Easter at DeSoto State Park, Mentone, Alabama

This Easter, Odom Family Fun packed up the Smiley Faced Dragon and headed out to DeSoto State Park between Fort Payne and Mentone, Alabama. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful; it was a great mini-vacation.
Sadly, Fort Payne is no longer the Sock Capital of the World. All the old sock stores are boarded up and closed down. Fort Payne will just have to make its mark in this world as the home town of the country band, Alabama! Sorry, no photos from the Alabama Fan Club Museum. Incredibly, we found other avenues of entertainment to keep us busy.

As DeSoto State Park is in the foothills of the Appalachians, there were plenty of waterfalls, and trails, and forests, and streams, and canyons, and other fun things to look at. The photo above was taken at DeSoto Falls. The drop was far more precarious than it looks in this photo. To the right of the photo, the falls continue down for a 100 feet or so into a beautiful canyon. Britt, of course, was freaking out whenever the kids would simply look at the edge. Wouldn't you know it, we all survived!




The campground didn't have much to write home about. I was more impressed with Cheaha State Park. There was no playground we could walk to; the pad wasn't level; we saw little wildlife; and the trail behind the forest led to nowhere in particular. However, there was plenty of room to run around and explore, and the kids loved it. Our first day we explored the campground, went to DeSoto Falls, and dined in Mentone. The next morning, I made pancakes.




Saturday, we participated in the Mentone Community Easter Egg Hunt. All the little mountain churches put together the hunt at the community center. They really did a great job. Over 1000 eggs were hid in the property around the center, and there was plenty of participation. Hayes and Caroline blended right in with the locals. They did great!





There was free food, a space jump and . . .

. . . cotton candy for the young 'uns.

Afterwards, we toured Riverview camp for girls. We had the camp to ourselves. Caroline loved it. Hayes announced he would be in attendance as well. We shall see about that.

April is the season for caterpillars at DeSoto. They were everywhere, swinging from threads, crawling on the picnic table, dropping into hair . . . . Hayes was fascinated! He loved collecting the creepy-crawlers and letting them scamper all over his body.

We let the kids collect them into an old water bottle. Funny story: after we picked the camping spot and unpacked everything, I noticed a line of ants crossing our campsite close to the pop-up. Endlessly, back and forth from one side to the other. Knowing ants as I do, I knew they would eventually find their way into our pop-up and take over. However, I was too lazy to pack back up and pick another campsite, so I brought out the ant killer instead. The ant killer was this white, powdery stuff that is supposed to attack the exoskeleton of the ants. I poured it on them with reckless abandon -- emptied the entire canister. "That will get them," I said, patting myself on the back like a boss.

Those ants simply moved over two inches closer to the pop up . . . and continued their endless march across our campsite, paralleling the line of powder. That Borax powder didn't kill the first ant. Luckily for us, the ants had a single-minded purpose; that was to cross the campsite. They never bothered the Smiley Faced Dragon our entire stay.

The nights were cool, so a nice fire made things comfortable. Our next door neighbors were apparently a blue grass band. At 7 p.m., or so, they would crank up with old-timey gospels, "I'll fly away", that sort of music. It was grand. As the sun melted, we would sit around the fire and listen to the beautiful music. A truly neat experience.

Our last night, I broke out the Jiffy Pop. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as planned, never rising but a few inches. Only a quarter of the corn popped, but the kids loved it anyway. Smores and rock-hard popcorn washed down with Capri-Sun.

On Easter Sunday, the kids climbed into the back of the Yukon as Mommy and Daddy packed up. Hayes brought along one of his little friends for entertainment.

We dressed and went to Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Payne, Alabama (not before a quick pic at DeSoto Falls). Lo and behold, the preacher there attended RTS in Jackson, and had been the RUF minister for Belhaven. RTS is a pipeline for the PCA Church; it is a blessing to have it in Jackson.

It was a nice Easter service, and the congregation was friendly. During one of the hymns, the choir director shut the song down after the first verse because the pianist was playing in the wrong key. So, once everyone gathered themselves, we all started over from the top. I've never seen that happen before.

Great family Easter holiday. The mountains of Alabama were pleasant. The town of Mentone charming. It was nice to have a larger town like Fort Payne nearby with a Wal-Mart. You don't have that option at Cheaha. Once you are at your campsite at Cheaha, you aren't going anywhere. Overall, another great memory in the books.