The Moonlight Bistro in Mentone By Kayla Worthey

My family and I went to dinner last week at the Moonlight Bistro in Mentone. All I can say is DE-LI-CIOUS! In case you don’t know, The Moonlight Bistro used to be the famous “Log Cabin Deli”. Owners Michael Goss and Christine Ballenger bought the restaurant back in August, made some minor changes, did some spring cleaning and voila! The place has a warm and cozy atmosphere, with a wood burning fireplace and candlelit table centers. The staff is very friendly and adds to the total ambiance of the place.
To start us off, we got greedy and ordered two appetizers because we couldn’t decide. The Fried Calamari…tender golden brown rings mingled with fried peppers dipped in succulent sauce…superb; and the Anastasia Island crab dip…warm, served with toasted freshly baked bread, I couldn’t stop eating…to die for. Before we had time for all of that to fully digest, our entrees had arrived.
My husband dined on Lemon Pepper Rainbow Trout with mashed potatoes and pasta salad. Of course I had to try it, just a taste. It was absolutely perfect! I went on the lighter side (wink) and ordered the fried green tomato sandwich. Beer battered and fried perfectly with the most delicious aioli to top it off. I honestly could not put it down. Let me go back a moment and tell you that I was very reluctant to order this meal. Fried anything on bread is not appealing to me, but I LOVE fried green tomatoes, so I had to give it a shot. One of the best decisions I have ever made (in the way of food anyway). It was out of this world!
My children are Kowen, 3 years and Kinsley, 17 months, and they are very pick-and-go eaters. We decided after all the appetizers they could just share a corn dog basket with fries, thinking they would never eat it all. We were wrong! It must have been yummy in their little tummies because there was none left and that never happens! The French fries were very good.
For dessert, we tried the hot fudge cake, one of their delightful homemade treats! Warm, rich, delicious chocolate with ice cream, do I really need to say anything more?
So with that said, our compliments to the chef and his team! We will back again, maybe for lunch next time. On my list are the gourmet chicken salad and Philly Cheese Steak sandwich! And for dessert I must try their deep fried oreos.

Springtime in DeKalb County by John Dersham

We have some of the most beautiful places anywhere, right here at home. It is time to renew your love for all the natural attributes and beauty of our county and get out there and enjoy spring. Our water falls are at their max. They are gorgeous right now.
It has been a cold cloudy wet winter but the sun and the warmth are here for us all to enjoy.
Here in DeKalb County we are blessed with plant species from the north and from the south. This gives us a wider gamut of beautiful spring flowers in bloom at the same time. Nothing like getting out there for a drive or a hike and seeing our wide variety of blooms from our early Daffodils and Bradford Pears to Redbud, Cherry, Plum and Peach to White and Red Dogwoods, Azaleas, Mountain Laurel and Rhododendrons. The sky is blue, the air is warm so head out and enjoy beautiful DeKalb County.

Here are some places that are at their peak of spring beauty right now.
Little River Canyon and Canyon Center: Little River Falls, Graces High Falls, hiking trails, scenic drive on the canyon rim, picnics, boulder outcrops with white water. The Canyon Center at the Preserve. 256-845-9605 www.nps.gov/liri
DeSoto State Park: DeSoto Falls (104 foot drop), picnics, hiking trails, playground, country store (souvenirs, local crafts and basic groceries), nature center, swimming pool (summer), resort lodge and cabins. 13903 County Rd 89 Fort Payne 256-845-5075. www.outdooralabama.com
Sequoyah Caverns and Ellis Homestead: beautiful scenery, famous cave with spectacular reflecting pools, swimming pool (summer only), historic location since 1841, picnics, rock climbing/repelling, store, crafts, souvenirs and restrooms. 1438 County Rd 731, Valley Head 256-635-0024 www.sequoyahcaverns.com
Buck’s Pocket State Park: Camping, picnics, fishing and boating, hiking and beautiful scenery. 393 County Rd 174, Grove Oak 256-659-2000. www.outdooralabama.com
DeKalb County Public Lake (New Improvements) 120 acre lake, fishing, boat rentals, bait, picnics, refreshments. 720 County Rd. 194 Sylvania 256-657-1300
High Falls Park: Beautiful vistas, large water falls, walking bridge, hiking trails, picnics, rest rooms and playground. 256-623-2281 www.seehhighfalls.com
www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/ehere/lakes/dekalb/
Fort Payne City Park and Alabama Walking Park and Depot Museum:
Located in downtown Fort Payne- walking, picnics, playgrounds, museum, shops and restaurants.
Historic Town of Mentone: located at the top of Lookout Mountain on H-117. Visit quaint gift and craft shops, antique stores and restaurants. For a beautiful view from the brow visit the Mentone Brow Park just behind the White Elephant Antique store and Mentone Springs Hotel.

For more information visit us at the DeKalb County Visitor Center located at 1503 Glen Blvd S.W., Fort Payne or call 888-805-4740.
Please visit www.LookoutMountainAlabama.com to see all of the wonderful places to go and things to see in our wonderful county.

Northeast Alabama Home & Garden Show By Kayla Worthey

The Northeast Alabama Home & Garden Show is a non-profit corporation that was founded 28 years ago for the purpose of giving businesses in our area an opportunity to exhibit their company’s products. Every year The Home and Garden Show is held at the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum in Rainsville on the third weekend in March. And every year, my family and I attend.
The first year, my husband and I were building a home and found a lot of useful information about windows, vinyl siding, shutters, gutters, bath tubs and showers, flooring, landscaping, and so much more. Going in, I think I just expected to hopefully find some new ideas, but we actually found a supplier for our siding and gutters and set up an appointment with a landscaper. We also came away with many other new ideas for the house and made some contacts for furniture in the future.
The second year, we had just moved into our new house and had a four month old little boy running the household! We were “strolling” this time and found all kinds of children’s clothing and accessories just perfect for the new little man in our lives. I spent some time at a booth specializing in Tupperware products that proved to be very handy for a new mom. Then I quietly tip-toed over to a booth advertising the word “spa”, while the boys picked out rose bushes as part of my first Mother’s Day. On our way out, I was paid back for the “spa” stop. The boys spent an hour touring the tractors, lawnmowers and other equipment outside.
I won’t bore you with any more of our personal findings, but you can see why we return again and again! I even saw booths for financial investment planners and tax preparation, both of which I already take advantage of! This year with two children in tow, I can only imagine what this adventure will bring.
Now on top of just being a visitor myself, I also have the pleasure of working this event one day each year and meeting a couple thousand or so of the friendliest people around. I forget sometimes how nice it is to live in the south, with everyone’s sweet southern charm and hospitality.
I would like to personally thank the board of directors for their time and efforts each year making this show such a great event! Well done ladies and gentlemen and I can’t wait to see what this year holds!
Hope to see you all there this weekend, March 19th & 20th!

Accidental Tourism by John Dersham

Most people think of tourists as people who have planned their travels and are taking their vacations to a particular planned destination. They have booked their lodging, figured out what they are going to see and do. Many even plan where they will eat or shop. It is true that much of tourism is done this way, especially if the tourist is going a long distance and especially if they are flying.
There is however all kinds of tourists and all kinds of tourism that generate income to whatever destination, of which, they arrive. By definition a tourist is anyone traveling and spending money more than fifty miles from the area of which they live. This means business travelers are also tourists. This is why a big part of the tourism industry focuses on attracting conventions and special events like trade shows to their town or city. Sports events are a major tourism draw, as are festivals and concerts. Many larger cities focus much of their tourism attention on attracting the major events and conventions. In order to solicit this business your location must be able to accommodate large groups for lodging and for meetings.
Another form of tourism is the “Accidential Tourist”. These are tourists who venture out on a day trip, or a weekend trip without a plan. They hit the road with a basic direction and a possible final destination but their trip is comprised of finding things to do and see along the way. This is very popular tourism to DeKalb County. We get many people year around that come in our information center whom have more or less just stumbled into our area, they like what they see and what to do more. They see our road signs for different attractions, they see our mountains and they find us inviting. They may have heard a little about us already and decided to come this way and see for themselves. They travel without reservations. They shop, eat and see attractions on any visual whim they get. Motorcycle tourists are especially prone to this type of tourism. Tourists are also people who stop and get off the interstate because what they see at our exit(s) attracted them. We may have been just the right spot at the right time of day to find lodging for the night. They same is true for people stopping to eat at any time of the day, or to fill up with gas and buy snacks. All of these people are spending money in our communities and bringing in badly needed tax revenue.
DeKalb County is historically a leisure tourism county. People come for our relaxing scenic environment. They come for our state parks and national preserve, they come to rent a cabin or camp or stay in a B&B. They come to mill around Mentone or Fort Payne. They come for our yard sales and antique shops. They come to relax. The opening of our N.E. Agri Business Center in Rainsville has added event tourism to our list of attractions. Event based tourism attracts people to an area specifically because of an event like our upcoming rodeo at the Agri Center or the upcoming John Michael Montgomery concert. A fishing tournament at DeKalb County Fishing Lake is event based tourism too.
Tourism is a critical part of our revenue stream in DeKalb County. We are very fortunate to have so many wonderful things to do and see here in DeKalb County.

What a Difference 100 Years Makes by John Dersham

One hundred years ago my grandfather John Alexander Dersham, of whom I am named had been married to Lena (Shoemaker) Dersham for only two years. Lena received her college education graduating in 1906. 100 years ago not many women graduated from college. She went on to teach school for 35 years. My grandfather was an accountant for the Pennsylvania railroad. Soon they would have three children, one was my father. All three kids received Masters Degrees from Penn State and Bucknell. Even in the 1930’s the percent of kids going to college was very small. They lived in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. Mifflinburg was a German farming community about 40 miles from State College, the home of Penn State University. Mifflinburg had a cabinet factory and a silk mill but mostly they were known as the Buggy Capital of the US. At one point there were more than fifty shops making buggies. Some were large companies and some where one man shops. My Great Grandfather Alexander Dersham was a farmer and buggy maker. Mifflinburg was the Detroit of buggy making. Then one day came the horseless carriage and Mifflinburg began building bodies for cars. Mifflinburg had no river close enough to get steel to them in large enough quantities and Mifflinburg had no way to keep up with Detroit and other cities on the Great Lakes, or on a major river system. By 1910 demand for horse carriages was nearing its end and Mifflinburg was beginning to loose out in the increasing demands for auto bodies.
One hundred years ago Fort Payne had already seen its Boom Days come and go. In the late 1880’s and early 1890’s New Englanders brought wealth and industry to Fort Payne. They built fine homes, factories and buildings, many of which are still with us today. In 1889 Fort Payne had grown to more then 3,000 people but by 1910 the Boom had been over for nearly two decades and Fort Payne had all but dried up leaving buildings empty and beginning to crumble with age and neglect. There were more houses, buildings and factories than there were people and companies to occupy them. By 1910 Fort Payne was down to only 300-400 residents which was nearly the same as the pre Boom Days. In 1907 the first hosiery mill opened and very, very slowly the town began to grow again as Fort Payne became the “Sock Capital of the World”.
Just for fun I have listed some facts from 1910. This came from the National Archives and floated around on the internet last year.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200-400 a year. A Dentist made $2,500 and a mechanical engineer around $5,000. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. The average life expectancy for men was 47 years. Only 14% of homes had bathtubs. 8% of homes had a telephone. There were 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads in the US and you could only buy gas from a drug store. 95% of births took place at home. 90% of doctors were not college educated. Sugar cost 4 cents a pound, eggs were 14 cents a dozen and coffee was 15 cents a pound. Most women washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. The five leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza, Tuberculosis, Diarrhea, Heart Disease and Stroke. The population of Las Vegas was 30. Crossword puzzles, canned beer and ice tea had not been invented yet. Two out of ten adults could not read or write and only 6% of Americans had graduated from high school.18% of households had at least one full time servant or domestic help. There were only 230 murders reported in the entire US.

Follow me around DeKalb County, Alabama! By Kayla Worthey

Wildflower Café in Mentone atop Lookout Mountain

For Valentine’s Day, my sweet husband made reservations at the Wildflower Café in Mentone. See I am not a flower girl and I don’t eat a lot of chocolate, so the typical Valentine’s traditions don’t really work on me. But I do like to eat! And my husband knows this, so he decided to take full advantage and made reservations at one of my favorite places to eat. It is close to home and the food is out of this world.
If you have never been to the Wildflower Café, I highly recommend it. The building was once a home to a local resident and still has that basic floor plan today. A cozy fireplace helps to warm the guests, while the enclosed porch allows you to view the beautiful scenery of Mentone. The walls are blanketed with local art and on weekends the air is too! Chef Ben and L.C. Moon do a wonderful job of keeping this restaurant alive!
We arrived five minutes prior to our reservation time and were immediately seated in the room just off the porch. Me with my bottle of wine and my husband with his small cooler of beer in tow. You see, the Town of Mentone is “dry”, so the Wildflower cannot sell alcohol, but they don’t mind you drinking it. They will even provide the appropriate glassware. So as our server arrived with a wine glass, a beer mug and two glasses of water, she began to explain the Valentine’s Special to us in depth.
The restaurant was very romantic. White linens covered the tables with red candle lit center pieces and a little “I Love You” balloon. We were wooed by the voice of Amanda Quarles as she strummed her guitar and filled the room with soft tunes of romance. Some guests made special requests to which she fulfilled beautifully! Great job Amanda! You were very enjoyable.
Our server explained the Valentine’s Special so vibrantly that we decided to try it. We began with an appetizer of garlic parmesan cream cheese dipping sauce with bread. This was a first for me and I really enjoyed it. Up next was a mixed green salad with homemade raspberry vinaigrette. The raspberry vinaigrette was also a first for me and I was impressed. I will be having that again. That was followed by the main course which was a platter of absolute indulgence! A hormone free, fresh cut of the most tender filet mignon wrapped in bacon and grilled to “medium” perfection; a fluffy crab cake topped with spicy aoli and ripe avocado; and a skewer of grilled succulent shrimp! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We also chose the garlic smashed red potatoes and grilled purple cabbage as our sides. If you like cabbage, this is a must! And then to top off a fabulous romantic dinner, we shared a piece of Hummingbird cake. I am a sucker for cream cheese icing!
Thank you Wildflower chefs and staff for another wonderful meal and great entertainment!

Follow me around DeKalb County, Alabama! By Kayla Worthey

Cloudmont Ski Resort in Mentone atop Lookout Mountain

Ok, so I became eager to learn and tried to “hone” my skills at Cloudmont Ski Resort. You can go ahead and laugh now, I am laughing hysterically inside because my outside is too sore to laugh.
I step into the rustic mountain lodge and order my boots and skis from the lady behind the counter. Size 7 please. She is very polite and helps me get my boots and my skis picked out and hands me my poles. No way am I trying the snowboard very first thing. That will come after I have mastered the skis. She asks, “Is this your first time skiing?” I reply, “Yes maam, it is.” She proceeds to tell me about the FREE beginner lessons that are offered. Thanks, but no thanks. I can do this. I am a natural athlete, I will be fine. So I politely decline.
I am an athlete. I have played basketball, softball, volleyball, ran track, you name it and I have done it. I can ice skate, roller skate and roller blade. Surely I can ski, even though I have never tried. How hard can it be? I don’t need to waste my time taking lessons on the “bunny slope”. I AM AN ATHLETE!
So I grab my lift ticket and head over to the benches around the fire to sit down. I put on my boots and bundle myself up then I head out the door. I walk (looking somewhat like a robot, I am sure) through the snow toward the ski lift. I drop my skis, pop them on and glide over to hop on the pony lift.

So this looks easy enough. The cable comes around, you grab the T-bar, hold on tight and it takes you to the top. No problem. Here I go. The cable comes around, I grab the T-bar, hold on tight and there I go…face first into the snow. What just happened? Why am I lying on the ground? Then I hear someone say, “roll out!” Roll Out? What? Then I realize and begin to roll from under the lift cable. I look up to see a nice young gentleman standing there to help me up. Thank you kindly, young lad. So with my mildly bruised ego I head off to try it again. This time I am victorious and make it all the way to the top. This is going to be fun. So I glide over very gracefully to the top of the hill. Here goes nothing.

I push off with a gentle glide and my downhill decent begins. Three seconds later I am on my butt, but not stopping. I have managed to sit down on my skis just perfectly so that I can’t get back up, I can’t use my poles (which I promptly drop), I can’t steer, and my speed downhill is rapidly increasing. This is just great! So I hold on for dear life and scream like the girl that I am. Finally I land mangled in the orange netting at the foot of the hill. By the way, you are supposed to stop yourself way before you get to this point!
I gather my composure and bring myself to my feet only to hear that tiny part of my brain screaming, “How about those FREE lessons now?” Yes, I think so.
So, I take my free lessons on the bunny slope as first suggested, too bad I didn’t listen. The instructor was great. He showed me how to keep my knees bent, but not so far that I actually sit down, and keep my skis pointed slightly inward so that I can keep them in control (somewhat). He spends enough time with me so that I am now comfortable and am taking the bunny slope like a champ!
I spent the rest of the day perfecting my stride down the hill, not without a few tumbles, bruises and yells along the way. The fellow skiers were great and the staff was fantastic. I highly recommend you test your skills at Cloudmont. This was an adventure well worth the money. I do suggest the free beginner lessons if you have never been. They are a must, athlete or not!