Golden Hour at Huntsville Botanical Garden happens on Friday nights in the summer. It is a great time to stroll the gardens, listen to live music and visit Mama Zelda in The Mother Earth Troll Garden.

It's a special treat to share a birthdate with a granddaughter, particularly a granddaughter who has an adventurous culinary palate and shares my enjoyment for trying new restaurants. COOPER'S HAWK WINERY & RESTAURANT Recently, I gave Margaret (age 19) a choice of restaurants in Clift Farm for our joint celebration, and she chose Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants, which opened in February of this year. It was a first visit for both of us, and we enjoyed it a lot. As a result

Are you planning to visit a friend or relative this summer who lives outside of Alabama, for whom you'd like to take a hostess gift? Do you have guests coming in from other states who are unfamiliar with the many charms of Alabama? Do you take pride in all of the entrepreneurs, artists, and creative people who live in Sweet Home Alabama? With any of these thoughts in mind or just because you love to find pretty things or familiar foods, I would strongly recommend a trip to AL

One of my new favorite stores opened in The Village of Providence in Huntsville in August of 2025. ShopMOSS is a jewelry and apparel boutique owned and conceived by Vania Morris, who was born and reared in Italy. She and her family came to Huntsville when she was 12 because of her father's job, intending to stay for four years. She knew only a few words of English, but she was enamored with America and Huntsville in particular. Now, more than 20 years later, she has a lot tha

On past trips, we've spent considerable time in Baton Rouge -- and I do recommend that you enjoy the sights and tastes in and around this vibrant city. TIP: It might be best to plan your trip for a time OTHER THAN a home football game weekend for Louisiana State University. Check the schedule here. Here are some past posts about sites near Baton Rouge that you might want to read (again) and consider if you're planning a trip: A Lovely Stay at Houmas House Estate and Gardens 2

Visiting the laidback town of Breaux Bridge required a short backtrack from Lafayette before heading to Lake Charles, but the comments we heard made us want to check it out. The idea of cute boutiques, poking around a large antique shop, and having brunch in a 1925 building that was once known for making caskets proved to be too much to resist. Remnants of the hand-operated Otis elevator that was used to transport caskets from where they were made upstairs to the showroom dow

The first thing on our agenda for Saturday in Lafayette, LA was a Cajun Food Tour. We arrived at the designated meeting place, boarded the small bus, met our guide and fellow foodies and headed out around 10:00 a.m. for a "three hour tour." (Isn't that what the Gilligan's Island song says)? Cajun Food Tours - a Must-Do in Lafayette, LA Cajun Food Tours is a business owned and operated by Marie Ducote-Comeaux (wonderful Cajun name) and her daughter Whitney. Marie is a former t

Steve and I love Louisiana -- the food, the people, the Zydeco music, the culture, and the natural environment. We wanted to take a short trip "just because we could" when he finally worked his last day as a veterinarian, so we chose to explore some places in Louisiana that were new to us. Follow along in these blog posts for places we enjoyed and can recommend to you. I'll begin with a shameless plug. My newest book -- Take the Drive on I-65 -- Where Every Exit Tells a Story

What were parents of the 50's thinking when they taught this bedtime prayer to children? "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my...

Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig! 14 days. 11 different hotel rooms. Exactly 3850 miles added to our odometer. 9 states explored or at...

It has been a very good day. My first photo op was with a statue of a roadrunner measuring 11 feet tall and 22 feet long. Roadrunners...

Hurray for being back on Central Daylight Time!! The questionable hotel from last night in Willcox, AZ had a very nice cooked-to-order...

This morning we began our trek from Sedona back to Decatur, AL, and tonight we find ourselves in the Arizona Sunset Inn in Willcox, AZ, a...

It doesn't take long to run out of superlatives for describing the scenery in this part of the United States. The drive from Monument...

Just when we were beginning to seriously question our decision to drive all the way from Alabama to Arizona, along came today. The drive...

Why, oh why, didn't I pack some sweaters? Evidently, I was thinking too much about deserts and cacti when I was putting my trip clothes...

Everywhere we look there are flat-roof, sand-colored, adobe houses, schools, and businesses. The city is surrounded by the foothills of...

We have GOT to do a better job of handling our meals. Remember that big steak on Monday and the fried onion burger on Tuesday? Well, add...

This has been a good, safe day. Once again, we learned new things and realized how much we still do NOT know. We toured 2 museums,...

We left Conway, AR at 9:30 a.m. and checked into our hotel in Oklahoma City, OK at 3:30 p.m. Conway was a little past our goal for Day 1....