When planning our next trip, we never thought we’d end up in Mentone, Alabama. I’ll say one thing
though, we’re glad that we did.
Living in Orlando, all you hear are the constant sounds of cars, construction, and the occasional police cars. Taking a drive to Mentone all that we heard were the sounds of nature. You know the crickets, wolves, birds, and the mice in the house (but that’s a story for another time). Regardless, it was great to move away from city sounds and get a change of scenery.
Ever since we were little we were surrounded by nature and beaches, while we love to be outside, being in the woods is a completely different experience. One that I can say that I definitely enjoyed a lot more than I thought.
The first night we got there we wanted to make sure we had everything settled. All of us toured the cabin we were staying at and made sure everything was working, the Wi-Fi, just the way we wanted. When that was settled we began planning for our first day in Mentone.
Mentone is a small town in Alabama that was settled by whites in 1854. The town itself was founded in the late 1880’s by John Mason. It was named Mentone by lice O’Rear, John Mason’s daughter, after a French town whose name meant “musical mountain spring.” Touring the town for a couple of days, we could tell why it was named that.
Everywhere you look in Mentone there’s some kind of body of water. Whether it’s a lake, spring, or river, that’s something they’ll never run out of. This brings us to our first spot. DeSoto State Park. This spot offers so many opportunities for an outdoor adventure with your family. You’ll find things like zip lining, rock climbing, fishing, and even camping. Put your hiking shoes on because if you walk far enough you’ll be able to see some pretty great waterfalls that only the brave would go into. The type of memories you’ll be able to make here are endless.
Speaking of memories, some of our favorite ones have been either watching the sunrise or sunset. With
that being said, we have the perfect spot to watch the sunset from the mountains. Brow Park is a must see when you visit Mentone. Luckily, our cabin was 2 minutes away from the park and we were able to visit many times. It’s a great spot to bring your family and spend a couple of hours. There are benches and even a barbecue pit so that you’re able to enjoy a picnic while overlooking all of Mentone. As soon as the sun starts to set you’ll be amazed at how beautiful it lights up all of the trees.
A lot of what you can do in Mentone is outdoors and requires a lot of walking but who doesn’t like a bit of walking every now and then? The biggest take away from all of this was the amount of quality time we were able to spend as a family. At the end of every day we would all sit down by the fire and roast marshmallows. Our biggest worry those couple of days was how we were going to keep the fire going long enough to last all night.
Our stay in Mentone was short but so sweet. We spent a lot of time outdoors and a lot of time playing pranks on each other but that’s the best way to participate in family time. Make Mentone your next family trip because you’ll never know what you’ll come across.
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