After a particularly long work week, with our eyes constantly glued to computer screens and our minds worn out from the hum-drum of the routine, we were ready to get out of the confines of our RV for the weekend. Friday evening, we still didn’t have a plan on what we wanted to do. All we knew was we wanted to be outside and away from our computer screens and home. Saturday morning, we were still looking at each other and asking, “Where are we going?” After review of our hand-dandy map, Robert set his sights on Natural Bridge, Alabama.
Natural Bridge, only about an hour southwest from where we’ve been staying near Decatur, boasts to have the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies. The drive was peaceful, going through some beautiful farm country. Tucked away off Highway 278, we arrived at the entrance of the natural bridge in the town, appropriately named Natural Bridge. The attraction seemed to be privately owned. had a modest gift shop, and had a nominal entry fee. We had the dogs with us and they were ready for the walk. We ended up taking the long way around on a nature trail to the bridge. The trail was a bit treacherous in some parts, but it was good to wear out those dogs, if that is even possible. The bridge was beautiful. We loved how the sun was shining through the trees and making sunbeams through the bridge’s openings. We spend a lot of time there taking pictures at different angles. Actually, Robert took the pictures, I ended up babysitting the dogs. For as long as we hung out there, we met up with a fair amount of visitors, but the traffic wasn’t so bad because we still had our moments of feeling secluded. Just what we were looking for.
Sunday, we were asking ourselves again, “Where are we going?” We were debating on going back to Huntsville and hiking at Monte Sano State Park again. Although I loved that park, I kept asking Robert if there was another State Park we could visit that we’ve never gone to before. We are only here for a short amount of time, let’s try to see different things on our weekend breaks. He ended up picking Cathedral Caverns State Park, located between Woodville and Grant, off of CR5.
The trip was lovely. The park only offered guided tours into the cave. Each tour lasted about an hour to an hour and a half and we were concerned that we wouldn’t have time to take any good pictures. In low light, Robert really likes to take his time and use a tripod. We decided that we’d make the best of it and try to get as many shots as we could. I’m glad that he picked the lightest tripod we had, and actually it came in handy as a walking stick. The tour ended up being nice and slow and we were able to take as many pictures as we wanted. The only thing that was disappointing was there were members of our tour that wouldn’t stay quiet and we couldn’t hear the tour guide very well. The poor guy had to tell people to hush a couple of times. It’s interesting that it wasn’t the kids that were making the most racket.
After our tour, we were starved, so we set out to find something to eat in any local town. We saw a sign exiting the park saying “Grant merchants welcomes you.” We decided to go toward the little town Grant. Since it was Sunday, we thought most things would be closed, but we would give it a shot on trying to find food. We came onto Mimi’s Cafe, a little establishment that was in a converted rock house. Since there were cars parked outside, we figured they were opened. We stepped inside and felt a little weird because it was like we were barging into someone’s home, but we were welcomed and seated right away. We loved the place right away, especially when we were handed their handwritten menus.
This was our kind of place…family owned with mismatched dishes, mismatched tables, and casual atmosphere. We threw them off because apparently you were supposed to choose three veggies with the main dish, but Robert only wanted potatoes and I picked two veggies. It was the first time we’ve been at a restaurant and were asked if we wanted seconds. Everything was wonderful, truly home cooking like my grandma used to make. The desserts of homemade ice cream, blackberry cobbler, and key lime cake were spectacular. It seemed they didn’t really know how to charge us because we didn’t get their typical dish and they seemed to feel they didn’t feed us enough, so they quoted us a ridiculously low price for lunch. We ended up giving them what we would have paid at any other restaurant. What nice people. We love finding places like that.
