Awake: 6:19am Temp 41 sleep 6+23 sunny overnight @ Theodore, AL.
Casual morning; Kathy watches her favorite TV programs while I spend some time on the computer looking for a phone # of a former FedEx pilot that I’ve lost track of….to no avail.
Early afternoon, we motor in the Suzuki to Mobile, AL; about a mile from downtown & heading east, we see (2) very tall & futuristic looking sky scrapers.
Downtown Mobile: we start doing a grid auto tour & witness many empty store fronts thinking: here we go again, another future ghost town….or is it? We cut the grid tour short & park @ the Cathedral Square, deposit a quarter in the meter & plan to visit the huge Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Church. A steel fence wraps around this giant structure with wide swinging gates in front; both of them, locked. “They locked the church! What kind of a city is this anyway” I am thinking? “We can’t retrieve our quarter so we might just as well walk around for awhile” says Kathy.
Walking along Dauphin Street & toward the Futuristic sky scraper towers, we literally bump into (2) young guys both wearing matching yellow jackets. I say something like: “pardon me but ….are you guys in the bee business?” That started a good (30 +) minute exchange of: what are we doing here & what’s with the yellow jackets? My immediate concern after gabbing so long was: our parking meter time. When I brought this matter to their attention, Brian pulled a sort of key from his pocket & said: “I’ll fix that for you.”
His key gave us enough parking minutes to last the afternoon.
Turns out these guys were city ambassadors; Mobile is a historical town where most of the downtown building have been preserved & are making a comeback. The U.S. Navy's (www.navy.mil) push to add a major new ship to its fleet is floating Austal USA's expansion boat in a very big way. The majority-owned U.S. subsidiary of Australia's Austal Ltd. (www.austal.com) is adding 600 workers at its shipbuilding operation in Mobile, Ala. (www.mobilechamber.com/economic) This new job will also generate work to the community with various trades, like aluminum fabricators and welders, electricians and engineers," Wow, I was happy to be wrong about this town.
With our parking meter topped off & a rejuvenated mind, we get a Dauphin Street Historic District Walking Tour brochure & start doing the walk. Surprising enough, we do notice many old buildings that have been updated & renovated to their former self; (3) clothing stores, (2) furniture buildings, the Planters peanut & nut shop where all nuts are roasted on the premises in a machine dating from 1907; the Saenger Theatre on Joachim Street, recently restored to its original grandeur offering a variety of theatrical & musical performances & movies throughout the year.
I could go on & on because we were so dedicated to our walking guide….but, the sun is low & the temp is lowering even faster. We switch to the Suzuki & cover nearly all the buildings mentioned on our brochure when Kathy reads & identifies one more, the Wintzell’s Oyster House, which has been in business in this block since 1938. The only wooden structure designed for commercial use remaining on Dauphin Street, downtown…. “Hey wait a minute. Didn’t Brian give us a card that gives 10% off @ this place?” Kathy inquires.
Crystal twists our arms into having the Sample Oyster plate & we each share a beer. We are taking no chances on ordering a meal: our oyster plate of (2) each with: Monterey topping, Bienville topping, Rockefeller topping & Grilled topping was plenty good & enough for us. We learned that eating good oysters with dynamite topping will kill the hunger & keep you satisfied until tomorrow. Would you believe: Kathy has eaten more oysters during the past week than all her life so far; how about that!
Late DVR movie: “The Eagle has Landed” with Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence, etc. Action-packed wartime adventure taken from fanciful Jack Higgins best-seller about Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill. Hardly a dull moment, thanks to solid cast & lively, twist-laden story.1977. Super good story; even Kathy recommends this one.
Lights out: 1:19am
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