Treats and Tricks

Near the town of Mentone, Alabama (pop. 478), we found the remains of the Lahusage Dam. In the early 1900's when Mentone was a popular summer resort, three speculators named Lamb, Hubbard and Sage pooled their resources and their names to construct the town of Lahusage near Mentone. Later the dam was built but was damaged in a storm and never repaired. The town's coal mining operation failed in the 1920's and the town of Lahusage faded away. As with so many other interesting spots we have encountered, we visited the Lahusage Dam in search of a nearby letterbox. Ken's sister Marion (trailname: Daisy Lady) had joined us to overnight at the lodge and we took her on her first official letterboxing adventure. Winding our way back to the lodge, we came across a group of horses. Needless to say, Ken's ever-present bag of apples came out and we were able to leave the horses happier than we found them. As we were feeding and petting the horses, three kittens came galloping across the pasture, bringing a horse-size dose of curiosity with them. They decided to investigate the underside of our car, and we had quite a time convincing them to head back toward the barn so we could leave. Marion left for home in the afternoon, and the Cashes and Elliot's friend Sammy arrived Friday evening. After a big meal at the lodge, we settled in for a stimulating game of Blurt. The lead changed hands several times before the team of Dan, Elliot and Sammy triumphed.

Who Goes Down Must Come Up

Finally the time arrived for our visit to The Lodge at Cloudland in the Appalachian foothills. We found this little slice of heaven back in the summer after scouting the area around Lake Guntersville. Built many years ago as a family retreat, the lodge is situated on the eastern brow of Lookout Mountain between Menlo, Georgia and Mentone, Alabama near the site of the once-thriving resort town of Cloudland, Georgia. A grouping of adirondack chairs around a firepit on the point offers panoramic views of the the surrounding area and distant mountains. (We actually took this particular photo back in the summer when we scouted this place. There was some nice autumn color from this view this week.) After unpacking all our groceries and gear, we set off for our first experience at "extreme letterboxing." The box was hidden at the end of the Lower Two-Mile Trail in the Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Deposit, Alabama. Leading from the canyon rim down to the river, the trail is less than a mile long, but extremely steep and undeveloped. In fact, there are no blazes or other trail markings, leaving us wondering frequently whether we were still on the trail or not. (Thank goodness cell phones have cameras today. We forgot to take the camera down this trail and there was no way we could have gone back down to get a photo.)We were very happy to find the letterbox and to survive the trip back up, actually locating our car when we made it to the top.

On the scenic highway through the Little River Canyon we made our way to Mushroom Rock. Legend has it that a road crew constructing the original scenic drive saved this canyon landmark. Plans called for the rock formation to be removed, but the construction staff refused to blast it away, building the road around it with one lane on either side.

Adventure in Bonaventure

We started the day on Saturday with a visit to Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery with Pam. Located at the site of the old Bonaventure plantation on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River east of Savannah, the property became a cemetery in 1846. With its tree-lined roadways and elaborate cemetery sculpture and architecture, Bonaventure has been a world famous tourist destination for more than 150 years, even before John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil brought it widespread acclaim. The many notable people interred here and folklore associated with the cemetery add to its appeal. This beautiful sculpture marks the grave of Johnny Mercer's mother Lillian. His hit song Blues in the Night is referenced in the caption at the bottom of the marker. Of course, we couldn't leave without finding a letterbox. Later in the day, Alison helped us launch a hitchhiker letterbox in honor of her birthday. We were all fascinated with the mode of transportation being used by a messenger making his way through one of Savannah's famous squares. After another wonderful dinner at Garibaldi's Cafe, we braved the rain to find one last letterbox before our return to our respective homes tomorrow morning.

Full Day...Fun Day

Busy day today between letterboxing and Flat Steven. He is such a popular guy. Everywhere we went people wanted to have their photo taken with him. From the Red Hat Ladies (who were having a national convention in Savannah this weekend): to the neighborhood pirates...
Bonnie and Richard arrived to join us for the weekend just in time to visit the fascinating Colonial Park Cemetery. We had a delicious lunch at Olympia Cafe on River Street. We did a little letterboxing (looks as if Alison is getting hooked). And we walked and walked the streets in the beautiful Savannah historic district, oohing and aahing over all the magnificent antebellum homes...
...finally returning to our Jones Street home away from home... ...to put up our feet and rest! No one did so with more grace and style than Eleanor.

Flat-Out Fun in Savannah

We traveled to Savannah today to help celebrate Alison's 50th birthday. After Uncle Joe, Eleanor, Pam, Ken and I arrived, Alison and Steve hit town. Alison was clearly embracing the birthday. Little did we know that Flat Steven would be joining us in Savannah. He waited patiently with Aunt Pam and Aunt Alison before dinner. Flat Steven was excited to have his picture taken with the birthday girl and her sweetheart. After a fabulous dinner at Garibaldi's (thanks to Roostah for the recommendation!), we did a little nighttime letterboxing. Uncle Joe was quite the sleuth, finding this one in an abandoned cemetery in SpookyTown Savannah.