excerpts from the road. part three.

well, where did i leave you yesterday?
oh yeah. just outside Birmingham. Oak Mountain State Pk. Alabama Wildlife Center.
((in case you're dropping in for the first time, sam & i just got back from a camping/road trip/vacation...from FL>AL>GA and back to FL again. cool sites. lots of pic's. 12 days. this is the third post of our adventures. one more to go after this and then life will be back to 'normal'...posts filled with the little critters of nature.)  :]

ok. so let's roll. Birmingham, Alabama. SLOSS FURNACES. 

amazing. 

overwhelming. 

massive.

an old industrial site

that was in operation from 1881 until 1971. 

now a national historic landmark. 

you can still smell the molten iron. 

you wander around the site...

you can see and feel what it must've been like...

the heat. 

the smoke. 

sparks. 

fire.  

the huge blast furnaces.

imposing smokestacks. 

a maze of pipes.

i left there feeling drained. and hot. it was getting cloudy and i was hoping it would rain. it didn't.

after Birmingham 

we were planning to head to 

Cheaha State Park, 

the highest point in Alabama. 

but first...we had to do a drive-by 

of birmingham's "satanic statue". 

a fountain.

outside a church.

on our way to Cheaha, 

we stopped by the De Soto Caverns
 in Childersburg, AL.

(cool caverns, 

but i wouldn't recommend it to anyone

as it was very  pricey 

and nearing the end of the tour, 

down in the caverns, 

they showed 

a laser bible show 

about the creation of life.

i'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind this...

after all, we WERE in the bible belt.

but we didn't pay 40 bucks for a sunday school lesson...

and then told we had to pay another $20. 

for additional tickets to see the butterfly garden. oh well.)

MUCH cooler caverns: we've been to the Florida State Caverns, 

Tuckaleechee Caverns in Tennessee 

and Lost River Cave in Kentucky....and i would say GO to any of these!!

check 'em out if you have the chance!

well, later this eve i'm gonna try to get the rest of our vacation on here in ONE MORE post.

Cheaha St Pk...De Soto St Pk...then to GA to see Providence Canyon, GA Veteran's Memorial St Pk...and finally back to FL for one night at Stephen Foster Center St Pk before puling into the driveway at home, parking the truck...pulling out from under the camper...unloading...and then getting on with all the chores we left behind.

laundry.  mowing.  more laundry.  food shopping.  

back to work tomorrow.  wow.

No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one.  

~Elbert Hubbard 

so, stay cool...have a happy day...or night...

laura  :]