Today was 1 of those days that makes this lifestyle well worth the effort. I have to say that I set the bar pretty low for Mobile and pretty much all of Alabama. I spent some time at Ft. Rucker while my son was there for training and really didn't get to see much. Our road trip to Dauphin Island was a good Alabama introduction. So today we went us to the big city. We got on our Sunday best and jumped in the buggy and headed over for a spell.
First off Mobile is a very clean large city. No trash or graphiti visible. You hear that Baltimore & Philly?!? There was a guy with a sort of official looking shirt that told us we didn't have to feed the parking meter since it was the weekend. I guess he took pity on us as we stared at the contraption to see if it was hungry. Then 2 blocks away we see another gentleman with a similar shirt and he is spraying the weeds in the cracks in the sidewalk. He asked if we were visiting. I remarked how clean the city is. He said he's part of a crew that does city clean up 7 days a week. And it shows.
Their tourism fair wasn't all that. They had live music and several booths. There were a few food trucks. We got a map that showed the various local museums. We are more history people than artsy people so we just went on walkabout.
The architecture style reminds me of New Orleans. Those 2nd story balconies with the wrought iron decorations. If you've been to the crescent city, you will be familiar with what I'm trying to describe. The city does a good job of blending the old with the new. Downtown Mobile is laid out grid style. Dauphin Street has a lot of restaurants and bars housed in well kept older homes. You don't find many chain businesses outside of Jimmy Johns. There are 2 buildings that appear to have been movie theaters.
The area is vibrant with people walking about. It's not Inner Harbor busy, more like Annapolis busy. The first place we stopped for a drink had a good crowd. The reason we needed to stop because it was hotter than hades. Everyone walking had some form of visible sweat. The Lo Da bier garten was just what we needed. 102 beer & ciders on tap. Good luck picking 1. We thought about the name and tried to conjure up all sorts of reasons for the name. Perhaps it's German for something. The name is a contraction of Lower and Dauphin, since it's location is Dauphin Street. The 2nd thing we wondered was how a bartender can remember the location of each beer. There is no system in place, they just learn as they go. Only about 20 of the brews rotate. The others are permanent fixtures.
I had a Ciderboy's Pineapple Hula cider. It was quite refreshing for a hot day. We didn't even look at the menu but I guess they may have offered some German dishes. After watching the Nationals lose on a walk off home run we left.
Just across the street is an older brick building. A few of the Lo Da employees were coming out of there. Vrai was taking pictures and I popped my head inside. This was the coolest looking bar, called Alchemy. Brick interior with dark wood. It needed a jazz trio in the corner. It was almost empty with just a few bar stools occupied. Compared to the crowd at the bar across the street I was surprised at the contrast.
We talked to the bartender but he was very knowledgeable and could have been an owner. He told us about the downtown Mobile area with a focus on the bars and nightlife. 1 of his stories was of how he originally planned to visit Germany for a week but ended up getting a job and hung around working for 9 months until he felt Mobile pull him back in. I like the stories people tell of how they ended up in a certain place. The Keys and Panama City Beach have a lot of those people who wanted to get out of their sleepy towns and go somewhere exciting. Mr Alchemy barkeep thought the grass might be greener somewhere else but ended up back home. I'm happy to report he isn't sorry about his choice.
After this stop we headed out intending to walk 5 or so blocks to the location of another bar. Not to drink but to stop by to pay homage to the reason we are even in Mobile. On one of our trips back to Panama City Beach from Texas we were in search for a bicycle carrier part. The GPS told us there was a bike shop in Mobile, not too far off the interstate. Well the Oh Bike Shop is actually a bar. Even though we didn't find the part we were looking for, we did put Mobile on our short list for places to come back and explore more thouroughly.
So here we are exploring. And trying to keep our cool in the sweltering south.
Thus, my reference to sleeping in our old house with nothing but ceiling fans; during the day, no less. A true life experience that I would do all over again.
Since we lived there for 3 months, I went to 2nd grade from Nov. '66 - Feb.'67. What I remember: we had very strict teachers, we had a cigarbox for our desk things, we said The Lord's Prayer in the morning before or after The Pledge of Allegiance (and it wasn't Catholic school). Other than those few things, I don't recall much - I went to 3 schools for 2nd grade, because of the move overseas. Military Brat life!
