Alabama Gold Camp

We traveled to Alabama Gold Camp in Clagford, AL to pan for gold yesterday. As you can see it is quite an interesting little place! I think Papa would have loved this place! First, we had to attend "Panning School" for some panning lessons from "One-Eyed Jack"! (John Brady was asleep in the van so he missed the lesson) Once we were "schooled up", One-Eyed Jack let us loose to find our spot on the creek bank. Brady, the kids, and I had a picnic before we settled into the task at hand. The gold was very tiny and difficult to find and see, so the kids preferred playing in the water. Brady was determined at first to find gold, but he, too, grew weary. As Brady was on one of his "serious-I'm-going-to-find-gold-kicks", John Brady was on one of his "I-want-to-taste-the-water-kicks"! Well, we didn't have much luck finding gold, but we did find a good time. Brady said, "The next time you kids want to play in a creek like this, I'll just take you three down behind Nanny and Papa's house to North River and let you go at it!" Sound just like something he would say and do, huh? After our gold digging excursion, we took the kids to a hotel for the night and enjoyed some swimming in the indoor pool. The kids love staying at hotels, especially when they can get in the pool! We were on the seventh floor and after about twenty minutes, I realized why; three children, ages six and under, they knew what they were doing! Although I felt like we were disturbing EVERYONE, I never heard or saw anyone else on the seventh floor!! This morning we were up at our usual 6:00 a.m. so we got dressed and headed to the nearest IHOP--another favorite of ours! It was nice to get away, even if it was just one night. It was a great little family trip.