Birmingham Botanical Gardens

This morning I decided to head to one of my favorite places in Birmingham, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, without my husband (who unfortunately had to work).  Sometimes it is better to go alone because I can spend as long as I want following the birds for that perfect shot without worrying about whether my husband is getting impatient with our lack of progress.

The cicadas masked the beautiful songs of the birds but they were nevertheless still active.  You just had a look a little harder for them.

Brown Thrasher

Female Northern Cardinal

American Robin

Broad-Winged Hawk

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

Tufted Titmouse

I also saw a beautiful bluejay but he flew away before I could get a good photo of him.

The reptiles were interesting as well.  They had refilled the Japanese pond (which surprised me because I thought the project was supposed to take longer) which houses a variety of turtles including a soft-shelled turtle.  There was also a beautiful juvenile five-lined skink (also known as the blue-tailed skink).

The flowers were beautiful as well.  I started in the Dunn Formal Rose Garden.

Which leads to the Ireland Old-Fashioned Rose Garden, a garden I have never noticed before and thus had never visited.

The bumble bees just loved these plants!

Here are some more photos as I wandered the various gardens.

A bamboo forest is one thing you never see in the north and so its always a little extra special seeing it here.

Alabama Bicentennial Fireworks Show

Birmingham traditionally has the largest fireworks presentation in the state from Vulcan Park which sits on a mountain overlooking the city.  This year was the Bicentennial and so they made plans for an even bigger celebration with over 2,500 fireworks.  Living downtown, we had an excellent vantage point for viewing the fireworks from the top deck of our parking garage.  Here are some of my best photos from tonight:

The Sunflower Fields, Autaugaville, AL

This morning we went in search of one of the most well-known sunflower fields in the south, The Sunflower Field, located in Autaugaville, AL, not too far from Montgomery.  My Grandma, who sadly passed away about two months ago, loved sunflowers.  Her entire kitchen was a sunflower theme.  I felt like she was with us this morning as we walked through the field.

After wandering the field, we purchased a souvenir bucket and cut our own sunflowers to fill it.  We had driven the Fiat and so our bucket of flowers had to ride home in my lap.

It was a great mini-road trip and since we had gotten up early, we were home in time for lunch and time to relax before fireworks tonight.  We also missed the worst of the heat (and any storms that may come this afternoon).