#89 Let’s go walkin’, Mississippi!

If you’re not from here, the title of today’s post is referring to the somewhat obnoxious but mostly fun and campy jingle that plays on the radio and TV stations in our state as a part of an exercise initiative. If you’ve never heard it, your life is lacking. Anyway, once again the weather was so gorgeous we had to get outside and enjoy it and I brought along my camera to document our daily walk so it’ll be just like you were there. When we were getting to know each other in those first couple months of dating, we started taking this walk and picking the houses we loved most, the yards with the best landscaping, and planning our future. Now, 5 years later we live a block away and make that walk every day the weather permits. This is going to be a long and rambling post, but that’s just the nature of our walks. Here’s the map of our 2 mile path:

And this is what’s so special about our little town, Laurel:

First, we head out past our church on the walk, and go north on 5th Avenue:
(the bottom photo is where Jim and Mallorie were married)

Then we turn left at the intersection of 5th Avenue & 7th Street. One of the best art museums in the south is here, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art:

On 7th Street is the beautiful yellow bungalow where one of the sweet ladies from our church lives, and an old cast iron bathtub that’s been forgotten in the woods behind the Rogers-Green House. It wouldn’t need much work to make a fine bubble bath tub:

Then we turn right at 6th Avenue and 7th Street, and head down what is arguably the most beautiful street of classic homes in the city. They all have really interesting histories:
(The dogwoods are blooming! I still am fascinated by them. My mama told me when I was little that the dogwood is the Easter tree — that dogwood was used for the cross, and the little stains on the tip of each of the four petals represent the blood of Christ. They always bloom the week of Easter. Cool, huh? Maybe a little morbid… But mostly cool.)

(the bottom left is one of our great youth families’ home, and some of their 6th Avenue neighbors)

(our favorite one of all — we’d love to build this exact house in the country someday… if we ever decided to move to the country.)

(These flowers literally took my breath away when we topped the hill. It was like that movie What Dreams May Come.. like they were in technicolor!)

At the end of 6th Avenue, we turn right onto 13th Street and pass this cozy yellow hobbit-ish cottage:
(I believe an artist must live here judging by the gorgeous artwork hanging on the walls inside. I’m not a stalker. I swear.)

After a few short yards, we turn right again onto Euclid Avenue, a mini-neighborhood that runs parallel with a park and a stream, across from the gorgeous junior high school:

And goodie goodie — Ben found an old Laurel brick! These are sort of priceless around here, people love to place at least one Laurel brick in the floors and foundations of new homes.

At the end of Euclid, we are on the last leg of our walk, and we head back down 5th Avenue and pass so many gorgeous homes:
(The most gorgeous house in Laurel in my opinion, and it’s named Sweet Olive — the greatest smelling tree on earth. This house is surrounded with them and you can smell it from 20 yards away. It’s intoxicating. Ben and I call it the Twin House because this and the peachy colored Mediterranean style house on the next street were both built as wedding presents for sisters. Isn’t that sweet?)

Finally, we’re almost back home in downtown as we pass the museum again and walk beneath the outstretched arms of these monstrous live oaks:

By the end of our walk it was 1 pm and we were starving, so we dropped in at Lee’s Coffee & Tea for our favorite downtown meal — beef brisket sandwich for Ben and the greatest French onion soup on earth for me:

We saw some of our favorite neighbors and friends:

And with full bellies and tired legs, it was around the corner, home again, home again:
Have I told you lately how happy I am?