Relaxing at Gunter Hill

Our time here at Gunter Hill COE is winding down, we leave tomorrow for Decatur AL, we never did make it into Montgomery for the most part we've enjoyed just being here at the campground. It's such a nice place to relax and unwind, we've walked (more than Dave should have with his bone spur) ridden our bikes around both campgrounds a few times most days.

Dave spoke with his manager at IBM and confirmed his date to start back up. For those who don't know Dave has been there 34 years, is a maintenance tech (he fixes the machines that make the computer chips) and has been on a leave of absence. We left VT on 9/23 and have really enjoyed being away from VT for one of the worst winters in recent memory, with his seasonal affective disorder we both agree this would have been a very trying winter to be there.

I have been in contact with Maplewoods Campground where I worked last summer, we will be coming in a few weeks before opening so wanted to check about that. At this point it is a wait and see game, they still have snow banks over 5' tall. they are planning on bringing in a front loader to start clearing the roads so work can begin in the campground. There are new sites that need to be worked on and maintenance that needs to be done before the 5/9 opening date.

 Last weekend the Montgomery Dulcimer Players were here, they played at the shelter a few times a day and had an evening jam session of which we attended one evening. Not only do they have dulcimers they have a number of other string instruments of which all I'm not familiar, one gentlemen was playing spoons, there were players of all ages playing. Even though we didn't know most of the songs they were playing we thoroughly enjoyed sitting out under the stars listening to the music.

Gunter Hill is situated on the Alabama River and has their own boat launch which we took advantage of on one of the warmer days. The river is slow and you can't see through the water, we did enjoy just getting out on it in the sunshine, though we didn't enjoy seeing all the trash that has collected along the riverbanks.

On one of the colder days we took a ride to Demopolis AL to see Gaineswood. Gaineswood evolved from a two-room “dogtrot” cabin into a Greek Revival style mansion. The owner, General Nathan Bryan Whitfield,  was his own architect, though he had no formal training. Unlike many old homes Gaineswood contains much of its original furnishings, some of which have just recently made it back home.

All week long we have seen signs of spring arriving, my favorite are these trees with their purple flowers.

We have been eating well while here, Dave is really enjoying his new smoker, spare ribs and chicken have found their way into it during the last week. We have also gone out to dinner at a few local places in Prattville, Jim's where we enjoyed a dinner of fried chicken with southern sides, purple beans (tasted similar to black eye peas) braised potatoes, cabbage and carrots, desert was peach cobbler. While not the best it certainly was very good and now understand all the cars parked outside at lunch time.

Tonight we went to Uncle Mick's Cajun Restaurant where we had probably our last Cajun meal until we're down south again next winter. Upon entering we were first asked if we wanted to try some samples before ordering, well we ended up getting their three sample entrees, that way Dave could have more of all most everything on the menu. This was some of the best Cajun food we've had, seems the cook is from New Orleans and had moved north after Katrina, if you are ever in the area and enjoy good Cajun food head into Prattville.

A few doors down from Uncle Mick's is Girl Meets Cakes, we stopped there before hand to pick up desert for later tonight.




Until next time...