Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama

Date:  May 23, 2019

Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum

Packing Up Getting Ready to Move

Who in the world planned this, moving on the Friday of a Memorial Day Weekend.  That person should be taken out behind the woodshed and properly disciplined.   Wait a minute, that guy is me!  I caught the 4th of July weekend but totally missed this one.  Oh well it is what it is.  Tomorrow we’ll see what the traffic is like.

First thing this morning Barbara had her last Doctor’s appointment before we leave.  He is really pleased with the progress she has made in just three days.  He has reaffirmed his desire to continue to work with her as long as she continues to to do the things he has asked her to do.  She is determined.

Let’s go back to where we were yesterday.  If you remember we decided to go to

 

And my goal was, as with the St. Augustine Lighthouse,  to get to the top.

Come on along and lets see what we can discover and learn.  This is the first thing we came across.  In the beginning. . .

Today

Next up.  One of the curious things about this lighthouse is it’s color.  Why black?  We learned that each lighthouse has both a distinctive color combination as well as a distinctive light beam.  In this way one lighthouse can be distinguished from another.   So if during the day you see a black and white lighthouse you know you are looking at the Pensacola lighthouse.  Furthermore, each lighthouse is custom built for it’s location.  It’s conical in shape in order to withstand hurricane force winds.  This lighthouse is built of brick because stone was too costly at the time.

I couldn’t decide which to see first , the lighthouse or the museum.  I finally decided on the lighthouse, my thinking being I’ll leave the air conditioned museum till after my climb.  Are you all limbered up?  Let’s start our climb.  We begin here.

The way up, and of course ultimately the way down.  We have a total of 177 steps to climb.  Doesn’t sound all that bad but the problem is it is a straight climb, there are no platforms at any level where you can stop to catch your breath.  You just have to stop on the stairs if you need to.

We’re getting there.

Made it, well almost.  Yup, that’s Amanda’s Benny the Bison. 

This is the final set of stairs to the top and then outside.

Outside and what a fantastic view.  This is the Intercoastal Waterway and off in the distance on that Island is Fort Pickens.  That water is such a beautiful deep blue.

The ICW continues off to the right, look close and you can see the channel that cuts through that spit of land.

Way off in the distance is the Pensacola Beach, down by the high rise buildings.

Recognize this?  My favorite new hangout, The National Naval Aviation Museum.

This is the home of the Blue Angels or as the locals call them The Blues.

And that big blue and white C130 next to the water tower is known as Fat Albert.  Until today it was used to transport the ground support team for the Blues around the country.  They announced on the news today that it has been retired with no current plans to replace it.  Nor has any announcement been made as to what will be used in the future.

Looking down from the top to where we came from and where we need to go again.

Well we’re down and if you will excuse me for a minute I need to sit and catch my breath.  Ok, let’s get going again.  We’ll tour the grounds first and then go into the museum.

This is the Pump House.  Using a hand-powered well pump was easier and faster than drawing water from the well by hand.  In 1939 the hand pump was replaced with a generator-powered pump.  The pump was enclosed in a shed to protect it from the elements.

The house, which is the present museum, once housed both the primary keeper and the assistant.  Each lived in a different side of the house, each side was identical to the other.  This cellar was on the primary keeper’s side of the house.

Built in 1892 this shed was used to store the kerosene used for the lighthouse light.  It was a fire hazard to keep it in the lighthouse.  When the lighthouse was electrified in 1939 this shed was used to store general supplies.

Ah yes, the one place no one wanted to go on a rainy or cold night.  The Outhouse.  There were two on the grounds originally, one on the lawn of the Keeper and used by his family; the other on the lawn of the Assistant Keeper which was used by him and his family.

But wait, there was a solution to having to go out late at night.  And that was – the Chamber Pot.  By the mid 1800’s almost every American family had one in every bedroom.  They were usually kept under the bed or in a nightstand.  They remained in use through the 40’s and even into the early 50’s.  It was highly recommended that it be emptied as soon as possible – I wonder why!

Time now to move to

The front entrance.  One door to the Keeper’s house, the other to the Assistant Keepers house.  As you look at the rooms further on, remember there was an identical room on the other side of the house.

This was the Parlor on the Keepers side as it looked during the time the last live in Keeper occupied the house.

This room served as the kitchen and dining room for most of the lighthouse’s occupation.  Here the keepers and their families gathered for their meals.

The Keepers bedroom.

The children’s bedroom.  Of course the cat is center stage in the middle of the bed!

There was a room about the women who served as lightkeepers.

A display case of miniature lighthouses from around the country.

This is Jeremiah Pelican, Lighthouse Keeper.

I’ll end with this.

That was where we were yesterday and it was great.  There are a number of historical sites that we missed this time around, but we’ll get them when we come back to this area.  Oh, in case some might be wondering Is There A Museum You Just Won’t Visit?  Why yes there is, its called the Spear Throwing Museum!  Definitely going to take a pass on this one!

Our day on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  Time now to begin packing up and putting things in order for our move tomorrow.  I also need to get a good night’s sleep, so I’m going to bid everyone a Good Night.

Thanks again for joining us on our journey.  We hope you enjoyed your travels with us.  Have a good night, catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 22, 2019

Bill, Follow Up Doctor’s Appointment

National Naval Aviation Museum

I guess it’s time to get caught up.   So what have been up to?   Let’s go back to yesterday and we’ll start there.

I needed to get back to the VA for a follow up regarding my finger.  We also had more to see at the National Naval Aviation Museum.  

First stop was the VA outpatient clinic in Pensacola.  I needed  to know the status of my poor, sorry finger.  Up until now things at the various VA clinics had gone rather smoothly.  This time we hit a brick wall.   All this time and I never knew that the VA was organized into regional centers and they don’t talk to one another.  Meaning, each time you move to a new regional center you have to register and arrange to have your medical records retrieved from where you have been.  This was beginning to look like a long, difficult day.  Until, until God once again brought us to the right person at the right time.  A care coordinator who had years of experience and knew exactly what to do, and how to get it done in record time.  The net result was we were in and out in a matter of hours instead of having to spend a full day there.  My finger?  Healing nicely, thank you and no complications.

Follow up appointment over it was time to head back to the National Naval Aviation Museum.  This would be our third day there and I’ll be honest, I’m like a kid in a candy store whenever I go there.  I want more, more days, lots of days there.  Only because I know we’ll be coming back to this area can I call it quits after today.  But we’ll be back.  There is just that much to see.

This time we’re going to look at one more special display area.  I’ll be honest we’re only going to be able to skim through this section since there is just so much to cover and see.  Here we go.

First up is the USS Langley.  Originally known as the USS Jupiter the ship was first constructed to carry coal.  It took two years to convert the ship to an aircraft carrier.  Officially named the Langley, it was nicknamed the Covered Wagon because of the appearance of her flight deck.  In 1942 the ship was sunk the result of a Japanese air attack.

 This is the USS Wasp the last Navy aircraft to enter service before the beginning of WW II.  The ship served at first in the Atlantic theater and then moved to the Pacific theater.  Among those who served on board was the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.  This was the third Navy aircraft to be lost to enemy action.  The ship was sunk by an enemy torpedo in 1942.

This is the USS Intrepid.  Commissioned in 1943 the ship saw extensive action in the Pacific theater.  Torpedoed once and hit by kamikazes twice the ship earned the nickname Evil I.  After the war the ship served as a recovery vessel for the Mercury space program and also saw action in Vietnam.

This is one of the propellers that once propelled the USS Intrepid.  It is 15 feet in diameter and was one of the propellers installed when it was first commissioned.

Now we come to this

Somewhere in the Pacific theater.

A model of the ship.  I was absolutely amazed at the attention to detail that was apparent.

Barbara found them all though it took some doing.  This is what I mean when I say attention to detail.

We move now to a display that recreates a portion of an actual flight deck of an aircraft carrier.  The Cabot was one of nine light carriers commissioned during WW II.  It was

nicknamed the Iron woman.  The replica Island of the ship viewed here was built by the museums staff using actual blue prints with a slight reduction to the islands height due to the ceiling height in the museum.

This is a scale model of the ship, again I was absolutely amazed by the attention to detail.

Working on their tan.

 

As we discovered with the Alabama one of the primary antiaircraft weapons Navy ships carried were 40 mm guns.   With a fire rate of 160 rounds per minute the gun barrels heated quickly and so were covered with a water jacket through which cooling water was pumped when the gun was in action.

 Two  future presidents – Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush served on light carriers.This is the type of plane that George H. W. Bush flew while on carrier duty.  It was a TBM Avenger.  Look closely and you’ll see his name just under the canopy.   

The Avenger was a torpedo bomber and during the war more than lived up to its name.  It was one of the most versatile of the Navy’s aircraft and became a mainstay on carrier decks.

That brings us to the end of this special display but not to the end of other displays and aircraft on display at the museum which we’ll hopefully be able to share with you in future blogs.  We have a whole other building yet to cover.

Regarding our activities today, this is where we went to today and we’ll cover it in the future.

Time now to call it a day.  We’ve been busy sightseeing but now it is time to switch gears and get ready to move on down the road.  We have some projects that we need to finish before we leave.

When we first arrived here we sort of looked at one another and said Why are we staying here two weeks?  Now we know.  We’ve done a lot of exploring, discovered doctors for Barbara, caught up with our mail, and finished a few projects.  It’s been a great time in a great area.

So our day on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  We’ve had another fantastic day traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.  Till tomorrow then when we’ll share more with you of what we’ve done over the last few days.

Thanks again for coming along, we enjoyed your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 20, 2019

Odds and Ends

Doctor Appointment

Homes Medical Museum, Foley 

The heat is now on.  At 8 am this morning we were already at 80 degrees and it was only supposed to go up from there.  Time to move North and so we shall within another week.  First, it’s New Orleans next week and then it’s northward ho!

Another great breakfast to get me going.  Two eggs over easy on toast, spam on the side, a glass of juice and a couple cups of coffee.  Oh yea, the breakfast of champions.  Tummy full it was time to get busy and take care of business.

I completed a couple of items on my maintenance list such as painting the frames around the outside lockers, treating the rubber gaskets with 303, and cleaning the front windows.  I also, finally, was able to get the very top of the front cap cleaned.  It’s not perfect, not yet but it sure looks a lot better than it did.  All things in due time.

Barbara had an appointment with her new cardiologist in Foley for a routine checkup.  It is shaping up that we are going to have to spend some time in this area on an annual basis since she has finally found doctors that she is comfortable with and will work with her.  So we will plan on coming  back here, definitely for a month or maybe longer.

While in Foley and with the day still young we happened to spot this sign on the corner of a downtime building.  We had to investigate.  Come along and let’s see what we find.

Around the corner and we were at the front door.

Inside we learned that this was the first hospital in Baldwin County.  It was completed and opened in 1936 by Dr. Holmes.  It served the Baldwin area from 1936 to 1958.

Time to step back in time and see what an early hospital was like 75 years ago.  Let’s go.  The first thing I noticed was this and my first thought was Keep this crazy thing away from my broken finger!

This was the office of Dr. Holmes.

This is where the first hospital nurse stayed while she helped Dr. Holmes set up the hospital.

This was the day nurses station.

This was the waiting room.  Though no one was turned away, the waiting room was segregated.

This is some of the original equipment from the lab and pharmacy of Dr. Holmes.

This is a diabetes testing kit.  A lot different than a finger stick and a simple meter for testing.

This door originally led to the lab where Dr. Holmes did a lot of his lab work.  It was built on stilts and separated from the hospital in case of accidental fire.  What in the world was the good doctor mixing up?

This was the original operating room.  It was used for minor surgery and for delivering babies.  A far cry from the operating rooms of today.  But I’m sure that for the residents of Baldwin County it was a God send.

Some of the early surgical instruments.  I wonder what in the world that saw was for?

The Surgical Sterilization Room.

This is the examination room which was used for major and minor medical procedures.

Early X-Ray equipment.  Definitely a lot different then the X-Ray equipment that was used when I broke my finger. 

This room was used by mothers and their new babies.

Prior to the invention of heating pads this domed hood with light bulbs was used to provide heat treatments.

Can you guess what this was?

I found this fascinating.

And this is Jane one of God’s beautiful people and our hostess who had a wealth of information regarding the hospital.

The museum was small but definitely fascinating.  It shows just how far we have come in terms of medical care.  Thank goodness for those who continue to push the envelope and bring about major advancements in medical treatment.

Doctor’s appointment finished, sightseeing over we headed to Camping World to pick up a few odds and ends.  We picked up some fitted sheets, caulking, and other odds and ends.  I got out of there as quickly as possible because I know the longer I stay the more I spend.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was our kind of day with a little of this and a little of that.  Tomorrow if all goes according to plan we’ll be back in Pensacola to finish up some sights we missed a week ago.  Since this is going to require an early start to the day it’s time for me to call it a night and get some sleep.

Thanks again for joining us today.  Have a good night, catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 19, 2019

First Presbyterian Church, Foley

Model Train Exhibit, Foley

Fish River Grill, Foley

We finally found a church to attend – and of course we are leaving this Friday.   Go figure.  This morning we went to the First Presbyterian Church in Foley.  Never in a million years did I ever figure there would be a Presbyterian Church in the deep south.  Come to find out there are 21 of them in the Mobile area.

We were the youngsters in the congregation.  No problem for us.  We were warmly greeted and absolutely enjoyed out time there this morning.   If we are ever back in this area on a Sunday we would attend again.

Ready to go sight-seeing?  We were in Foley yesterday and want to share with you what we discovered.  First up is the

This exhibit once belonged to Alan Goldman who donated it to the town of Foley in 2004.  This exhibit is housed in an annex to the Railroad Museum and is 1,200 square feet in size.

This is the main display.  It consists of a quarter mile of track, three operating double-track routes, 12 different trains, and several animated sites. It also includes a model of the town of Foley with houses, office buildings, factories, restaurants, and even a drive-in movie theater, all made to represent Foley in the 1950s. Some of these structures were part of the Goldman donation, but others were constructed by the Foley Caboose Club either from kits or from scratch.

This is the far left end of the main display.

Underneath this section is a small display of a couple at the river.

This is the far right end, the trestles and mountain really caught my eye.  The attention to detail is awesome.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the displays.    The attention to detail in each is quickly apparent.   Someone went to a lot of effort to create authentic displays.

This is the local lumber company.  A rail car full of lumber as well as a truck coming to make a delivery.

Downtown industrial section.

 

The local Piggly Wiggly.  The sign actually lights up- it goes through each letter individually, then the the entire sign lights up.

The local car hop – at one time the cars and figures also moved.

The church.  I wonder what denomination?

Town Square.  Can you see the fountain in the middle?

Union Railroad Station.  Cabs lined up at the curb waiting for passengers.  The bus depot is behind it.

The Circus comes to town.  The wagons on display.

 

Behind the circus is the local Drive In theater.  There’s even a movie playing today!

Here’s the Oil Refinery.

Then in the lobby we discovered this.  This is a scale model of a typical L & N locomotive.  This is an actual coal fired steam locomotive.  When fired it generates enough power to pull several adults.

That concludes our tour of the Model Railroad Exhibit.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

But we’re not done.  It was lunch time and I had a hunger for fish. Off we went to

This is my kind of place!

Look what I found – turtles!

But there’s more.  So beautiful.

They even had an antique phone booth for Clark Kent.

Some interesting wall plaques.

What about lunch?  Take a look. Barbara had a burger, I of course had fish, white fish this time.  Fresh, made to order, generous portions, and absolutely delicious. 

That’s what we have been up to the last two days on The Road of Retirement.  We’ve had a wonderful time traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.  Tomorrow, Barbara has another round of doctor appointments.  The rest of the week we’ll be back to sight-seeing up until the day we leave.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  Have a good night, till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road