With the sun shining brightly, we enjoyed a splendid day.

City of Fairhope Town Clock
near Fairhope, AL Welcome Center

Flower-lined Street in Fairhope, AL

Today was Veteran's Day and the City of Fairhope had a special ceremony planned to honor veterans. At the ceremonial site a field of 3000 handmade ceramic poppies surrounded the park statue in Henry George Park by the water's edge.  In among the 2998 red poppies were 2 yellow poppies.  The result was magnificent. Dawn and I were curious as to the significance of the yellow ones and were told that they represent the Missing In Action soldiers.  After the ceremonies are concluded, each poppy goes on sale tomorrow for $20 each to raise money for local veterans' organizations.

The town got the idea from a similar but larger poppy display in England last year at the Tower of London. Poppies have been a symbol for the sacrifices made by our troops since World War I when poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, Belgium. A soldier wrote a poem from which the poppy symbol was born.

Poem:
In Flanders Field
by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

After our walk through the park we strolled towards the Fairhope municipal pier and dock hoping for a bite to eat for lunch.  The park overlooks the pier, so we walked down steps to the streets below and out onto the pier where we found a restaurant.  The only problem was that it was 12:45 and the restaurant opened at 4:00.  We could not understand why the local businesses did not take advantage of the large number of folks milling around town on the holiday.

Fairhope Municipal Pier and Docks

We left the pier hungry thinking we had to walk back into the downtown area for lunch when Colin spied a restaurant over to the side.  I found no name on the restaurant - just a banner advertising their specialties of shrimp, seafood, and barbecue.  We decided to go for it and all agreed that the catfish was marvelous - light crispy batter on moist flaky fish.  Absolutely delicious and I normally avoid fried foods!

After our scrumptious lunch we walked back up the hill into town for more exploration of the streets but with the ulterior motive of finding an ice cream shop.  A local heard us discussing the desire for an ice cream  and told us we were one block over from the sweets shop.  We strolled down a cute alley lined with tables and chairs used by cafes and bistros to cut over to the other street and voila there was the sweet shop.  Outside the sweet shop we found a great old Chevy Truck.

46 Chevy Truck

After the ice cream treat we headed for the history museum by the Welcome Center only to find it closed for Veterans' Day.  We decided to take the car and head for another place to look around.  Dawn had heard about Spring Hill College and had a desire to drive through their campus.  Spring Hill is a Roman Catholic Jesuit college, and the church on campus was absolutely beautiful.  As we drove through, we saw lots of college students enjoying a pleasant day on campus.

Catholic Church on Spring Hill Campus in Mobile, AL

Before heading back to the marina, we decided to go to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for dinner.  Seems like none of us were anxious for the day to end.  After dinner we decided that we really did need to get back to our respective boats for the night.  We had a wonderful day with great friends whom we will not see for several months as they must now return to Australia due to visa regulations.  We hope very much that our paths will cross once again upon their return when they can continue and conclude their Great Loop journey.