Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him, for the Lord is your life! Deut. 30:20


Friday, November 11, 2011

Drive to Birmingham

Before leaving Fayetteville, we had coffee at Mama Carmen's. You have to read her story!
This coffee shop is located across the street from the church office (located in a warehouse) where Josh works. The church owns the coffee shop. They purchase the coffee from Mama Carmen's farm and 10% of the profits go to Mama Carmen and the children of her orphanage in Guatemala City. The remainder of the profits go to similar community development projects around the world. They also sell fun products from other countries to help the people there. Reminds me a little of 10,000 Villages in our town. I purchased a nice Christmas present for a certain someone!

After our good-byes to our son, we took off for Birmingham. Josh gave us the idea to take a scenic route called Pig Trail.

Pig Trail Scenic Byway runs through the Ozark National Forest for a length of 19 miles. You have to allow 1-2 hours to fully enjoy this byway.

"Why is this spectacular scenic route called the Pig Trail Scenic Byway? Well, for one thing, the meandering nature of the route reminds visitors of a trail carved in the woods from wild pigs. Another factor that influenced the name was that this route has been a major travel way for students, sports fans and other University of Arkansas supporters going to and from Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks."

As we were driving along, I saw a cemetary and had Al pull in to it.
I have never seen a cemetary so decorated! Very unusual.
What a beautiful time of year we chose to drive through Arkansas and on to Alabama!



This is supposed to be a waterfall. We had seen pictures of it with the water running over the top. Unfortunately, they have had somewhat of the drought we have experienced in Kansas too.
When we were travelling on Interstate 40 to Dauphin Island this September, we drove by a sign that read "Toad Suck Park". We were so curious as to what that was! So we took the time to drive out off the interstate to find out.
Lortab was curious how Toad Suck got its name.
One theory is that the name came from the tavern that sat on the south bank of the river. Possibly the ferry operated out of the Toad Suck Saloon, giving rise to the name of Toad Suck Ferry. But how did the Toad Suck Saloon (or Tavern or Inn) get its name?

The story you'll hear from the locals and read in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly is that this place was a popular spot for the bargemen to pull over and drink rum and moonshine. They are said to have "sucked on bottles until they swelled up like toads." There you go. Toad Suck.



The lock and dam.




This was a pretty site as we continued our journey.




Of course if you know us, we cannot journey anywhere without a stop at our favorite beverage coffee shop! On to Birmingham, refreshed with our java!

1 comment:

Nate and Kristin Piston said...

isnt mama carmen's story amazing? When i went to Guatemala while at JBU we got to meet her & hear her tell her story. SO amazing.