Flat Stanley Visits Some North Alabama Countryside.

Dear Avah,
I was traveling around North Alabama with Adeline's Stanley and we had a very good time. But in order to cover more ground & visit more interesting places, we have gone different directions and I'd like to share the next part of my journey with you.

  

 

  

 

 While my twin brother Stanley enjoyed some exciting adventures with our friend Geni, I took a trip to see where Geni grew up. The view is very pretty. It is 7 miles from the town of New Hope, Alabama and the Paintrock River runs nearby. There is a shallow & wide portion of the river there that is known as "Buckford" because it's good spot for wildlife to cross over. As I'm sure you know, a Buck is a male deer & Ford is another word for walking across a river. The home where Geni grew up was nicknamed Buckford by Geni's father. 

 

I helped Geni's sister Teri collect some pine cones &
pine needles. 

Then she built a nice warm campfire out of the pine cones & needles, it was a chilly day. But made sure I stayed a nice safe difference away from the fire because my body is somewhat flammable. Have you ever been around a campfire?

 After we returned to Huntsville, we went shopping for a flat suitcase for me to take to..... Montana!I'm so excited about my next adventures!
Take care,
Stanley

Flat Stanley Discovers Alabama Football

Hi Adeline,

I have discovered the most fun sport -- Watching Football! That's what everybody in Alabama does on Saturday afternoons in the fall.

I was at the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., on a gorgeous, sunny Saturday, and like everybody else, I was watching the Alabama vs. Mississippi State game on TV.

At halftime, we walked two blocks to a store to buy ice cream, and nobody -- I mean NOBODY -- was outside. No one on the beach, no one else walking along the road, no one driving cars.

Stan points to the final score, Alabama 25, Mississippi State 20. How do you like his new shirt?

The game was amazing! I got a new shirt, too. It's important around here to wear appropriate colors on football day. It's OK to wear University of Alabama clothing any time, but it is required on game day.

I got so excited that I almost lost my head. Luckily, we had a Band-Aid.

Stan interviews Alabama Quarterback Black Sims after the game. Nah, not really. Stan is posing in front of the TV. 

The best part of today was that we won. "Roll Tide Roll." That's what we Alabama fans yell, win or lose. But we usually win.

That's all for now.
XOXO and RTR.
Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley Makes Friends at Waffle House

Hi Adeline,
Have you ever been to Waffle House? You should go. If they don't have Waffle House in Ohio, you should come to Alabama.

This Waffle House is in Oxford, Ala. Oxford is a city in east Alabama, about 30 miles from the boundary between Alabama and Georgia. Oxford has about 21,000 people. It used to be called "Lick Skillet." When I got there, I was ready to lick the skillet used to cook my breakfast.

Waffle House is very bright and friendly, and it is open all the time. You can get breakfast at 10 o'clock at night if you want to. Anytime you go into a Waffle House, everybody who works there looks up and says, "Hey," or "Hi," or "How ya doin'?" Those are all ways that people in Alabama greet each other.

I made some good friends at the Waffle House. The ladies really liked me, and even the cook came over to say hello. He was amazing. He could cook food for five people at once. He had six waffle irons cooking waffles all at the same time. He had all the plates lined up on the counter next to his grill, and he would put eggs, toast, hashbrowns, grits and bacon on the plates.

I tried the grits. At first, I didn't know what they were. They looked like lumpy mashed potatoes, but they were made of corn. They had butter and salt and pepper on them. Some people eat them with melted cheese mixed in, and some people like them with sugar or pancake syrup. I won't eat them every day, but it's good to try new things.

Stan studies the menu. It took him awhile to decide what he wanted.

He got a waffle, of course.

Stan gets a kiss from the ladies at Waffle House.

Everything was really good, but the waffle was my favorite. My belly was so stuffed that it stuck out like a watermelon. You couldn't call me Flat Stanley for the rest of the day.

XOXO
Love and waffle kisses,
Stanley

Stan Almost Gets Arrested at the Guntersville Dam

Hi Adeline,
It's just me now. My brother Stanley is off on his own adventures. I hope he's reading this blog so he'll know what I've been up to.

Here I am in front of the sign
that marks the road to the dam.

After I left Stan in Huntsville, I went to see a dam in Guntersville, Ala. A dam is a thick wall built across the path of a river to control the water. The dam has openings that let some water through, but it holds back most of the water in a big lake.

The Guntersville Dam is a hydroelectric dam. That means the water that flows through the dam generates electricity.

The lake behind the dam is pretty.

The Guntersville Dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority -- TVA for short -- and is owned by the United States government. Many years ago, the Tennessee River flooded farms and homes in north Alabama every year after heavy rains. The government created the TVA to build dams all along the river to collect all that rainwater into lakes. Now, people living there can fish, boat and swim in the lakes. Their homes do not get flooded every time it rains. And they have electricity to run their lights, refrigerators, TVs and computers. Pretty good deal, huh?

When I got to the dam, it was starting to get dark and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I thought the lake was pretty. The dam looked big and strong, but I couldn't see where the water came through.

The water is high behind the dam. It is lower on the other side.

I was caught red-handed trying to take a picture of the dam.

I tried to get a picture of the main part of the dam, but the sun was behind it, so I couldn't see it very well.

The guards in the dam saw me trying to take a picture and they yelled at me over the loudspeaker. It was far away, and I couldn't hear very well with the wind blowing, but this is what I think they said:

"Stop what you are doing. You may not photograph the dam!"

What did I do? What would you do? I ran away as fast as I could!

Run away!

Wow, that was scary. I hope my next adventure will be less adventurous. And maybe I can get something to eat. I'm hungry!

Flat Stanley Explores the Space & Rocket Center

Hi Adeline and Avah,
After our visit in Detroit, we headed south to Alabama. Alabama is nicknamed "The Heart of Dixie," and that means it is in the middle of the Deep South. It's very warm and sunny here, and people are friendly. Their accents are hard for us to understand, but they talk slow, so we can usually figure it out.

Our first adventure in Alabama was a trip to the United States Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Huntsville is called "the Rocket City" because NASA built the rockets here that took men into space. We got to see some real rockets -- you could not believe how huge they are! And we even got to see a real Space Shuttle. We want to come back to Huntsville to go to Space Camp and become astronauts.

Here we are at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The bottom jets of the Saturn V rocket are above the trees. You can barely see us sitting on the wall.

The Saturn V rocket is too tall for the picture. It is the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever used to put men in space. Rockets like this one took men to the moon.

Ha Ha, I'm bigger than a rocket.

We both got to check out riding in a rocket.
Not a real rocket, of course, but still fun.

Hey, I think I can see Earth from here!

I'm thinking of going to Space Camp
so I can learn to be an astronaut.

This flight suit is too big.
I wonder if they have a smaller size.

We visited the grave of Miss Baker, the first monkey in space. She was called a "monkeynaut."

We saw the Space Shuttle Pathfinder.
This is a real Space Shuttle, but it did not go into space.

After our space adventure, we decided to split up. Adeline's Flat Stanley is spending a few more days in Alabama, and then traveling by car into Mexico. Avah's Flat Stanley is staying in Huntsville for awhile and then will visit some people in Florida.

We are having a lot of fun. We can't wait to tell you about our next adventure.

XOXO
Stanley and Stanley