Parks and Paths: Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now.

Outside of the Dothan, AL visitor center is the Original Gold Peanut.

Alabama is only second to Georgia in U.S. peanut production. There are over 900 peanut farmers in Alabama with approximately 1/2 of the peanuts produced in the U.S. grown within a 100 mile radious of Dothan, AL. Not Pat's favorite, but boiled peanuts are a delicacy in the south. Do you know approximately how many peanuts are in an 18 ounce jar of peanut butter (the answer is at the bottom)?

Dothan has a population of 72 000 and is about an hour north of Bonifay. It is our closest major town. I had an appt. at a large orthopedic office there Friday with a cortisone injection in my knee and an MRI scheduled. Large needle, and according to Pat, a lot of fluid injected. Needles aren't a problem for me, but MRI's are another story! As of now no surgery on my knees required, just a slow recovery on the one I injured. I do have surgery scheduled for 2 trigger fingers (thanks to the cast on my arm in 2021) in January.

Donath hosts the National Peanut Festival every fall. That, along with the large peanut production near Dothan, gives it the title of "The Peanut Capital of the World."

Lunch at the basket case. Located in a historic downtown building, the cafe (open from 11-2) and catering business is highly rated and very popular. It's famous dish is chicken salad surrounded by fresh fruit, served with a muffin.

Pat went with the burger and I the chicken salad, both served on a home-made bun. Best chicken salad I've ever had! Mine also came with soup. I went out on a limb with the creamy tomato. Absolutely delicious, but includes dairy...

We began our tour of the downtown near the Wiregrass Museum of Art. No time to go in today but it is FREE. Wiregrass is an area in the south, including Alabama, named for the native Aristida Stricta grass, commonly called wiregrass because of it's texture. The 10' bronze sculpture of Joseph nearby is the centerpiece of Millenium Park. It depicts the Bible verse, "For I heard them say, 'let us go to Dothan.' -Genesis 37:17," which inspired city leaders in 1885 to change the town name from Poplar Head to Dothan.

The Semiotic Compass exhibit located outside the museum was built in 2018 by Jason Schmidt and Mike Riddle. Semiotics is a study of communications.

By 1992 most of the downtown had been vacated in favor of newer shopping areas. Not a bad thing, but it left a quiet downtown. A group of individuals began the process of bringing the downtown back to it's beauty with murals on it's vacant buildings depicting the history of Dothan.

Liddon Furniture was one of the first downtown stores, owned by the Liddon family since 1929. The first mural, Salute to the Peanut Industry, was painted on this building depicting the progression of the peanut industry in the Wiregrass area beginning with Dr. George Washington Carver at the first National Peanut Festival to the present-day festival. There are around 20 murals today.

The Fight was a riot over a tax levied by the city and was as dramatic as the OK Corral.

Tribute to Sherman Rose: one of the first students and first instructors at the Tuskeegee Institute's civilian pilot training program for African-American pilots.

No surprise that you can find at least 67 painted fiberglass peanuts around the town. It was started as a downtown revitalization effort but turned into a city-wide art project.

Our first peanut Kiss Goodbye to Cancer, near the Civic Center, highlights breast cancer awareness.

A Salute to Rucker: Fort Rucker, U.S. Army Aviation Center

Women of the Wiregrass: honoring the women who molded and shaped Dothan and the area.

The Dothan Civic Opera House was built in 1914-1915 and still houses many events . It was said the acoustics were so good that when it was built it was the only place the Atlanta Symphony would record. I would love to see the inside and the mural painted in there.