Abita Mystery House and Two Covered Bridges

I had a great trip home to visit my family in south Mississippi over Memorial Day weekend. Instead of my usual all-interstate route, I took back roads from just east of Atlanta all the way to the the Mississippi state line, the primary reason being to visit two covered bridges. It added only about 3 hours to my trip, and it was well worth it to see the bridges and some other sites, as well as just to get off the interstate for a while and enjoy a slower pace and see some nice scenery.

I'm on a task to visit the 16 historic covered bridges in Georgia, and the two I visited on this trip got me up to 14. Both are about 60 miles south of Atlanta, around Thomaston. The first one I visited is the Big Red Oak Creek bridge. It was built in the 1840's and is the oldest remaining covered bridge in the state, yet is in excellent condition and is open to traffic.



It has this 250-foot-long approach that sounds really cool when driving over it.


Driving through it was cool and a bit eerie.


I next visited the Auchumpkee Covered Bridge, built in 1892 for a whopping $1200. It is in good shape but is not open to traffic.


Beauty!




On my way back to the interstate I passed through Selma, AL, the originating point of 3 marches during the Civil Rights Movement, including Bloody Sunday, in which marchers en route to Montgomery, upon crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, encountered a mass of state troopers that violently halted their progress.



Photo from Bloody Sunday


Had a really good visit with my family, and my mom and I took a road trip and visited a really neat place called the Abita Mystery House / UCM Museum in Abita Springs, LA. It was a very cool and unique place, and we had a blast exploring it. It's a kitschy collection of all sorts of random odds and ends.







There were many motorized dioramas such as this one.


Cool angel made out of a hymnal.


Building with walls made of bottles and jars.


Mom and I in front of the Airstream that was hit by a UFO. :-)


Buford the bassigator. There were several composite animals like this on display, similar to the Fiji Mermaid popularized by P.T. Barnum.




The House of Shards, covered with thousands of pieces of glass and pottery.


Mom's husband and I shucking corn getting ready for a big cookout. Lots of good food and fellowship.


My friend Jason and his son and their choo-choos. :-)


Mom and I headed over and had a good visit with my dad and his wife.


Had a really good visit! Seeing my family was the main thing, but it was nice to be able to squeeze in some side ventures as well.