Florence Harbor Marina

Tuesday 

Southern Belle left at 8 and said if the waterfall anchorage was empty they would stop otherwise they were going to Aqua Harbor to pick up a part for their toilet.  We left at nine and were planning to stop at another anchorage and then head to Florence on Wednesday.  There were thunderstorms predicted so we decided to push on to Florence a day early.  Shortly after we got settled in and the boat clean up the storms hit us. The winds were quite intense and the temperature dropped 30˚ in about 30 minutes.  Another plus to being at the marina was the cable TV, allowing us to watch Dancing With The Stars after dinner.

Southern Belle pulling away.

Wednesday 

We awoke early to a gray and cold day.  We had the courtesy car signed out from 8am - 10am, but took it at 7 to get an early start on our errands.  It was a lot of running around but we found almost everything we needed except liquor and were back just before 10 am.  After putting everything away, Mary did a load of wash while John defrosted the fridge and cleaned the side of the boat. After lunch we decided to take a cold walk into town up a very big hill, bigger than Park City hills.  We stopped at Pope Tavern Museum which dated back to the 1830's and was both a Confederate and Union hospital during the Civil War.  We found a different way back to the boat which didn't have as big of hill and went right by the liquor store.

Thursday

Went for a long walk in the morning to the state park campground to look at some tee pee's we saw from the river. After lunch went to Helen Keller's birthplace and the old railroad station in Tuscumba, AL with Brian and Jean from Spirit of Whitby who we docked with for a few nights back on the Illinois River.  Helen Keller's house dates back to 1830 and was in very good shape.  The old depot  and surrounding area is in the process of being turned into a railroad museum.  The station was an all brick building built in 1898 and in also in very good condition.  After running an errand Brian and Jean dropped us off (so we didn't have to climb the big hill) at the Rosenbaum house.  It is the only Frank Loyd Wright design in Alabama and one of the earliest Usonian style houses designed by Wright.  The house is owned by the city and it has done a great job in restoring the house to it's 1940's appearance.  We had a nice downhill walk back to the marina. We took a different way and were going to stop at the Indian Mound museum but it was closed.

The fountain at Helen Keller's home.

Originally this was a plantation with 640 acres.

It was 38˚ this morning, thank goodness for being tied to a dock with power.  Before daybreak there was 97 bass boats being launched for a fishing tournament.  Today we are off to Joe Wheeler with about 8 other boats.  We will be attending a rendezvous sponsored by the AGLCA which is the Loop cruising association we belong to.  We will meet up with many other Loopers and hope to get lots of useful information from all the seminars offered.  After the rendezvous we will be taking a side trip to Chattanooga, we have been told it is a "must see" and the fall colors should be at their peak along the way.

John & Mary