ALABAMA

The Alabama Welcome Center has a Saturn 1B rocket! The Saturn family of rockets was responsible for putting 12 US astronauts on the surface of the moon. ( Ahem moon walk haters!)

Not to fret kids...we found graffiti from fellow Moon Walk Conspiracy Theorists! 😉

DISMALS CANYON

Our Alabama destination was Dismal Canyons in Phil Campbell, Alabama.

We started out visiting the on site Soda Fountain and Grill for lunch. It was super quaint, food and fountain drinks were excellent. Rusty had a "Slug Burger" and loved it. Description of this delicacy , from their menu is below:

The Canyon was possibly the coolest place we have been-EVER! This article from the Encyclopedia of Alabama does a better job explaining the magic of this place so if interested please read :

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3172

The geology and history of this place is intriguing- for sure. Dismals Branch Creek created grottoes, canyons, huge boulders and caves in the swamp area.The trees have been untouched by ax or fire because the canyon makes logging equipment too difficult to maneuver. Artifacts indicate Native Americans inhabited the area as early as 10,000 years ago, sadly the US army held a large number of Cherokees captive in the canyon before forcing them west, in the infamous Trail of Tears. Jesse James and Aaron Burr (fake news) were all said to have hid out here. To experience the Canyon

in person made us feel like we were in Land of the Lost waiting to see a dinosaur! The Canyon was naturally pristine and the air down below in it cool , still, and moist. It was so visually beautifully, audibly serene with just the sound of waterfalls and wildlife. We had the place pretty much to ourselves and I have to say the experience was a bit surreal.

We loved how the trees grew right on top of the rocks!

This sign took us off guard- we later learned from one of the workers that they were having issues with people messing with a mama vulture and her babies - so this was only thing that truly worked as a deterrent. Ugh- humans!

"Fat Man's Misery" because it is such a narrow passage!

I love this picture of Rusty!

The Cabin

Most of our lodging is through our Choice Points... but we splurged on a cabin on site and we were so glad we did! We were able to relax and cook a nice meal before our night tour of the Canyon.

"TICK" the Cat

This picture is actually so deceiving...the cat was super sweet and the pic was catching the end of his yawn and we thought is was so funny how fierce the pic made him look!

Dismalites

We took a private night tour of the Canyon to see the illumination of the dismalites ( little "glow worm" type creatures). Actually, they are foxfire fly larvae, the only bioluminescent fly native to North America and Dismal Canyons is one of the few places on Earth that you can see them! It is believed they light up to attract insects and then trap them in a sticky substance so they can dine on the trapped bugs!

Our guide, Bill, truly loved the Canyon and did a great job of educating us as he was directing us through the blinding darkness of the Canyon to the lit up walls where the little glow worms were hanging out! Because all was completely dark , it looked like the star-lit sky along the moss covered walls the Dismalites called home. It was highlight of the trip - super awesome!

Bye Alabama...