Hobnobbing With Alabama Politicians and World Travelers

The past week has been a crazy busy one for us at Hop & Jaunt! After a fun filled Easter weekend where we got to hang out with family and friends the weeks started in full blast. Since starting our little design firm we’ve been lucky enough to get new clients and projects rolling in. One of our current projects was designing a new site for Nomadic Chick, a travel writer and overall cool chick. It was a fun project and she was brave enough to give a lot of creative freedom. So if you haven’t visited her site yet, now’s the time to do so!

Nomadic Chick

After staying up unitl 4 am. working on a project one night the next day we had to wake up at 5:45 am. as we had been invited on a road trip to the state capital! A week earlier we had met and lunched with a couple of very nice ladies representing the local chamber of commerce and they had invited us to ride along with local businesses as they traveled to the state capital to grill lunch for the state politicians. Never ones to pass up on a chance to visit new places, specially with free food, we hopped on board the bus and joined the group for “Convington County Day At The Capital.”
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Thom & Sean’s Postcard Visits The Deep South

Just as Easter weekend was starting we found a little visitor all the way from London sitting at the table. This little guy was none other than a vintage postcard that Thom & Sean, from thomandsean.com, had sent us. Thom and Sean are currently packing up and getting ready as they head out on their ‘around the world’ trip this summer.



Here we are with our new little buddy as we welcome this Brit chap to South Alabama. Southern hospitality rules in this region and we did our best to meet this high standard. Here’s Mr. Postcard on his first day in town.

A Bit Of A Brit In Alabama

Rocking With Sweet Tea

It was such a lovely southern spring day that we ended up sitting on the back porch sipping on sweet tea out of a mason’s jar and watching the humming birds fly around.

Thanks for Thom and Sean for such a fun gift! Check out their blog as they get ready to hit the road and backpack around the world for a year!

Andalusia, AL – A Stroll Down Memory Lane

HOP & JAUNT LLC

It’s our third month in Andalusia, Alabama I am happy to report that HOP & JAUNT, LLC is doing well. Alyson and I couldn’t be prouder of our modest company. We had always wanted to start our own business. In the past we would spend hours pitching all kinds of crazy business ideas and company names to each other. I never would have thought that our business would end up being named HOP & JAUNT, …but I really like it. Its much better than my previous favorite name of “ThunderCORP”.

We’ve been back stateside for over 3 months now. Initially we had travel withdrawals upon arriving in Andalusia, Alabama, which made us feel depressed or anxious. Though we did get our picture on the front page of the Andalusia Star News that brightened our day! Since we’ve got the company going time has just flown by. We’ve been putting in some pretty heavy hours. We open up shop around 8 in the morning and usually close up sometime after 10pm. I have to say that it makes a difference working overtime when you are doing it for yourself.

Since we’ve been working so hard, today we decided to reward ourselves by going out and exploring a little bit of

my hometown, Andalusia, Alabama

.

Welcome to Andalusia

We spent the morning exploring Andalusia, Alabama’s Town History Museum. Its a humble museum located in an old train depot, but inside we found some pretty cool things. Turns out the city had gotten it’s name not from Andalusia, Spain but from a legendary horse! How the city came to be named Andalusia is a story of local legend. Andalusian was the breed of a legendary white stallion name “Destinado”. The horse’s unmatched speed, strength and courage enabled Creek Indian Chief “Red Eagle” to escape capture while battling over land against white troops. Supposedly, the town square is built around the site of the horse’s burial place which was marked by a Poplar tree with the words “Destinado Andalusia” carved into the trunk. That’s the official story of how Andalusia, AL, became well…Andalusia!

A Mural of the Legend of Andalusia

Walking through the museum was like stepping back into another era. Since we were the only two people there we were able to really take our time and get a personal tour from the curator. Admission to the museum is FREE.

An Old Alabama School Room

The Clark Family Log Cabin

The Old Clark Family Home

Alyson had a fun time playing around in the exhibits.

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