Birmingham, Alabama

With it being such a beautiful day, we decided to wander downtown Birmingham which is a really up and coming city with a lot of history.

Our first part of our journey took us down the Rotary Trail.

From their we headed a couple blocks over to Railroad Park which was quite active with walkers, joggers, dogs, children, and even quite a few ice skaters at the ice skating rink that is open from mid November to early January.

Check out the size of this rosemary plant!

Right across the street is Regions Field where the minor league baseball team, Birmingham Barons, play.  Games are supposed to be a lot of fun.

Then we crossed the railroad tracks into the more business section of downtown, the section that holds a lot of history.

We walked past the 16th Street Baptist Church which was put on the map in September of 1963 when a bomb exploded on a Sunday morning killing four Sunday School girls and injuring more than 20 others.  Due to politics, justice was not found for the victims until many decades later.

The Civil Rights Museum is across the street from this Baptist Church which we plan to check out someday soon. 

Tom Bevill Lock and Dam near Pickensville, AL

We decided to head west today and check out a lock and dam (those that have been following my blog know how much I love locks and dams).  We checked out the Tom Bevill Lock and Dam (which I understand used to be called Aliceville Lock and Dam).  It turns out the visitor's center (housed in a huge plantation house) and the US Snagboat Montgomery are closed on Sundays so we did not get to tour either of them but the lock and dam was pretty cool and we got to watch a barge go through (something you don't see in Wisconsin in late December).  We discovered the best views are on the west side of the river (opposite side as the visitor's center).  The water was clearly high.

As you can see, the day was a bit dreary and because of the dampness even the mild temperatures in the upper 50s, it still felt quite cold, especially in the wind.

So many American White Pelicans!

US Snagboat Montgomery

Tom Bevill Visitor's Center

Being just a few feet from Mississippi, we couldn't help but cross the state line.

And then back into Alabama....

Our journey to and from the lock and dam took us through Carrollton, AL.  This is a small town has some great historical buildings that you can't miss because the main road actual goes around the historical Pickens County Courthouse.  It is quite quaint.

Being less than two hours from this lock and dam, I look forward to seeing it in all the seasons and checking out the plantation and US Snagboat Montgomery when they are open.

Desoto Caverns

Looking to put some good miles on my Fiat and to explore more of our new home, this afternoon we decided to check out Desoto Caverns in Childersburg, AL, a 50 minute ride south of Birmingham.  The cave itself is really neat with a main room that is over 100 yards long (the length of a football field) and twelve stories high.  It is filled with many formations that are quite colorful as they show the iron oxide (rust color), calcite (white), and manganese (black) minerals present in the area.  The cave also showcases the second longest draperies at over 30 feet long!

Additionally, the tour gives some history of the caves and how they were used to harvest and transform bat guano during the civil war which was used to create gun powder and their history during prohibition when moonshine was made and sold in the cave.

All that said, they have made the caves quite the tourist attraction and a bit gimmicky so once you get down into the cave, you watch a laser light, sound, and water show.  Plus they have decorated the cave for Christmas.  And on the grounds of the cave are all kinds of tourist attractions (mini-golf, go carts, a train, gem panning, etc.)

Draperies - 2nd longest in the world at over 30 feet!

Can you see Yoda in this formation?