Denver to Grand Lake is about a 2 hour car ride. A quick trip out of the city takes you west out interstate 70 then northwest up hwy 40 and back north east up Hwy 34 past Granby. Just north of Granby are three lakes: Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Lake and Grand Lake. Grand Lake is the largest natural lake in Colorado and the smallest of the three at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Sitting on the back porch of the “tree house”, it’s hard to imagine that the city of Baton Rouge is just 35 miles south. To be honest, it’s hard to imagine that anything else exists within hundreds of miles from my feet dangling just over the wooden planks on the back deck, as I swing in solitude behind my cottage. The main house in front is the barrier to entry into a little fantasy land called the Butler Greenwood Plantation.
There’s a little town on the Bayou Lafourche just off Highway 90, that doesn’t get much attention. People on the highway are too rushed to get to New Orleans or too disoriented when they leave. Raceland, Louisiana is tucked just far enough away that the average person would hardly even know it existed, if it weren’t for a sign that says so. Residents here are fortunate that’s the case.
We tend to think the more the merrier, when it comes to a party. When it’s time to relax, numbers matter and big numbers aren’t welcome. A Chateau on the Bayou is the perfect place in a perfect little town to sit back, relax, and take in what everyone else is missing.
The last week kind of threw me off my game plan. I was expecting a package to be sent and when it didn’t arrive as I had expected, I got caught playing the waiting game. While I was waiting I had extra time to take care of a few things and now I’m back in action.
Mobile, AL is home to swing king Hank Aaron, Mardi Gra, and the mammoth Battleship USS Alabama. I wandered around the city on Thursday to find out what to do in Mobile, Alabama. 
This morning started out overcast and the sun didn’t poke through until around 2pm. By 3pm, I was just north of Talladega riding the speedway.
There’s an old home on the highest hill on Quintard Avenue on the outskirts of Anniston, Alabama. It’s hidden beneath hundred year old oak trees and the shade these giants provide. If you didn’t know what you were looking for, you very well may pass it by without notice.
That’s just fine by the guests of the The Victoria Inn and Restaurant. Some people enjoy keeping a secret. The silence is broken. Welcome to The Victoria.
I headed out of Mentone, Alabama with every intention of heading west today. First, I was told about a little ride along the rim of the canyon in Desoto State Park. I did the rim, just not the part of it I was planning on. After a heinous ride that kicked my butt and my brain, I entered what I feel like is the “Real South”.
Home is where the heart is. A piece of mine is now in Mentone, Alabama.
The Mentone Springs Hotel has a heart of its own and it beats stronger with the more poeple that call it home for a night or two. The personality of the house shines bigger and brighter as the night grows older and the guests open up.
The past two days have been a magical reversal of fortune. I was run through the ringer a few days before and the instant I hit Alabama, everything came together again. I have spent the last two nights at the Mentone Springs Motel making new friends, eating good food and enjoying all the things that this awesome little town has to offer.
With a population of 370, you may think that you’d get bored quick in a place the size of Mentone. There are probably a lot of 370 person towns scattered across the U.S. that you would find yourself bored in, real fast. That hasn’t happened once here.
