by Tracy Fabre
Member since:
July 13, 2008

On The Way To The Ocean

November 07, 2009 01:56 PM EST (Updated: November 07, 2009 01:57 PM EST)
views: 118 | comments: 70

 

Howdy, y'all!  (Or what's left of y'all in Gather Ghost Town.)

Laela Arcus and I just came back from a pre-winter getaway to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and I plan to inundate you with photo essays in the coming week(s).  This one'll ease you in to the inevitable.

Obviously, I took this trip because I needed a....

(Scenic 98, south of Fairhope, AL.)

It was to save me a different kind of trip, to the...

(Actually the site of the long-defunct Mississippi Tuberculosis Sanitorium, just off Highway 49, south of Jackson. Photo essay to follow!)

Here's a Louisiana town with a sense of humor...

 

But this makes NO sense to me...

Since anything associated with Transylvania should be Catholic, right? Who ever heard of a Protestant vampire?

Here's how Felix's Fish Camp restaurant welcomes you down on the Causeway across Mobile Bay...

And yet, as much as I like seafood, that guy doesn't do it for me.

 

I took this photo especially for certain unreasonable grits-haters here on Gather (they know who they are) ...

(Near Big Lagoon State Park in Florida.)

But what's this? Could it be post-Halloween CARNAGE?

 

We had wandered accidentally onto the driveway leading to the Orange Beach Art Center when the horror started!

 

What in God's name happened here? What terrors befell this innocent scarecrow family?

 

Could it have been the dreaded flying monkeys, picking them off one by one?

Leaving behind only limbs and... and... entrails?  *gasp*

Well...

 

Here's the nearest neighbor to the folks on McGrits Boulevard...

 

And I leave you with this question...

More to come!

 
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Comments: 70

Grems 'gremlin' Nov 7, 2009, 2:14pm EST
Very nice. I think I would avoid any scarecrows for awhile. It appears they have fallen down and the etiology is unknown.
Grems 'gremlin' Nov 7, 2009, 2:14pm EST
Oh and a sanity check seems to be optional on Gather.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:26pm EST
It'd be more popular than those 'share on Twitter' buttons, no?
Grems 'gremlin' Nov 7, 2009, 2:31pm EST
Unfortunately those most in need of a sanity check would ignore the possibility.
Paidra Delayno Nov 7, 2009, 3:36pm EST
That would be me I suppose!
Shouldn't the church in Transylvania have been the Battist Church? Maybe it was a typo.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:27pm EST
You can never really be sure about Louisiana.
Transylvania University, in Lexington, is a well-respected institute of higher learning. Check it out! (in daylight, please!)
Linda B. Nov 7, 2009, 3:01pm EST
Well, if there is a Protestant Vampire around and you're not sure about the efficacy of a rosary--given that it is an emblem of Catholicism--just keep a handy dandy casserole dish within close reach and pray that you'll have time to offer it up for inspection before the fangs dip into your carotid.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 3:23pm EST
Sarah -- I knew that! I believe this Transylvania was named after that .

Linda -- and "wherever two or three are gathered in my name, one of them shall bring dessert". ;-)
I'd forgotten about Transylvania U. It's probably only well respected by secular humanists and leftist libs. :)
Kay M. Nov 7, 2009, 2:25pm EST
I'm still here attempting to ignite a Gather revival.
Please inundate me with many more of these entertaining photo essays.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:28pm EST
Gather revival... maybe that's what we need! A good old tent revival, drivin' the demons of apathy outta Gathertown!
Grems 'gremlin' Nov 7, 2009, 2:32pm EST
Ah, but apathy creates ennui which then creates angst which then creates diatribes about why they are being picked on.

(Just go with me on this.)
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:35pm EST
Heh... I'm goin', I'm goin'.
Susan G. Nov 7, 2009, 2:26pm EST
Love the travelogue, Tracy. I've never admitted it before, knowing how you feel and all, but I don't eat grits either.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:29pm EST
It's okay not to eat them. It's even okay not to like them. It's not okay to 'hate' them when you haven't had them in decades and then only had one spoonful. DON'T GET ME STARTED! *shiver*
Susan G. Nov 7, 2009, 2:34pm EST
But, one spoonful is enough!
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:37pm EST
I said don't get me started. Proper grits include butter, salt/pepper, cheese... and everyone who's ever insisted they hate grits has also admitted they only had them plain... one taste... decades ago. So pish.

DON'T GET ME STARTED!
Susan G. Nov 7, 2009, 2:45pm EST
No, mine had everything but the cheese. Does it help that I don't like hominy, either?
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:56pm EST
Marginally. At least you're relatively civil about it. Unlike some people who won't even see this post for a couple of days...
Aw. I just said "No." and your comment beat me to the punch. You're being far to easy on her!
Linda B. Nov 7, 2009, 3:04pm EST
Butter, salt/pepper, cheese....and bacon on the side.

I LOVE grits...as long as they're done right!

Shock of my life the first time I went north of the Mason Dixon line and was offered grits with sugar in them. I nearly threw up at the table.
Susan G. Nov 7, 2009, 3:20pm EST
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that all y'all like turnips, too.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 3:25pm EST
Linda -- you're a good woman.

Susan -- in truth I am no fan of turnips or turnip greens, and I find dry white biscuits covered with lumpy white-gray gravy appalling as a breakfast item.

Sarah -- well, she's tall.
Paidra Delayno Nov 7, 2009, 3:46pm EST
I once had grits at a very popular dive in Winston-Salem, NC. Let's just say I refuse to call it a restaurant because that word brings up images of real food I've eaten in New York and San Francisco. I am not criticizing Southern cooking, by the way. I've tied on the feed bag at some southern tables fit for a queen.
JOHN BECK Nov 7, 2009, 8:51pm EST
So I'm an outcast? Because I like grits (thanks for adding bacon, Linda), turnips, biscuits and gravy for breakfast...OK. You don't want to see a list of what I DO like!
Tracy Fabre Nov 8, 2009, 12:52pm EST
You're not an outcast, but I agree -- we don't want to see a list of what you do like. :-)
Linda B. Nov 8, 2009, 6:41pm EST
Hey....a true son or daughter of the South would NEVER serve grits without a side of bacon.

And turnip greens are always served with a bottle of pepper vinegar or other hot sauce on the side.....
Linda B. Nov 8, 2009, 6:47pm EST
...but I draw the line at turnips. Greens, yes, with pepper vinegar on 'em. but the roots themselves? Not on your life.

And butter and sausage only on my biscuits, please. None of that thick, gooey flavorless wallpaper paste stuff. (At a minimum, a Popeye's chicken biscuit will do; the top end of the flavor scale for biscuits are my grandmother's hand-rolled flaky biscuits that peel apart into moist, buttery, steamy layers...)
Susan G. Nov 8, 2009, 10:00pm EST
Hmmmn, sounds like most of you (except John) have never had sausage gravy the way my mother made it (and how I now make it on rare occasions.) Nothing gooey or flavorless about it. However, I prefer it over torn up pieces of bread. Save the biscuits for butter!
Chelle M. Nov 7, 2009, 2:40pm EST
Hmmm... interesting places you find...
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 2:51pm EST
I think they find me.
Chelle M. Nov 7, 2009, 2:59pm EST
If you insist. :)
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 3:25pm EST
I should have put up the "Follow Me To Piggly Wiggly" truck sign.
When the Piggly Wiggly chain first started there were several double entendre blues songs about it. They were all pretty much "I'm Piggly Wiggly. I can give you anything you need. Nudge nudge, wink wink."
Shirley Ann Howard Nov 7, 2009, 3:58pm EST
Welcome back, Tracy.
Clever pics.
Maybe you should should consider engaging in some creative endeavors.
I'll have 70,000 words ready for you in a few days, so I'm glad you rested up.
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 4:10pm EST
I'll be reeeeaaadddy....
Leo Lemmer Nov 7, 2009, 4:07pm EST
Nice to take the trip with you-more!
Tracy Fabre Nov 7, 2009, 4:10pm EST
Oh, my. Was that a pun? Shame! ;-)
Robert - just a simple man - B. Nov 7, 2009, 5:07pm EST
"Bitching Menstrual Anomalies" - No, can't say I ever had that BUT I did thoroughly enjoy this little romp. Very inventive.

However, enquiring minds (ok, just mine) want to know if you missed the cowboy?
Stacey (Jesus is coming soon! ) U. Nov 7, 2009, 5:33pm EST
OH my.....THAT has got to be the most interesting photo essay I've seen...
Doug H. Nov 7, 2009, 8:31pm EST
Very cool! All sorts of opportunities for pics along the way. We have a Transylvania University in Lexington. To my knowledge, no bats on water towers nor Hallowe'en carnage.
JOHN BECK Nov 7, 2009, 8:54pm EST
I can hardly wait for the follow-ups you promised, Tracy.
sheila h. Nov 7, 2009, 10:02pm EST
That was great..such an eclectic collection of weirdness..LOL
Felix's Fish Camp..Home of the Giant Exopthalmic Golden Carp

You should create your own vacation tour company specializing in hilarity
Kay M. Nov 7, 2009, 11:48pm EST
This photo essay has been featured at Hit Me With Your Best Shots
Tracy Fabre Nov 8, 2009, 12:52pm EST
Gracias!
Those are exactly the kind of pictures I take, too. No one has ever understood me before you. Maybe we should get married or date or email each other.

I only came back to the Ghost Town because of you. I'm leaving again.
Tracy Fabre Nov 8, 2009, 3:12pm EST
I understand. Some things weren't meant to be. *quiet sob*
Don't try to stop me with your pitiful tears.
Ishbel R. Nov 8, 2009, 5:33pm EST
Another leaver? I can't stand it.
JOHN BECK Nov 8, 2009, 10:05pm EST
Oh, come on, Ina. You would miss us!
Tracy Fabre Nov 8, 2009, 10:15pm EST
I think she's already not missing us. *sob* *not the pitiful kind*
You all know where to find me!

I miss what this site was, and outside of the handful of youse peeps, find very little reason to be here any more.
Don(time to open them FEMA camps) S. Nov 9, 2009, 5:03pm EST
;-)
Kelly Kay Nov 8, 2009, 10:45pm EST
These were great finds Tracy. I need to stop by Sanity Check really soon and see how far I am away from Sanatorium =)
Mark Jepsen Nov 9, 2009, 9:46am EST
How did my thong get mixed up with all the post-Halloween carnage!?!
Vivian P. Nov 10, 2009, 1:42pm EST
indeed !
ann c. Nov 9, 2009, 5:11pm EST
Well I liked all the photos but the McGrits one and you know why. AND I think it is so funny that Susan doesn't like grits, course she don't HATE them like I do!!!
Sheila Deeth Nov 10, 2009, 12:10am EST
Oh, this was fun!
Vivian P. Nov 10, 2009, 1:41pm EST
Ya know I had that thang called sanity once and I found no use for it !
Tracy Fabre Nov 10, 2009, 6:36pm EST
Me either. It just gets in the way!
Peter Joseph Swanson Nov 10, 2009, 5:23pm EST
Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhh - those photos were fun !!!
Kathryn E. Nov 11, 2009, 7:58pm EST
Hey, I NEVER said I hated grits. I said, I tried 'em and liked em. But on second thought, ...... I still like em.

These are pretty amazing. Took you forever?
Lance L. Nov 11, 2009, 10:11pm EST
Man that water tower bites.
(groan on your own time)
Vampires would seem to be more Lutheran. Very pleasant in the daytime, but they put the bite on you at night.
Aniko   Nov 13, 2009, 12:10am EST
A fun way to tell a story. :-)

Due to my Anglo-impaired origins, I actually associate the original Transylvania (which is, like, an actual place) with Calvinism and the Unitarian Church (and of course the Romanian Orthodox Church).
Tracy Fabre Nov 13, 2009, 11:17am EST
You mean I can't trust pop culture and Hollywood? Hmm... Frank Langella, with cape (and mist)... as a Unitarian. Somehow it doesn't seem right.
Aniko   Nov 13, 2009, 8:26pm EST
I know! These are not compatible universes...

In fact, the real Transylvania itself contains at least two incompatible universes, each with its own version of history. I try hard to be impartial in that situation, but you'll notice I've managed to put one of them in parentheses up there.
Nurse Nancy S. Nov 16, 2009, 1:48am EST
Awesome!! What fun, Tracy!!! Can't wait to travel with you some more!
William Dotani Nov 22, 2009, 8:42am EST
This looks like a fun place to visit. Lots of funny photos. I especially like the McGrit Blvd bird. I think this a good place to gain sanity.

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