For those who don't know, I live in Indiana, 12 hours away from Alabama.
I'm currently in Alabama visiting Deb's mother (Dean) and younger sister (Jean). They are beautiful women and I wish I had met them while Deb was alive.
I absolutely adore the regional Alabama accent. People down here talk fast. I feel like I'm drawling and I can tell people get a little impatient, like, "Get it out!". I talk slow anyway.
While getting lunch at Jack's (a sort of chicken and burger chain) one of the girls asked us where we were from. She's apparently from Illinois originally and got excited.
"I could tell ya'll were Yankees! I miss the voices from there."
We got called Yankees. I'm still rather tickled.
Alabama is absolutely beautiful. So many trees! There's also a vine parasite which looks like thick ivy at first glance. It's a pretty plant, but it's killing all the trees (And Alabama is very thickly forested. A lot more than I realized).
Dean claims that her great great grandfather had a hand in the vines. He and some other ranchers ordered it as feed for their cows from China. Well, the cows wouldn't eat the plant, and the roots are long and tough and strangle out all the other plant life.
I wish I had taken a picture. The plant makes the trees look fuzzy, it's so thick.
Dean also told us that her great great great grandfather had a hand in naming the nearby town "Yampertown". He used to own one of the only restaurants, and all the men would sit on the deck after eating and "yamper yamper yamper!". When the town was to be named they named it Yamptertown.
The town isn't Yamperown anymore, but occasionally you'll see signs around for "Yampertown Auto Parts" and such, so she's not making up the old name of the area.
We also got lost three times, setting us back three hours. Mom's GPS keeps misleading us and it's very frustrating. She claims her old GPS was very clear the last time she came here so... we're going by maps from now on. Tomorrow we're going to the Gulf Coast. Alabama barely touches the Gulf, really, but we're all excited to get to the beach.
Mom misses the ocean, and Alabama hills remind her of California.
I really like it down here. I'm sure the quaintness would wear thin on me after a while (There's absolutely nothing to do around here. Everything is an hour away. I didn't expect Alabama to be so empty) but at least there's a ton of lakes and rivers and places to hike, which is more than I can say for Indiana.
Grandpa's gout has been acting up, and my foot that was stomped on at the concert has been swollen. Hopefully this won't change much about the trip. I hate being in pain.
I absolutely adore the regional Alabama accent. People down here talk fast. I feel like I'm drawling and I can tell people get a little impatient, like, "Get it out!". I talk slow anyway.
While getting lunch at Jack's (a sort of chicken and burger chain) one of the girls asked us where we were from. She's apparently from Illinois originally and got excited.
"I could tell ya'll were Yankees! I miss the voices from there."
We got called Yankees. I'm still rather tickled.
Alabama is absolutely beautiful. So many trees! There's also a vine parasite which looks like thick ivy at first glance. It's a pretty plant, but it's killing all the trees (And Alabama is very thickly forested. A lot more than I realized).
Dean claims that her great great grandfather had a hand in the vines. He and some other ranchers ordered it as feed for their cows from China. Well, the cows wouldn't eat the plant, and the roots are long and tough and strangle out all the other plant life.
I wish I had taken a picture. The plant makes the trees look fuzzy, it's so thick.
Dean also told us that her great great great grandfather had a hand in naming the nearby town "Yampertown". He used to own one of the only restaurants, and all the men would sit on the deck after eating and "yamper yamper yamper!". When the town was to be named they named it Yamptertown.
The town isn't Yamperown anymore, but occasionally you'll see signs around for "Yampertown Auto Parts" and such, so she's not making up the old name of the area.
We also got lost three times, setting us back three hours. Mom's GPS keeps misleading us and it's very frustrating. She claims her old GPS was very clear the last time she came here so... we're going by maps from now on. Tomorrow we're going to the Gulf Coast. Alabama barely touches the Gulf, really, but we're all excited to get to the beach.
Mom misses the ocean, and Alabama hills remind her of California.
I really like it down here. I'm sure the quaintness would wear thin on me after a while (There's absolutely nothing to do around here. Everything is an hour away. I didn't expect Alabama to be so empty) but at least there's a ton of lakes and rivers and places to hike, which is more than I can say for Indiana.
Grandpa's gout has been acting up, and my foot that was stomped on at the concert has been swollen. Hopefully this won't change much about the trip. I hate being in pain.