Tuscumbia

Jake spent the night with Nathan last night, and all five of us went to Tuscumbia for the day.  Ivy Green, Helen Keller’s birthplace, was first up.

Despite being a lifelong Alabama native, I’d never been.  Nathan has been fascinated with Helen Keller since learning about her in school, and he was very excited to see the actual water pump where Anne Sullivan spelled W-A-T-E-R into young Helen’s hand.

The whole story is incredible, of course, but my favorite detail today was a letter that Helen wrote to her cousins when she was eight years old, not much longer than a year after she’d even learned the concept of an alphabet.  Wow.

Then it was off to the Coldwater Cafe, which came recommended from an old schoolmate.  I had asked for a recommendation for a place with “Southern charm” or a “dive meat-and-three,” and given the name of the place, as well as that I’ve always thought of Camille as a genuine Southern lady, I just assumed it was the former.  Instead, it was a shack.

We had burgers, sandwiches, and onion rings, and all were good.  Unfortunately they didn’t have the chocolate cake that Greg’s wife and mother-in-law both recommended.

Then, we went to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.  Now I was expecting this place to be fairly cheesy, maybe like a museum you’d visit in Gatlinburg or at the beach.  It far exceeded my expectations.

It’s not large, but it’s very well done.  I could have stayed in there two hours easily.  Alas, that was about double the boys’ attention spans.  I may just find my way back over there sometime.  Plus, I have a large stack of musicians I suddenly want to know much more about.

Finally, we took an impromptu trip to the Cook’s (as in pest control) Natural Science Museum in Decatur on the way back, and Aaron would very much like for me to show you the tarantula they have there:

Home and wrapped about 4:30, I’d guess.  What a good day.

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