2022 Dec 1, Athens Christmas Parade and Adventures Athens, AL

Athens Courthouse was decorated for the holidays, and crowds of people lined up to watch the Christmas Parade. 

North Pole & Candy Carnival Float in the Christmas Parade 

I had a hard time getting good pictures at the parade. They were moving pretty fast, and we were sitting inside the car, so I had to take them through the windows. But I did get a few good ones. We enjoyed the parade & shopping at UG White Mercantile. 

We bought supper at Zaxby's in Athens, but our food was overcooked, so we didn't eat much of it. We did buy a couple of Chocolate coconut Macadamia candies at UG White Mercantile. The parade was over at about 8. 

We parked right across the street facing Merchant's Alley, waiting for the Athens Parade.

Christmas at UG White Merchantile 

 It is merchandise that sells southern-made goods, where treasures can be found like stepping back in time. 

We stopped in Rogersville to see their Christmas Trees in the park. 

Rogersville Tinsel Trail 

Stopped at Jack's for a couple of Strawberry cheesecake pies and was in bed a little after 9. 

From 1-3 Crafting at the Florence Library (making a Christmas card with watercolors.)

Touring Caves and Caverns

Luray Caverns with Lora is known for its profuse variety of formations and unsurpassed natural color.
Luray Caverns, originally called Luray Cave, is a commercial cave just west of Luray, Virginia, the United States, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The underground cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems such as columns, mudflows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools.
Visited Luray Caverns on 12/19/2012. 

Forbidden Caverns Sevier
One of the most popular attractions in Sevier County is the Forbidden Caverns, they are an underground cave that stretches a half-mile.
Visited Forbidden Caverns 9/29/2014

Forbidden Caverns Sevier County Tennessee 

Cathedral Caverns Grant, Alabama
8/13/2014 

Fantastic Caverns Springfield MO 
8/13/12012

Fantastic Caverns Springfield MO
Fantastic Caverns is a show cave located in Springfield, Missouri. Fantastic Caverns is the only cave in North America to offer a complete ride-through tour, which lasts 55 minutes and is held in a Jeep-drawn tram. The trams drive along the path left behind by an ancient underground river. Tram occupants are encouraged to touch a particular section of low-ceiling dead stalactites.

Cathedral Caverns Grant, Alabama 
Cathedral Caverns State Park is a publicly owned recreation area and natural history preserve located in Kennamer Cove, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Grant and 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Woodville in Marshall County, Alabama. The state park's main feature, first known as Bats Cave, was developed as a tourist attraction in the 1950s. Cathedral Caverns was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1972 and opened as a state park in 2000

Desoto Caverns
4/19/2009

Desoto Caverns 

Desoto Caverns
DeSoto Caverns is a series of caves and a tourist attraction located in Childersburg, Talladega County, Alabama. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is touted as "Alabama's Big Cave". 

Mammoth Cave Bowling Green Ky
7/23/2007
Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. national park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. Since the 1972 unification of Mammoth Cave with the even longer system under Flint Ridge to the north, the official name of the system has been the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941.

Lost Sea Entrance 
8/29/2006

Lost Sea Cave Sweetwater Tennessee 
Your Lost Sea adventure begins with a guided tour of the caverns. This involves a ¾ mile round-trip walk on wide sloping pathways. While touring the caverns and underground lake our guides will tell of the cavern’s exciting and colorful history. They will also explain the fascinating geological development of the immense cavern rooms and rare formations. At the bottom of the cave, you will board a glass-bottom boat for an exciting trip on the Lost Sea, America’s Largest underground lake.

Marvel Cave
Marvel Cave is a National Natural Landmark located just west of Branson, Missouri, on top of Roark Mountain in Stone County. The cave was known by the Osage Indians in the early 16th century after a tribe member fell through the cave's main entrance, a sinkhole. There is evidence that in 1541 the Spanish explored the cave, but the first recorded expedition was in 1869, led by Henry T. Blow. The unofficial Stone County chapter of Bald Knobbers, a local group of vigilantes, was rumored to have taken people to the top of Roark Mountain, and thrown them in the sinkhole.

Marvel Cave at Silver Dollar City
11/11/2001

Ruby Falls 
8/9/2009

Ruby Falls
Ruby Falls is a 145-foot high underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.