The Great Mikegration

Cover Photo: Mississippi Visitor Center in Vicksburg

Adventure Map Days 1-5

This is a short trip overall so I wanted to give you the overall travel map on the same page as the daily posts and daily maps to make it a little easier to reference. Hopefully this won’t cause any confusion.

The synopsis is I was feeling pretty stir crazy and wanted to do a quick trip out of town for a few days. I needed to run a few errands up in the DFW metroplex so had to be there for a day anyway. Once there I thought, “you know Mike, it really isn’t that far over to Vicksburg and the Natchez Trace down to the coast and you haven’t driven the Natchez Trace before OR been to Destin”. That’s pretty much how I justify all my trips by the way. Well that and the hope of new donut shops and of course the new sites and adventures. Lot’s of driving on this trip with lots of stops. I decided to make it a little more fun for me and add in some Roadside America (and other) stops along the way since I love that kind of corny stuff. Seriously, like who doesn’t like a 20-foot tall Transformer robot or a replica of Stonehenge….so bear with me as I do a lot of stops like this. As always we find time to fit in a donut shop along the way along with a healthy dose of fun and adventure. Another item to note on this post is that I’m doing it historically (as in a year historically) so it won’t be as detailed as the more recent ones although I’ll do my best to recollect it accurately. In other words lots of pictures coming up!!

Adventure Map Day 1: Dallas to Vicksburg

Day 1: 04/26/22

• I spent the night in Colleyville as I had run a bunch of errands the previous day and still had a couple to run this morning. Having had a good nights sleep at the Hampton Inn I grabbed a haircut and got a cup of coffee at one of my favorite coffee places; Buon Giorno Coffee. Always a good cup of java to be found here. Finally able to head out of the metroplex around 10:30am so a pretty late start for me.
• Like I said above I wanted to see some unique things on this trip so I headed out of town and took US-80 to Elmo, TX. I parked at the Exxon there and walked across the street to The Bee Mart (it’s a Chevron) to get a picture of a 20 feet tall Bumblebee the transformer. The address is 7398 US-80, in Elmo, TX. It was just put up about a month ago so they hadn’t even finished out the platform. You should make the quick stop there to fill up and take a picture. If you are there at night legend has it the eyes glow blue. I wasn’t there at night though so can’t vouch for that one.

• Headed from Chevron on over to Waskom to get a view of Big Books, Apple, Ruler, Pencil mural that is on the side of the Waskom Public Library at 100 Texas Ave., Waskom, TX. The mural is there to draw attention to the town library. The books are 22 feet tall. What can I say, I like transformers and books!
• Moving on down the road I drove by The Donut Shop at 903 W South Commerce St., Wills Point, TX. I didn’t stop because it was about 2pm in the afternoon and they were closed but oh man did I want to stop there and try the donuts!!! Next time through Wills Point I’ll grab me some and report back. The photo below is their photo from the web as I blinked and missed the photo opportunity.

• Next stop was at the Louisiana Visitors Center on I-20. Nice and clean place. They even gave me a map for the Natchez Trace even though it’s in Mississippi! Great bunch of people!
• Driving, driving, and more driving ensued. Saw a dead alligator on the side of the Interstate. Don’t see that every day when you’re from Texas.
• Finally, made it to Mississippi and one of my favorite visitor’s centers of all places the Visitor’s Center just off I-20 located on the Mississippi River. The address is 4210 Washington St, Vicksburg, MS 39180 for your reference. The view is stunning, and I find it peaceful to just be there for a moment or two and watch the river flow by. You do have to block out the traffic noise however it’s worth the stop!

• On from there to my hotel for the night; Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg. I really like this Hampton Inn as it’s right across from a historic battlefield site and is always nice, clean, and friendly as well as the cannon they have out front!
• Feeling a little peckish I decided that I wanted a nice meal but didn’t want to go sit in a crowded restaurant. Ordered from Loveys Seafood & Grill through DoorDash and promptly devoured it. It wasn’t outstanding but for a DoorDash delivery I’m not complaining.

• Planned out the next day and hit the hay. Lol. It’s going to be a driving day with lots of fun stops!

Adventure Map Day 2: Vicksburg to Destin

Day 2: 04/27/22

• Up about 6am after a great night’s rest at the Hampton Inn and ready to roll!
• First stop of the day was some coffee from Caffe’ Paradisa. The reviews looked good and it fit with the overall plan for the first hour of the morning as it was located at 3401 Halls Ferry Rd which was right by my other stop. I got a sugar-free Snicker Doodle coffee for the road and headed back to the vehicle. Service was good however I didn’t care for the coffee. I’ll try them again next time, get something different, and see how I like it before I make any final judgement.

• Next stop was just down the road to 3424 Halls Ferry Rd. Can’t have a morning without donuts can we? This place makes the best bear claw donuts I’ve ever had hands down. You walk into the place and there is literally powdered sugar haze floating in the air. Their other donuts are good also, but the bear claw’s are just outstanding!!! ALWAYS get some here.

• Feeling pretty good about my morning shopping I headed back a couple miles to the Mississippi Visitors Center. Remember that place… My favorite visitor’s center ever and at 7am it’s pretty quiet there; not much traffic and not many people. A great place to take your coffee and donuts in the morning and just sit for a little while enjoying the view and thinking about the history that surrounds the area. So yeah, I do this every time I go through Vicksburg. It’s literally my morning ritual whenever I spend the night in town.

• 7:30am and the coffee had been drunk and the donut has been eaten so it’s time to hit the road! Heading south the first stop is Grand Gulf Military State Park by Port Gibson. The physical address is 12006 Grand Gulf Rd., Port Gibson. The drive out to it is beautiful and the Military Park is pretty darn neat. I didn’t spend nearly enough time there. I did go through the small museum display and drove through it but due to time constraints I didn’t have time to walk through some of the trails/buildings like I would have liked. Fun fact you drive by a nuclear power station on your way to the park. To me the coolest thing they have at the park is a One Man Submarine that was powered by a Model T Ford engine. It was used during early prohibition to bootleg whiskey and rum from Davis Island to Vicksburg! Make sure you check out the pics of the submarine and other items. Can you imagine being in this thing running bootleg whiskey?

• See below for a few more pictures. They had a diagram of the battle that took place here but I couldn’t get a good picture of it unfortunately. Basically this was the spot where the upper battery was located to guard the river. Next time through I’m going to spend several hours here. Maybe even camp here as the campgrounds looked nice. It’s a beautiful place, but I think I already said that.

• Heading back out on the road I stopped at Sunken Trace where you can walk a portion of the Old Trace. Not to make light of the Sunken Trace or anyone that had to traverse it because it was highly dangerous but…. The most memorable part of Sunken Trace for me was when I pulled into the parking lot and saw the only other vehicle in the parking lot taking a cage out of their vehicle. I got out and chatted with them for a minute before I started my walk. Ends up they had an opossum issue at their house and they were always having to catch them in live traps to relocate them. They would then take the traps down here to the parking lot and let them out in the woods. Opossums won’t attack you or anything so I think we both got quite the laugh out of the situation. Them that I was cool with it and me that they were doing it. Maybe you just had to be there but I was chuckling about this for the next hour or two. After the
  “chat” I hiked it for a few minutes and then back on the road. It was very dark and dank in the Sunken Trace so happy to be moving on to my next stop; The Windsor Ruins.

• The Windor Ruins off of Rodney Rd are a neat stop. Sad story though, it was completed in 1861 and the owner died in April 1861 just weeks after finishing his mansion. The family did live there through the Civil War although they lost most of their holdings. The building was lost in 1890 due to an accidental fire. What an amazing house this had to be before it burned down. When I was there a construction crew was doing some work on the pillars to help stabilize them. You could get in through the fence however I wouldn’t recommend it at all since these structures are obviously unstable and I’d rather not get hit by a piece of rock falling on my head when I was wandering around amongst them.

• It’s about 9:30am now so I had a quick snack on the grounds then drove on to the Ghost Town of Rodney to see the Old Rodney Presbyterian church. It took me about 30 minutes to get there from the Windsor Ruins. It’s important to know before you go that it really isn’t a ghost town. There are some people that live there (very, very few though) so be respectful when you go. Rodney used to be quite the town as you can see from the pictures of the plaques below. In fact it missed becoming the state capital of Mississippi by only one vote. Unfortunately, due to a fire, a railroad that went through Fayette instead of Rodney, and the river changing course and leaving the town landlocked.

• The main attraction for me in Rodney was the old Presbyterian Church. You can read the history of it below. I did not go inside as you’re not supposed to however, I was incredibly lucky as when I rolled into town there were a couple people working on the church who gave me permission. Probably in their 70’s and very familiar with the area as they grew up in the area. We had an absolutely wonderful discussion about the history of the area and their memories from when they were kids and the stories about the area that their parents had shared with them. I learned quite a bit about the floods they had in the area, how Rodney was almost the state capital, how Grant tried to change the course of the river (and failed), how Lincoln set back three shiploads of slaves of which some stayed in the Caribbean, cotton tariffs, and much more. Continued below.

• Continuing from above. According to them the story of the church being hit a cannonball is not a true story so the cannonball you see lodged in the church wall was NOT from the “Rattler” bombardment. One of them told me his father actually put the cannonball in the wall of the church. When I asked him why he told me it was to get more people interested in the area and to come visit. Keep in mind that he is saying the Rattler DID fire at the town just not at the church and the church wasn’t hit. I’ll let you decide what story is correct. Personally, I believe him.

• They also pointed out that there was an old cemetery on the hill behind the church which I wouldn’t have known about if they hadn’t said anything. It’s an easy hike up the hill and there are several graves there that are from before the Civil War. It’s a haunting graveyard because it is slowly being washed away by the river that runs back there. Many of the headstones have fallen over or are broken. The two guys that I talked to volunteer (along with some others) and do what they can to keep the cemetery maintained. I saw where they had put back together several headstones and had done a tremendous amount of work trying to keep everything clean. Many graves were still being visited judging by the flags and flowers on many of them. See below.

• I do want to backtrack for a moment here. There are no funds the town is receiving to keep the church, or the cemetery maintained. Some of the gravesites are totally covered with the plant life and trees that would have to be cleared just to get to them. Also, and more importantly, the cemetery is literally being washed away in some places. I saw where some gravesites that had been fenced in had most of the fencing hanging in the air with nothing below it except a hill and the riverbank. When I asked them about, they told me that some of the gravesites do wash away every once in a while, and they find the skeletons downstream. Sometimes mudslides would also uncover old graves on the hill itself. It was a rather sobering discovery. All that being said it is a beautiful area and I am so thankful to these two men for spending as much time talking with me as they did. It made my whole experience in Rodney incredibley special and without them taking the time they did with me I would have only stopped, read a couple of plaques, taken a picture and been on my way. This was so informative and made the town come to life for me. Thank you to them both again.
• If you like the old Presbyterian Church, you can go online and donate money to keep it maintained for others to see and enjoy. I did and am happy to have done so. Rodney has a wonderful history that shouldn’t be lost to time.
• Leaving Rodney my next stop was Mount Locust. Mount Locust was a working plantation and an inn built in 1780 where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. There used to be about fifty that existed on the Old Natchez Trace. Here’s how it worked. Farmers or settlers floated their products downriver and sold them at Natchez or Ne Orleans. Most of them walked back over the Natchez Trace to get back home because their boats could not go upstream. It’s a beautiful place to visit where you can look in the old inn, take some walks around the property, and walk to the family cemetery.

• Took a short hike and looked around the house at Mount Locust Inn and then drove on south down to Emerald Mound.
• Emerald Mound is the second largest temple mound in the United States. It dates back to 1350 AD and covered roughly eight acres. You can walk around them but don’t climb on them. It’s a beautiful area.

• Leaving Emerald Mound I was starting to get hungry as it was about 12:30 and I was running empty from my donut breakfast. Natchez State Park was just across the road so I thought I’d head over there and have a quick picnic sandwich for lunch. Unfortunately the road was closed so I had to make a large detour around to get to a spot. Well worth it though. Next time I may even camp at the park. What do you think? Not to bad for a solo lunch in the woods?

• Great lunch, scenic location and now back on the road! Headed over to my next stop; the Coffee Pot Inn. It’s located at 815 S. 1st St., Brookhaven, MS. The Coffee Pot Inn was Brookhaven’s first drive-in restaurant. Cool history but you can read that on the sign in the pictures. Quick stop for pictures and back on my way.

• Next stop was Sole Sisters, LLC but the Big Watermelon attraction there was gone. It used to be a watermelon patch however they are no longer there and the new owners didn’t have the watermelon out so make sure you look before you head this way to see it!!
• From Sole Sisters I drove on through Mobile, AL and on down to where I’d be spending the next couple of nights; the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Walton.
• The Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Walton are right on the beach so I was super excited to be staying there. Sadly, I didn’t get there until 9pm that night so I really couldn’t enjoy the beach that evening. I was tired! Fortunately the hotel was nice, the room was clean and most importantly it was quiet so I was able to get a good nights sleep for the next day……And that’s how I roll. 528 miles; not to bad for one day. I think I fit enough in!

Adventure Map Day 3: Destin to Alligator Point and back again

Day 3: 04/28/22

• Waking up feeling great I had a quick breakfast at the hotel; basically yogurt (lol) and headed out.
• Made it to the beach right outside the hotel at 6:30am. Loved it here. The beach was basically deserted and the sand was great. In fact, I’ll make it a point to come back and stay here again so I can enjoy it more. (spoiler alert. I did!)
• Drove on down to Panama City Beach and got there about 7am. Loved it much! The sand was great and of all the beaches I visited today I liked this one and the beach at James Lee Park the most. The one right outside the hotel was also really good. I’d easily go to anyone of the three again. Probably factoring it all in I’d do the one outside the hotel simply because there are less people and you are just steps away from your room. The other ones are also super handy but lots more people.
• I liked Panama City overall. Lots of places to eat, shop and have fun. Pretty upscale and the beaches are great. There is even a state park at the end of the peninsula you can camp at or go and spend the day if you want. I drove through it and was impressed.

• Moved on down the road to my next stop at Mexico Beach headed towards Alligator Point.
• Mexico Beach was still nice but Panama City/Destin was better to me. The parking seemed limited with the beach not as deep as the others. The town was much smaller with lots of construction happening and the beach was right off US-98 so could be noisy. I also didn’t care for the sand as much. It seemed coarser than the other beaches. On the plus side there weren’t any big hotels that I saw so no eye-sores from the beach view.

• Leaving Mexico Beach I headed to Port Saint Jo – Cape San Blas Shores. Again, pretty but sand had much more pebbles and coarseness than other beaches.

• Leaving here I headed on to Alligator Beach at Alligator Point. Again, the sand wasn’t as good as back in Destin area but better than Mexico Beach. I did like the seclusion here. It felt very uncrowded and laid back so if you’re looking for some peace and solitude this is a good choice. I was here at noon and only a few people around. I liked the vibe! Definitely some rocky areas on the beach though so make sure you book by or on the beach or you’ll end up walking/driving a little ways! I made a note to book on the west side only and to bring my own groceries. Also watch out for the nesting sea turtles May through October!

• Having taken my quick pick and sand sampling it was time to start heading back to the hotel. It’s about 12:45 pm by now and I didn’t want to get caught in traffic as I still had a couple other stops to make on the way back. What I didn’t realize is that I was already to late. I’d hit a lot of traffic on the way back and not make it in until about 7pm. Part of this was my own fault however just be aware the roads get congested the closer to 5pm it gets!
• I’m a big island lover guy. I don’t know why they just captivate me. Kind of like Sasquatch does…They just do.
• Heading back I stopped at Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park . VERY pretty! Ok, I loved this place. The beaches were uncrowded with so much room. The sand was wonderful. The facilities were outstanding and clean with plenty of parking. They had camping spots available if you wanted to camp there. Looked like there were some house rentals available on the island with the typical mix of pizza joints, etc. to eat at and get groceries from. It was about 2:30ish when I was there and I liked the ambiance so much I stopped and at my very, very late lunch there. In case you hadn’t guessed it I really liked this beach/park. I’d highly encourage you to visit if in the area. Don’s speed though. The speed limit is strictly enforced and it’s for the nesting birds.

• Having refueled with my sandwich and the sounds of the waves on the beach I started to my next stop. Traffic was pretty ugly so it took me a while to wind my way to it. I finally got to Miramar Beach about 6:15pm. It was so crowded that I couldn’t even find a parking spot much less go down to the beach. It took me several minutes just to wind back out of the parking lot. Ughhhhh. This would be good if you had a condo or rental across the street but not so much if driving to it. Plan accordingly. Obviously lots, and lots of people when I was there. Looked beautiful though! I was only able to get a picture from my car window and it was pretty crumby so no beach pictures from here.
• Leaving Miramar Beach I wound back to the hotel just a few miles and stopped at James Lee Beach. I liked this beach a lot! Sand was great; just a perfect mix of fluffy goodness with no rocks. Not many people on the beach at all. There is a Private part and a Public part so don’t trespass! Parking here was a breeze. I’d go here over Miramar Beach any day. Check out the pics and let me know what your think.

• Next stop was back at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Walton to get some rest for the night. It was about 7pm when I rolled in and got back to the room.
• Plenty of time to head out and enjoy the beach for a few minutes to compare it to all the other beaches I’d been to throughout the day. You’ll have to be the final judge, but I think I like this beach the best of them all or at least as well as any of the others. Sand is perfect, accommodations are handy, not to crowded and a pretty perfect view. Only bad thing was the hotel doesn’t do upgrades to ocean views so you get what you pay for. Hotel was clean and very nice overall. I’ve stayed there again since writing this and I still say it’s a top notch hotel! Check out the pics!

• That was that for the night. I had a great walk on the beach and enjoyed the scenery. Love the beach. Course I also love the mountains, and pretty much everything else so take that as you will! I do love the listening to the waves though. Ok, enough…..you get the picture. Back to my room for the night to plan out tomorrow’s trip back to Baton Rouge and maybe even have time for some sleep. Lol….It was another busy day but nothing like tomorrow will be!

Adventure Map Day 4: Destin to Baton Rouge

Day 4: 04/29/22

• Woke up early and man, am I ready to rock! It’s gonna be a great day as they say! We’ve got a lot of stops to make and a lot of ground to cover so no time to dawdle this morning!
• Yogurt for breakfast and down to the beach outside the hotel by 6am. Cloudy but beautiful and no one else out on the beach this time of the morning so I really enjoyed just being there, hearing the waves crash against the shore, and taking a quick walk. Back to the vehicle and on my way. Lot of Roadside America stops coming up!

• First stop after leaving the hotel was Futuro – UFO House located at 1304 Panferio Dr., Pensacola Beach, FL. Nothing special about it except it’s a really cool looking house. All houses everywhere should be this cool!
• Next stop was just down the street a bit; Dome of a Home at 1005 Ariola Dr, Pensacola. Again, nothing special here but it is cool to check out.

• Continuing on Fort Pickens Rd. was a quick stop at Pensacola Beach to check out the sand and grab a couple quick pics of the Surfer Dude Statue and the lifeguard pelican statue. Great looking beach with nice facilities and a lot of people come here. I like quieter beaches personally. Surfer Dude Statue is a statue of Yancy Spencer III, “the Duke of the Gulf Coast” who made surfing famous in Pensacola Beach. It’s located right by the beach at 3 Casino Beach Boardwalk, Gulf Breeze. The pelican Statue I just thought was cool so took a picture and it’s right by the Surfer Dude. Next stop was only a mile or so down the road on the south side of Fort Pickens Rd. at 495 Ft. Pickens Rd. The site of the Indestructible Cross: First Catholic Mass. This is a 10 foot high cross on top of a sand dune that marks the spot of the first Catholic Mass in the U.S.A. on August 15, 1559. Hurricanes have never toppled it over.

• Keep heading down Fort Pickens Rd to see Fort Pickens. Make sure you make some of the stops along the way as the beach is great along the short drive and there are some cool stops at the outlying batteries that are worth going through. Make sure you read the sign. It’s very impressive. I’ve posted some pictures of Battery Worth below.

• While you are at Battery Worth make sure you take a moment to walk William Bartram Trail. it was traced in 1773-1777. William Bartram described Pensacola’s natural harbor safe and large enough to shelter all of the Navies of Europe.
• Fort Pickens was built to defend Pensacola Bay and while it never defended against a foreign invasion it did against the Confederacy during the Civil War. The cannons and fortifications are massive. Rather than type it all out go ahead and read the signage in the pictures I took below. It’s a very interesting place that you could easily spend hours going through.

• There is also a cruise you can take by Pensacola Bay Cruises that looked fun to take however I didn’t see where they were running when I was there.
• Heading back out of Fort Pickens I stopped at Battery Langdon which is now covered in vegetation. VERY big gun used to be here. Make sure you expand the picture of Battery Langdon. It’s a guy standing on the barrel of the gun! Yeah, it’s a big gun. Check it out. Then I stopped along the beach again on the way out. Great looking beach; miles of it actually with not a soul in site. I like this place!

• Leaving the Fort Pickens area I drove for about 30 minutes up to Admiral Mason Park which is just west of the Pensacola Bay Bridge. The physical address is 200 S. 9th Ave., Pensacola, FL. It’s a pretty sobering place that makes you stop and really appreciate all the sacrifices men and women have done for our country. So many have given their life so we can enjoy the freedoms that we now have and so many of us take for granted. Never forget!
• You’ll see the Half-Scale Vietnam Wall named “Wall South”. It’s a half sized replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. This one was dedicated in 1992. Please be respectful here. Many come to find their loved one’s name on the wall showing where they gave everything for our country.

• In the same area you’ll also a small statue called the Hero’s Petulant Daughter or “Homecoming”. The sculptor was a local art teacher, Randy New, who modeled the girl from a photo of his own daughter.

• About 40 minutes up the road you’ll find Flora-Bama Bar and Lounge. The famous bar that is right on the Florida/Alabama state line so you could legally drink in Florida when it was dry in Alabama. There’s more to the history of the bar than that but you can look that up along with why some women choose to leave their bras at the establishment. I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

• Up and out of the way but worth the extra time and mileage is Bamahenge in Elberta, AL. It took me about an hour to get there however it’s a pretty drive so all good. There’s a lot in this area besides Bamahenge so you’ll need to keep an eye out to see everything and allot some extra time for the area. It’s a little difficult to find so make sure you use your GPS. Little trivia for you, Bamahenge is actually made out of fiberglass so there was talk of calling it Fiberhenge but since that didn’t sound right they ended up calling it Bamahenge. Make sure you walk back to see it. It’s about 21 feet tall and 104 feet across and is aligned correctly with the summer solstice.

• If you’ll walk past Bamahenge for a little ways and look to the right you’ll see some Roman Columns in the distance. They are on private property so you can’t get close. I was just taking pictures with my phones so I was pretty happy they turned out as well as they did!

• Next up is dinosaurs! As you drive down the road towards the marina keep an eye out for these critters. There are several of them hidden in the trees on the side of the road ready to come out and “grab” you so keep an eye out! I didn’t stop at all of them so you’ll have a few more to discover as you go. Be careful petting them, one of the wild ones tried to take a “bite” out of me. lol

• Keep heading towards the marina and you’ll see a big sundial along the way that you can take pictures of but can’t walk to as it’s fenced in with signage around it. Hopefully you won’t see what I did though which was some poor guy that was mowing along the side of the road and caught his tire in the highline pole “brace” wire and cracked the pole. You can’t tell it from the photo however they had to replace the telephone pole. When I drove back by it later there must have been four or five repair trucks out there bracing and replacing everything. Talk about a bad day!

• Keep driving towards Barber Marina (located at 26986 Fish Trap Rd, Elberta, AL. Take a few minutes to look around. It’s absolutely beautiful. Huge fountain work, giant spider and seahorses, and my personal favorite; Knights in the Woods. See if you can find all four of the Knights.

• Leaving the Knights to their eternal vigil I journeyed onward to Fairhope, AL where I checked out the Mosher and Fairhope Story Book Castles. Alas, I only took a couple pictures from the street. You can do tours with property access however those must be arranged in advance. I put the best one below. Neat looking place.

• Times a wasting so on we go to see the Hermit Hut of Tolstoy Park. This one isn’t located in Russia though. It’s on Parker Rd in Fairhope, AL. It’s always open so stop in and check it out. It’s in the parking lot of an office park and was built in the 1920’s by hermit Henry Stuart.

• Just up the road at 2400 Old Spanish Trail in Daphne on the east side of the road is a giant bronze fist holding an American flag. It’s the Daphne Veterans Memorial.

• Keep on going north and you’ll run into the Athletes Made of Junk at the United States Sports Academy on 1 Academy Drive in Daphne. Who knew there was so much stuff in Daphne? These are “junk art” sculptures made by Bruce Larsen as a tribute to different sports and athletes. All of the sculptures are made out of scrap metal. It’s pretty cool to walk around and look at. I’ve included lots of pictures however there is more to see as well as a small museum inside to check out. I don’t know why but the swimmer always freaks me out a little bit….

• Quick aside when I was there taking photos I had just finished and was walking back to my vehicle when about ten police cars rolled in and starting putting on vests and walking across the street to the bank. Not sure what was going on however one of them motioned for me to be on my way so I did a quick load up and head out! Yikes!!!
• So….if you’re a fan of the dentist you need to head up the road about 15 minutes to 6525 Spanish Fort Blvd, Spanish Fort, AL to see the 16-Foot Long Dental Tools outside Barry Booth DDS office. They’re called “Piknmera” and quiet large! While you are there taking a picture don’t miss seeing the 14-Foot High Paper Clip at the intersection. What a way to do your paper filing!

• About five hours later I made it to my hotel for the night in Baton Rouge. I really like to stay at the Double Tree here on Constitution Avenue as it’s always clean and quiet. Normally I’d go eat some oysters at Dragos however it was pretty late so I thought I’d go out to eat at my other favorite place; Chimes. I did drive out to Chimes however it was extremely crowded and busy so I ordered it through DoorDash and headed back to the hotel where I met my driver. Image my surprise when I opened my dinner and found no eating utensils. Good thing I carry all that stuff in the vehicle! Dinner was very, very, yummy!!!!

• It was around 9pm when I got my food so after having eaten it was a matter of planning out the next day for the final push home and getting some shut eye.

Adventure Map Day 5: Baton Rouge to home

Day 5: 04/30/22

• Great nights sleep at the Doubletree as always and on the road by 7:15am so rather a late start for me. The way back wasn’t nearly as adventurous as the way out however I still managed to fit a couple of fun stops in to make me chuckle.
• First stop is just up the road (well west on the road) to see a Giant Crawfish Sculpture that is at 1905 Rees St, Breaux Bridge, LA. Made out of metal and standing on it’s tail at Crazy ‘Bout Crawfish (wish it was later in the day so I could try to grab me a bite here). Bonus for me on the same street the local Mexican restaurant made a mariachi player to compete or maybe to woo the crawfish away???

• While you are in Breaux Bridge make very sure that you stop at Cajun Market Donut Company. It’s located at 125 Courthouse St, Breaux Bridge, LA. Their cajun stuffed bread is UNBELIEVABLEY good! I’ve tried it also at their other location but it’s not the same. The beignets were also very good. I had the donuts too but the other was so good I don’t remember how they were because I couldn’t stop eating long enough to try them when they were fresh!!! A worthy goal for next time I stop here.

• Keep on driving after you finish eating and you’ll be in Rayne, LA. Rayne is the self acclaimed Frog Capital of the World! It’s really cute as wehen you drive into town there is a giant, tuxedo clad frog tipping his hat at you. Lots of smaller three feet tall concrete frogs all over town. Many of them are painted to look like the employees that work at that business. Great fun to drive around through town and see how many you can spot. Make sure to stop in and patronize the local business’s also.

• There is also and interesting shop on the same street called Candyland Cottage & Ice Cream Shoppe. Both times I’ve been through Rayne it’s been early in the morning and they have not been open. Don’t know why however I’m captivated with going in one day and see if they have any of the “older type” candies that are hard to find. It looks like a fun place to visit.

• Driving on I had a quick rest stop in Hankamer at the Chambers County Safety Rest Area. Had to wait for the “locals” to move on though before I could go inside.

• Quick lunch at the rest stop and on I go. Thought it was be cute to see the next stop. It’s a Giant Hammer Crushing a Car. It’s in front of a recycling shop (quite fittingly, originally it was in front of an auto salvage yard). If you want to take a look it’s at 7911 Fallbrook Dr in Houston, TX. Just a couple blocks from it is Alma’s Cakes where I had to stop in and grab a couple snacks. I was pretty full so only got a small pastry. What I got was good so I’d give them another try if ever in the area.

• That’s about it for stops on the trip. From there it was back to the house to deal with my own wildlife!

• Hoping you’ll enjoyed this quick trip of an adventure. It was short but mighty busy and a little tiring with all the driving although I loved every minute of it. Signing off for now and I’ll see you at the next Great Mikegration!