Seniors Trek Over To Malin Head Island

This senior read recently that the next Star Wars VIII was being films at Malin Head. Any idea where the island is located? Me either, I had to look it up.

Malin Head, though not actually a town, has become a fairly large community, steadily growing as more new houses are being built. It has always been a strategically important part of Ireland, where observation posts and signal towers were erected to keep an eye on shipping movements passing the northern coast.

Ireland’s most northerly point, Malin Head is the dramatic rocky headland at the tip of the rugged Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal. Malin won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1970 and 1991. It was a planned settlement platted around a triangular green.

 Seniors Enjoy Spectacular Views

The first lighthouse on the island was put into operation in 1813, and the light flashes every 30 seconds. Malin Head’s rugged landscape hosts flourishing wildlife, historic curiosities and some of the island’s most spectacular views.

Malin Head is renowned for its rugged coastal landscape and attractive beaches. The area is steeped in history and folklore. Malin Head is an area for all tastes, including walking, fishing, swimming, photography, studying rock formations or rare flora and it is close to Inishowen’s splendid golf courses, so senior golfers, bring along your clubs.

Discover some of the largest sand dunes in Europe. Several miles off the coast of Malin Head lies Inistrahull island, composed of the oldest rocks in Ireland, metamorphic gneisses dated at around 1.778 billion years old! Further to the east, the hills of Scotland can be seen on a good day.

 Seniors Enjoy the Wild Atlantic

Senior birders, Malin Head is an ideal vantage point from which to view the autumnal movements of seabirds such as gannets, shearwaters, skuas and auks on their southward migration flights. With the wild Atlantic Ocean for a neighbor, the area is renowned for epic coastal scenery, thriving birdlife and plenty of historical significance.

One asks…what lies beneath? Overall, the turbulent waters off Malin Head have witnessed more than their share of maritime history. The folks at Malin Head Shipwrecks can tell senior visitors that there are more ocean liners and German U-boats sunk off this stretch of coast than anywhere else in the world.

The rolling grasslands are dotted with suitably thick-coated donkeys and cows. The village of Malin, 14km southeast of Malin Head, has a pretty movie-set quality, set around a neat, triangular village green.

For me and my wife, I’d want us to take in the Glenvaegh National Park as well as the Glenveagh Castle. So let’s plan to meet at the Seaview Tavern and I’ll treat you to a pint. -jeb

Seniors Drop By Hoover

I was watching a baseball tournament that was being broadcast from Hoover, Alabama. I had not ever heard of this town, in spite of the fact that it has around 85,000 inhabitants making it the sixth largest city in the state.  Senior travelers will find that Hoover, the largest suburb of Birmingham, in north central Alabama, is a relatively new city.

The City of Hoover was incorporated in 1967 and was named after William H. Hoover, a local insurance company owner. The area had been known as the Green Valley community since the 1930s and was mostly a residential community. Hoover’s neighborhoods and planned communities are located along the foothills of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

The city is home to the Riverchase Galleria, one of the largest shopping centers in the Southeast. Senior visitors will enjoy a stop at Aldridge Gardens, the former estate of Eddie and Kay Aldridge who owned Aldridge Garden Shop and Nurseries. Today it is a beautiful 30-acre site showcasing classy hydrangeas and picturesque gardens designs.

 Seniors Enjoy Park Avenue Historical District

After that Garden visit, I’d want to be sure and head off for the Park Avenue Historical District that includes 51 structures built between the early 21st century to post World War II period. The Shades Crest Road Historical District is another must see area.

If you enjoy sports, the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium hosts a wide variety of events. “The Met” is a baseball stadium that has been transformed for sporting events, concerts, clinics, and more. Furthermore Hoover Met is home to the SEC Baseball Tournament that features the top 12 teams from the Southeastern Conference and draws more than 100,000 fans each year. The Met is also the home field for the Hoover High School Buccaneer football team.

Seniors Find Nature Preserve

Seniors, if you enjoy just strolling along in parks you will find a perfect balance of nature and community in Hoover with Moss Rock Preserve, a 349 acre nature preserve abundant with forest systems, rock outcroppings, streams, waterfalls, wildlife, and other unique natural features. Moss Rock Preserve’s Boulder Field is a favorite among rock climbers which would say to me…just observe and watch from a distance.

The 2016 Summer RailFest will be held on Saturday, July 9th at Birmingham’s Railroad Park and feature a phenomenal music lineup including national headline performer Shwayze. TripAdvisor chimes in with their take on Hoover and things you will not want to miss.

The Mayor wants all visitors to know that 24/7 Wall Street ranked Hoover as being in the top 30 cities in which to live in the entire country.   Hoover was the only city in Alabama on the list and one of 15 in the south. That’s quite an honor.

So seniors, set your sites and GPS for Hoover Alabama and enjoy the many amenities the city has to offer. -jeb

Seniors Enjoy ‘Great American Main Street’ City

Columbus, population 26,000, lies primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also referred to as the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Senior visitors will find over 650 grand historic homes in three National Register Historic Districts.

Birthplace of America’s greatest playwright, Tennessee Williams, Columbus is the ultimate Southern destination in Mississippi, and that includes super southern cuisine. Columbus was the winner of a “Great American Main Street Award” in 2010.

Columbus was founded in 1821. Before its incorporation, the town site was referred to informally as Possum Town, a name given by the local Native Americans. The name Possum Town remains the town’s nickname among locals.  Downtown Columbus offers gorgeous historic homes, treasure-filled antique and specialty shops; and divine dining.

The Columbus Air Force Base, home of the 14th Flying Training Wing, is located approximately 9 miles north of Columbus and is a major employer.

Seniors Delight In Columbus’ Varied History

This East of the Mississippi Blues Trail’s Delta region, Columbus tells a great story: Howlin’ Wolf amid a cast of traveling musicians, Blues Trail markers and preserved architecture, African-American heritage sites, historic home tours and historic places.

Properties range from the first home of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams and an 1843 cottage built by two free black men to pillared Whitehall Mansion, the winter home of Henry Flagler, Standard Oil baron from the Gilded Age. This beautiful pillared mansion includes gardens, stables and servants quarters. During the Civil War, it served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers.

Senior travellers, time your visit for a Columbus’ annual Spring Pilgrimage for house and church tours with carriage rides and Catfish in the Alley, a Sensational Saturday Fish Fry with accompanying Live Blues. This day of live blues and fried fish nods to Columbus’ erstwhile Catfish Alley, an African-American district where fishermen came in and bluesmen played through.

Catfish Alley, Riverwalk Draw Senior Visitors

In its heyday, Catfish Alley was a vibrant, one-block-long row of businesses just off Main Street in downtown Columbus. A world within a world, the Alley was a gathering place for the area’s fishermen and farmers, merchants and residents, people from every walk of life.

TripAdvisor suggests  seniors not miss The Chattahoochee RiverWalk, a 22-mile walking and biking area along the Chattahoochee River.

Wherever you go in Columbus, senior visitors will be sure to catch an earful of local tunes or regional artists giving their all to put a chill through your bones and get those feet to movin’. So set your GPS for Mississippi and Experience Columbus, one of the outstanding small communities in the nation.  -jeb