This past week, the kids and I joined a local homeschool support group for an awesome field trip to Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. Onsite at St. Bernard Monastery, the grotto was created by Brother Joseph Zoettl, a German immigrant that arrived at the monastery at the young age of 14 with the intention of becoming a priest. When he suffered a terrible back injury, it was determined that he would not be a priest but instead he volunteered to run the power house that required constant attention. It was here that his hobby of constructing miniature buildings began, using whatever materials he could find. Eventually, his hobby grew into a world renowned work of art and people ventured from around the globe to see the miniature churches, missions and biblical scenes, called “Little Jerusalem”, as well as the focal point of the park, the Ave Maria Grotto which contains the Virgin Mary and other statues. Today, you’ll find a selection of 125 of the masterpieces that Brother Joseph created on permanent display in a beautiful park like setting on the monastery grounds.
Though the majority of the sculptures are modeled after religious or historical buildings, you’ll find a few whimsical surprises along the trail. A dragon is lurking under Hansel and Gretel’s Temple of the Fairies, chained of course so it doesn’t frighten youngsters and towards the end of the trail you’ll find a Lizard Condo and Chipmunk Crossing.
Despite the age of the sculptures, you’ll find they are in impeccable condition, with the exception of Noah’s Ark that was lost believe it or not in a recent flood! The replicas are maintained by Leo, who worked side-by-side with Brother Joseph before his death in 1961. Leo is also a master stone cutter and is responsible for cutting all of the limestone on the front of the monastery church, which we peeked into before leaving the campus. Built in the shape of a Latin cross, the marble interior of the church is beautiful. There was a mass in service so we weren’t able to look too closely, but our tour guide told us that there was a disagreement over what foot ware the saints carved along the sides of the sanctuary should be wearing. The compromise resulted in ten figures with combat boots and two with sandals!
We learned a bit about Alabama’s history, the City of Cullman and have a better understanding of the Catholic religion. If you’d like to visit this attraction that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, I’d highly encourage it. Just make sure that as you walk by you keep in mind that all of these marvelous miniatures were fashioned essentially out of trash and discarded building materials, take your time and pay special attention to all the detail. If you’re just passing through Cullman, you’ll find a wonderful quiet picnic area beside the parking lot; I’d stay and linger awhile. The kids and I decided this is probably one of the best field trips we’ve ever been on, but I’m sure part of it is because we had an awesome tour guide, who just happened to be a full-time RVer at one time!
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the Adventure
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This past Tuesday we found out that an historic WWII plane would be flying into our area and would be open for tours for two days only. Having studied that time period last year in school, and having two boys that are particularly interested in historic war planes, my husband and I knew that this opportunity was not to be missed. Thankfully my husband had a short day of work already planned on Wednesday so we were able to view this fascinating marvel. On the short drive to the airfield, my boys were taking turns impressing us with their knowledge of the B-17’s. Were they excited? You bet!
Their excitement waned briefly as we pulled into the parking lot and saw many people outside the plane, I wondered if I’d misunderstood and they really weren’t allowing tours inside. So I asked a gentleman that was directing traffic and he assured us that he had been through the plane and cautioned that though some of the passageways were a bit of a squeeze, it was definitely worth the trip.
Excited once again, we paid the $15 per family admission and hastily made our way to the plane. Immediately, we were surrounded by volunteers eager to share tidbits of information with us as to what it would have been like to actually serve on one of these planes. Do you realize that the boys that flew the plane were often only 17 years old? If they survived to the age of 20 they were sent stateside to train the new recruits. We also learned that it was so cold in the air that the airmen would keep their candy bars on the inside of their coat pockets because if they were on the outside, they would freeze. The candy bars were necessary to give them a boost of energy to fight the necessary battles. The missions were often fought more than eight hours, by the time the fight was over and the plane was landed, the young men would collapse with fatigue.
The B-17 was vital to winning WWII. During the ten year span of 1935 to 1945, over 12,000 planes were built. Today, less than 12 planes remain capable of flying.
Though we began our tour of the Flying Fortress, the Aluminum Overcast, on the ground, inspecting the outside, it wasn’t long before we journeyed inside for a glimpse of the bombardier, bomb bay and other various compartments. As I watched my husband climb the ladder into the plane and literally crawl through the narrow passageway to a standing position, I knew that the gentleman I’d spoken with had not exaggerated the tightness of some passageways. I began to feel a bit panicky and claustrophobic as my turn to climb that ladder arrived, but my husband assured me that I wouldn’t get stuck. Trusting him, I continued and we were soon joined by our children, who were a bit amused by my antics. No, I did not get stuck and after passing through the bomb bay, the passageway widened considerably.
If you homeschool and have plans to study WWII at some point in the future or have studied it in the past, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to make history come alive for your children with a trip through the Aluminum Overcast. It is scheduled to visit parts of AR, OK, TX and LA yet. This is a must for history and WWII enthusiasts or anyone that just happens to be in the area! Thumbs up from us!
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the Adventure
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I had not originally intended to visit the Oakville Indian Mounds, but it is literally just a minute or two from the Jesse Owens Memorial Park. Though this attraction was a bit of a disappointment to us, I have a feeling we would have enjoyed it a bit better if we'd chosen to visit on a different day. It seems that they were in the midst of preparations for a massive school day and Pow Wow so everyone was extremely busy.
The park like setting features a large mound that is about 2,000 years old and was made by the Woodland Indians. I believe there may be another mound on the property; hence the name, but we didn’t see it. We also didn’t venture onto the mound because I’m not sure we were permitted to that day, as it seemed to be somewhat roped off. The museum is impressively modeled after a seven-sided Cherokee Council House; inside you’ll find a huge wooden statue of Sequoyah and thousands of artifacts which include arrowheads, authentic Indian drums, a dugout canoe, animal skins, mounted heads and a large window that offers a view of the mound.
Worth a visit, the museum and grounds are free but once again, donations are appreciated.
If you enjoy visiting Indian mounds, you may want to check out the Etowah Indian Mounds just northwest of Atlanta, Georgia.
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Sometimes I get a bit stir crazy and can't wait to get out of the camper when it seems as though the four walls are closing in around me. I have to admit that the past few weeks I've felt this sensation a bit more than usual. I seem to have an inner urgency to begin checking names off my list of all the places in Alabama that I want to see before moving on down the road. I'm not quite sure why I feel this way, as I'm pretty sure we'll continue to be in the area for a while yet. But in the meantime, that means a few field trips for my kids and family outings, when my husband is interested in joining us.
Last Thursday it happened to be a lucky, impromptu field trip day for the kids. Normally that would be the day for our afternoon biology class, but it happened to be cancelled, so we took a field trip to the Jesse Owens Memorial Park. Easy to find, the park is located on a county road just outside Danville, Alabama almost an hour southwest of Huntsville. As we pulled into the parking lot, we were immediately greeted by a friendly volunteer outside the Visitor's Center, asking if we were there to see the museum, which we were. He directed us to the top of the hill where the facilities awaited us.
Though our first stop was inside the museum to see the memorabilia and exhibits, I think I really made a mistake by telling the kids about the Long Jump Pit outside. They were so eager to see how far they could jump that they weren’t about to watch the 45 minute film highlighting the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where Jesse won four gold medals. We hastily made our way through the museum before moving to what the kids thought of as the ‘good stuff’ outside.
We all enjoyed touring the replica of the small sharecroppers home that Jesse was born in and lived in with his parents and nine siblings, until moving to Cleveland, Ohio when he was nine. Upon entering, you will hear a narration telling you a bit about the home and Jesse’s early life.
On the grounds you’ll also see a replica of the 1936 Olympic Torch lit in 1996 by Ruth Owens, his widow. The focal point of the grounds may be the impressive 8-foot tall bronze Statue of Jesse Owens, depicting him running through the Olympic rings.
And finally, the highlight of the trip, the Long Jump Pit. As the kids said, that’s not something that you find at every park or museum and it was certainly new to them. They spent several minutes preparing the pit and then each took turns trying to jump further than anyone else- though no one came close to hitting the 26 ½ foot mark that Jesse held the record for until it was broken in 1960. I don’t think we have any long jump candidates in this family but they sure had fun trying.
The museum is free unless you have a group of 10 or more, but donations are appreciated. We enjoyed our trip here, even though it was brief and I’m sure there’s at least one aspect that the kids will remember forever.
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the Adventure
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The kids and I had stopped briefly at High Falls Park on our first outing with friends here in Alabama. Since it was spring, the water was really rushing over the falls and was something to see. Since my husband had not accompanied us on the trip, we thought it'd be nice for him to see what he'd missed out on. Though he was impressed with the falls and the natural arch that is seen near the falls, that is not the scene that caught his eye. Instead we were all shocked to see four older boys (late teens, early twenties) jumping from the arch into the waters below. A bit of a terrifying thought as the area still appeared to be pretty rocky. Of course, there are signs posted that you can swim at your own risk, but jumping off the rocks are not advised. But not prohibited. Still, the guys wouldn't jump with us in the vicinity and kept an eye on us, waiting for us to leave before they continued their antics.
While we wanted to see the falls, it was clear that spectators were not welcome at the moment, so we walked along one of the short hiking trails before we decided to head off to Buck's Pocket. I did take pictures of the falls, but I'd forgotten my camera and ended up taking them with my phone. Not the best quality, but it gives you an idea of what we saw. You can see more pictures of our first trip here.
Leaving the falls, we drove a short distance over the country roads to Buck's Pocket State Park. We discovered that to reach the park office, we'd be required to drive down a winding, paved road with steep dropoffs, huge boulders and signs that read something like, Warning: This is a dangerous road, do not exceed the speed limit of 10 mph. As if to illustrate that point, immediately a guard rail became visible that has been crashed into, now broken and rusty. Well that got my attention. I wondered if part of the reason it was so dangerous could be because the passing scenery is so beautiful that drivers have a hard time keeping their eyes on the road. I was also soooo thankful that we'd driven into the gorge to check out the campground without our camper. I would have been terrified driving down the hill in our motorhome, it would certainly be better to pack our tent. In fact, I don't think we'd even be able to make one of the curves in the camper. And as we were driving back up, I was thankful that I wasn't met with oncoming traffic in my SUV. In all fairness, I am an Ohio native so yes, I can be a bit wimpy on mountain roads at times but my children were happy to see the main road once again if that tells you anything.
© 2009 Tonya Prater/Live the Adventure
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