excerpts from the road. part two.

...this is a continuation...a condensed version...of our  'just short of two week road trip'  from FL to AL to GA and back to FL again. since we didn't have any internet access along the way...no iphone or air card...i get to live it all again through these posts and pictures!  enjoy!!  :)

ok, so, where did i leave off?
oh yeah,  Torreya State Park in FL...next stop...Oak Mountain St Pk in Pelham, Alabama...15 miles south of Birmingham.

so we're heading out of florida...into alabama...losing an hour as we make it west of the chattahoochee river. eastern to central time zone. "Let's Roll Alabama" is everywhere! more cow pastures. dairy farms. goats. rolling hills. purple martin (gourd) houses hanging in just about every yard. peanut fields. horses.
Oak Mountain is Alabama's largest st pk , 10,000 acres in the southernmost part of the Appalachian Chain.  some of the views are like those in the Smokey Mountains.

we stopped at the visitor center to get maps, etc...(just in case the garmin GPS lost it's signal. it used to be MY job to navigate! sam drove...i told him where to turn...i was GOOD! but i was replaced! :[  anyway, maps for back up.)

they were collecting watermelon rinds at the visitor center. we should have asked them 'why'?  but we forgot.  anyone know?  for compost?

 

Double Oak Lake

milo...exploring...

creek running through the Alabama Wildlife Center  which is located in Oak Mountain State Park.











the pictures that follow are some of the non-releasable birds in 'flight cages' built off the ground, among the trees. these birds are blind in at least one eye and therefore wouldn't be able to survive in the wild.

              

        

 the female owl on the left is blind in both eyes.  

the male owl on the right is in the cage as her companion and 'seer'...

this red-tailed hawk  is "Ireland". she's been at the AWC since she was a flightless baby...two years ago, when a car hit the tree her nest was in. she fell out of the nest. when the tow guy came to tow the car away...he saw her on the ground and took her to the Rehab center. she has neurological damage and can't be released back to the wild.  she's one of their 'educational' birds now. we spent alot of time here...learning about the animals...walking the trail...visiting the nursery and convalescent ward. really interesting...we left there appreciating all the good they do for the wildlife in the area.

since we were already pretty hot and sweaty, we decided to tackle the hike to Peavine Falls before heading back to the campground. well, we finally get to the falls...but there's no water. dry. just rock. oh well...we got our exercise and the rock formations and view made it all worth it!

back to the campground...to our campsite where we had 

"A Close Encounter of the Squirrel Kind"...

milo was on the picnic table...shocked that the squirrel was so brave!

we were kind of surprised too. 

so this is the end of our Oak Mountain adventure...next day we headed to check out Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham. VERY cool place!!! overwhelming! amazing! 

then on to the De Soto Caverns in Childersburg...and Cheaha State Park ...

stay tuned for Part Three  :]

and so...i leave you with just a few more pic's from our campsite...

  

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, 

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.  ~Minnie Aumonier 

stay cool - - - - laura  :]

(if you missed the previous post - Part ONE click here )