Lake Guntersville State Park - February 14-16, 2020

First Church Birmingham has been holding an annual retreat at Lake Guntersville State Park for the last four years.  This year was our first chance to attend the retreat and our first visit to this state park and it really was a great weekend with a chance to connect with good friends and with nature.

We shared a mountain chalet near the lodge with good friends which turned out to be great accommodations!  The chalet was a retro style cabin with two bedrooms, a Jack and Jill bathroom, and a huge open living room with a gas fireplace, dining, kitchen area.  It also had a wrap around patio porch which was up on the mountain overlooking Lake Guntersville.

We arrived Friday night just in time to see a spectacular sunset and all the active deer along the road to the lodge.

The stars Friday night were amazing and I was quite impressed with what night mode on my iPhone 11 Pro Max was able to capture (below was basically pitch black).

With such a long day, we snuck out early from that evening's church session and met our friends at the chalet to let them in and enjoy what was left of the evening to catch up and get settled.

Both Saturday and Sunday I made a point of getting up super early before anyone else was awake.  I wanted time to watch the sunrise, listen to the birds, take some pictures, and just immerse myself in the sounds of nature.  I find that there is something very calming about this time of the day, especially when surrounded by such beautiful nature.

Saturday morning's sunrise

A few bird photos from Sunday morning

Eastern Phoebe

Downy Woodpecker 

Eastern Bluebird

Our church sessions were held at the Lodge which had an amazing view of Lake Guntersville.

On Saturday, we had the afternoon free of scheduled activities and so we took a hike (to the bottom of the mountain and back!) in search of some eagles.  We didn't get very close to any eagles but we did see some amazing wildlife.

Eastern Bluebirds were everywhere!

American Robin - I'm still not used to seeing them in February!

American Coots

Turkey Vulture

A view from the water level up to the top of the mountain - you can see the lodge at the top in this photos.  The chalets (which are not visible in this photo) are in a line to the right of the lodge.

Lake Guntersville

A closer view of the lodge

American Coot

Killdeer

American Coots

Killdeer

American Coot 

Photos of two different bald eagles

We started heading back to the trail that would begin the climb back, when we noticed this deer just hanging out in the RV park.  He didn't seem to mind all the people or dogs nearby.  

As I was photographing the deer in the photos above, we noticed cars pausing both directions just up the road so we decided to go check out what all the commotion was about.  To our surprise, we came across an entire family of deer just grazing on the side of the road.

Then began the climb back up, first on the shortcut we found, Daniel's Trail which connected with the Lodge Trail we had taken to get down.

On our way to dinner at the lodge, the sunset put on such a show over Lake Guntersville!  Fortunately, the food was running a bit late, so I didn't miss anything.

After the retreat was over and before we headed home, we stopped at the Town Creek Fishing Center area in hopes of seeing some eagles.  We did not find any eagles but the wildlife did not disappoint.

This Great Blue Heron was guarding the overgrown hiking path.

A pair of double crested cormorants

Eastern Bluebird

Nashville, TN - February 8-9

We decided to make a quick trip to Nashville, knowing we would be back for future trips and so not feeling the need to do everything, especially considering the long week we had and so could really use some downtime.

We drove up Saturday and took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN.  It is really interesting that such a well known distillery is actually located in a dry county!  So don't expect to go out for drinks at the local bar after your tour, you won't find a local bar or a restaurant serving drinks.

The distillery is located in a small town but clearly that town thrives on tourism and gets a lot of visitors.  The next open tour wasn't for a couple of hours so we went and wandered the town (which is really just a square surrounded by shops) and found some barbeque for lunch.

The tour takes you to the various buildings on the property.

Our tour started with this view of many of the distillery buildings

This where they make and store the charcoal which is so unique to Jack Daniels whiskey.

Pallets of wood are stacked just right to burn so they make the maximum amount of charcoal.

Here are two fire old fire engines; below is the "REO Speed Wagon."

The spring from which is the source of all water for the whiskey process

Jack on the Rocks

Jack Daniels' office

Another view of the water source

The outside of the office building

The distillery building we toured - they do not allow photos inside.

The tour was a pretty neat tour that ended with samples of some of their best whiskey.

We spent the evening relaxing in our hotel.

Before heading home on Sunday, we decided to visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.  Andrew Jackson purchased this property prior to the war of 1812 and then lived there again after his presidency.  After his death, his heir (an adopted nephew) inherited the property.  Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), his heir quickly found himself in deep debt and the property went to the state within about 7 years.  It has been in the government's possession ever since and so has been preserved amazingly.  A visit to the mansion gives you a chance to see it exactly how it was when Andrew Jackson lived there including all the furniture, beautiful hand-pained original French wallpaper, etc.  It is one of the best preserved presidential homes in the US.

Trees lined the path to the mansion

The mansion which was built after Andrew Jackson was a key general in the War of 1812

They didn't allow photos inside the mansion but I was able to get this photo and the next lookin in windows - here are two examples of how the rooms were furnished.

The cabin of the most prominent slave who ended up making money by giving tours once Andrew passed away.

The burial sites of Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel

The original cabin Andrew Jackson built which he lived in prior to the War of 1812, while he lived there the inside was covered in wallpaper - Rachel loved wallpaper.  It later became slave quarters which is how it is set up right now.

Just a cool looking barn on the property

This weekend gave us a chance to get just a taste of all that Nashville has to offer and we hope to come back soon