Remember, If fished Africa!
Pictures of the Week That Was!
Remember, If fished Africa!
Remember, If fished Africa!
Florence, AL. Travel Experiences Part 2 of 5
APtravelnews-October 25th- Florence, Alabama-Barb and I travel quite a bit all over the place. You would know this if you’ve been a regular visitor to our APtravelnews.com. Once in awhile we stumble across a place in time and space that just makes us marvel at all the great things a tourist, or local can experience without going to a big city, or taking a cruise, or visiting anywhere else in the world!
Florence, AL. ( Florence is Firenze in Italy) and the American city of Florence, in many ways is reminiscent of that special city in Italy known for the Renaissance and the “Enlightenment” period that pulled much of Europe out of the Dark Ages! Florence, AL.is known as a place that birthed the Blues, and visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum pulls at the heart strings of anyone who thinks they can whistle a tune about crying over losing their wife, their dog or their boat, that so many Country songs draw on for song content thematic’s. We visited several venues that featured all manner of music history and up-to-date music digital publishing of the latest songs coming from the souls and lips of would-be and hopeful stars and those that already have made a name for themselves in the music industry as well. We spent some time at FAME Studios2 for a tour of the facility and found out that anyone who wishes can cut a digital mastered song for hourly or daily fees that seemed quite reasonable to us. For more information go:http://www.fame2.com after visiting this studio we headed for the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway. This location is known by anyone interested in Country Music as the small studio that the likes of Cher, Wilson Pickett, Rolling Stones, Paul Simon,Bob Segar, Aretha Franklin and so many others too numerous to mention. This location is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The location is being renovated at this time thanks to a very generous million dollar gift from a music maker and lover! Their website encourages donations. Check out their website: www.msmusicfoundation.org
After heading over to Bunyan’s BBQ in Downtown BBQ sandwich.
Have you ever been spooky scared? Do you enjoy Halloween? Would you like to be frightened out of your shorts and pay 20-bucks for it? Would you make a donation to serious children’s causes (that’s where the 20-bucks go)? Go do it, but my caveat: Its not for the faint of heart. Arx Mortis is probably the greatest haunted attraction anywhere. Well over one hundred volunteers are actors and enjoy scaring the pants off of you. Promise; this is the best spooky spot in America. People drive their families here for over one hundred miles to get scared nearly to death! www.arxmortis.com
.Frank Lloyd Wright designed and had built some of the most iconic homes in the world. The Rosenbaum home in Florence, AL. is but one of them. Fantastic experience to visit this home that balances form so well with function! The Rosenbaum House will be featured in our next article: “Florence, AL. Adventure 3”
Chasing Trophy Fish Offers Incredible Fishing Lures To Go Chase em’ and Catch em’
APtravelnews- August 2nd, Goose Holler’ Farm– Product Reviews–When I met Vaughn Holderman (owner of CTF Lures) at ICAST, in Orlando, FL., I knew from his passion about his excellent products and his obvious love and knowledge at such an early age, that this lure company was special! He mirrored many generations of would be anglers who grew up marveling and loving their tender-years experience down at pond, lake, ocean, bay, river and stream. Well, Vaughn has really outdone the hard-lure genre and soft as well, with his jointed and straight stick and swim lures. The lures are available in the following patterns: Brook Trout, Perch, Shiner, Shad, Tiger Trout, Pickerel, Northen Pike and Palomino. There are divers, square bill crankers and wobblers in big and littler bait sizes. His soft jointed and wire jointed are in large and small sizes as well. These lures as stated on their brochure are “As real as it gets.” www.chasingtrophyfish.com
Al’s Goldfish; Back with a Vengeance–Trout, Bass, Perch, Walleye Watch Out!
Aptravelnews-Throw-back and forward- Goose Holler’ Farm-Several decades ago, I proudly owned a Mitchell 300 Spinning Reel with “fat” (compared to today’s diameters) 6-pound test monofilament, attached to a clear fiberglass spinning rod from the long gone, Davega, Brooklyn sporting goods store, and a small metal tackle box, (I still have today) whose little compartments contained the few lures I could buy, after begging my Grandfather David and Uncle Sid for a buck or two! In that steel, brown painted box was a shiny, golden metal lure called Al’s Goldfish. It shared compartment spaces with a Jitterbug, Hula Popper, a Mepp’s spinner or two, and 3-sizes of red and white, and black and white Daredevils spoons.
I lived in Brooklyn, New York in a tenement building with my mom, Mary, Dad, Nat and Brother Mike. My dad was an amputee (his toes) from being in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, during the Nazi War. He was an excellent musician, and never had the patience or interest to take me fishing. The only fishing I could reach at my early age, was when I cut school to head over to the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard docks, and I let none of these lures ever touch the diesel coated waters, I used grizzle and fat I collected from my grandmothers garbage pail, impaled on a size 8-hook, under several pinch-on lead split shot, the kind a kid used his teeth to clamp them on the line with, and hoped for the tug of an eel, so I could yell triumphantly when I felt the bend and throb of the rod.
Only during the summer, when my grandfather rented a bungalow in the Catskill Mountains, did I choose to use my prized lures. Before I was 10-years old, I caught trout, bass and sunfish always referred to as “Bluegills” in the lake regions of upstate New York. My favorite lure then was Al’s Goldfish! All my lures worked, but the action this little shiny, gold-plated, brass spoon always offered, seemed to guide my hand at decision time, to tie one on, as I opened my treasure chest, tackle-box; like a Ouija -board pointer, my fingers selected the “gold.” Many years, and trillions of gallons of rushing waters later, I heard that Al’s Goldfish had been languishing in the hands of folks that finally sold the business and patents to someone new, a young entrepreneur named Mike Lee from Maine. From all indications he is dedicated to resurrecting Al’s Goldfish to the “top-of-the-mind” of freshwater anglers once again and genuinely wishes to offer jobs to Americans as well.
I’m here to tell you, even though I’ve drifted over to the fly fishing genre of fishing, I still love and use spin, conventional and if I have to, in far-away places like the Congo, for one of the many places I’ve fished; hand-lines too! Look for more on Al’s Goldfish story and heritage in upcoming posts. www.alsgoldfish.com
As you will see, from Al’s new Living Lures, to Field and Stream naming Al’s as one of the “Top Ten Lures” and still being made only in the USA, together with Al’s treble hook covers, as Arnold said: “Al’s be back!!!!
