A trip to Eufala

We had a girls trip to Eufala, AL last Friday.  It's a town about an hour north of us known for its lake (the weird Southern hillbilly shows that show the sport of "noodling" for catfish, have filmed at Lake Eufala).  There are alligators and scary water snakes too, so even though a lot of people visit Eufala for water sports, we decided to take in another side of this sleepy, southern town, its architecture.  

The first time we flew home we left from Atlanta.  You have to drive through Eufala to get to Atlanta and I remember being awed by the lovely homes on either side of us as we drove through.  I turned to Dean as though I had been betrayed and said, "why didn't we move here?!"  The street looked like it was from the movies, and in fact it has been featured in several, "Sweet Home Alabama" with Reese Witherspoon being one of the most recent.   Dean later mentioned he was worried to drive through Eufala with me because he knew I would love it so much more than where we are currently located. Dothan has lovely homes too, just not so prominently displayed.

                            

We first visited the Shorter Mansion recognized by its 14 freestanding corinthian columns.

I loved these lanterns and I wanted to take the iron rocking bench home with me...

Under construction. I'm so glad they're choosing to restore vs. demolish.  Apparently in the late 60's one of these homes was bought, destroyed, and turned into apartments.  A community "heritage association" was organized and they started fundraising and grant writing to be able to purchase future homes that went on the market.  Two Eufala homes are now museums, but the rest are privately owned and maintained.  Something I thought was remarkable.

Even the little side streets had such charm and character..

A street marker, WAY COOL.

You can see why people love the lake, although I don't know if I could be paid enough to actually swim in it.  As Dean says, "I don't swim in water with anything that will EAT me!"

On the way home we stopped in Abbeville.  Another equally charming, sleepy, southern town.  They have a restaurant with a soda fountain that we couldn't pass up.

Of course we had shakes and a whole bunch of fried carbohydrates.  Sadie chose to eat hers on the floor...

A fun road trip with the girls.  We had to stop and get a selfie with the cotton.  I saw so many new things on this trip.  Thanks, mom, for giving me an excuse to get out and explore this new state of mine.