Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

Fairhope, Alabama!

You need to visit this little town in Alabama with hundreds of artists, authors and beautiful and friendly towns folks. Fairhope is the American Dream, still alive and thriving. I will tell you that we stayed in Suellen and Elisa’s home, but I can’t tell you exactly where because they would not like so many houseguests. Phil came and stayed too, and then there is Sophie and Dusty, so you see the house was full.

There are many and varied churches to choose from in and around this little town and the one I chose to attend, was suggested by our hosts. First of all, the welcome was brilliant, the people were there to pray and the Acappella, harmony of the songs they sang sent me directly to heaven on earth.

Fairhope has a long history in the art and literary world and has attracted many high performing artists to its community.  As you walk among them, you absorb some of their influence. You stroll further into the downtown area, and if it happens in the evening between dusk and dark, the dazzling lights on every tree light up and the electrical energy is quite a picturesque spectacle. You do not want to miss it. They leave the lights up for the winter months so you have plenty of time.

Every first Friday of the month they have an Art Walk in downtown Fairhope. You can see what the artists have been doing and also get yourself quite a lovely piece of art at a very good price. We attended the Arts and Crafts Festival and it was so fantastic to see and buy what people from far and wide have been working on during the year. We bought orchids made of Play-Dough; you know the stuff the kids make things using? Well, you should see what this very grown up person did as he sculpted orchids.

Fairhope is the perfect quintessential town. Not to big, not too small, heavy on culture, enough eateries to satisfy everyone, history, charm and  we experienced the best of southern hospitality.

We enjoyed our ride up into Mississippi, We saw, just the tip of the devastation of Ivan and Katrina. I had no idea that hurricanes covers such a wide area and can do so much damage. I now naïveté is no excuse, but living with an earthquake mentality it is very different wrapping your self around a hurricane.

Our hats go off and we bow low to Suellen, Elisa and Phil. Without them, we would have seen less, understood less and felt less. Thank you.