🎢Visiting Theme Parks

Dollywood Theme Park 

Map of Opryland Theme Park we visited this park at least twice a year until it closed.

Riding the Ferries Wheel at Wild Adventures Theme Park Georgia 

One of my favorite rides at Wild Adventure Theme Park 

Epcot with grandkids 2004

Disney Studios 2011

The Animal Kingdom with group cheerleaders

Universal Studios Hollywood,  CA with cousins

Silver Dollar City Branson, Mo 

Magic Kingdom1989

Universal Studios Orlando, FL with hubby

Island of Adventure Orlando Fl 

Bush Gardens Tampa with daughter
Bush Gardens Virginia with sisters no pictures

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.

Hiking & Birding Trails in Alabama 🦉🦆🦅

Hiking with granddaughter along the Tennessee River near Wilson Dam TVA

Bird Site 8 along the Tennessee River below Wilson Dam 

Jimmy Sims Birding Trail Joe Wheeler State Park
The original idea of Joe Wheeler State Park employee and Naturalist Jim Sims, the birding trail is an easy 1/2 mile hike to the back of Weaver Creek. During the winter months when the water levels are lowered, the formed mud flat becomes a haven and feeding ground for migrant and local wading birds and waterfowl.
The trail was built in the summer of 2007 incorporating the Eagle Scout project of Joshua Gray, BSA Troop #52 Rogersville, Alabama, and Joe Wheeler State Park.
The trail is dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Sims and his love of outdoor Alabama.

Birding site #3 Joe Wheeler State Park 

Wild Flower Hike with grandkids

Shoals Creek Preserve Track hiking trail with grandkids
Shoals Creek Preserve Track
Nature Preserve and Recreation Area
This track was protected through the efforts of Alabama's Forever Wild Land Trust, the Alabama State Lands of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with the assistance of the Lauderdale County Commission. The land is dedicated as the Billingsley-McClure Shoals Creek Preserve to provide Recreational Opportunities for all to enjoy.

Hiking on Bluff near Sheffield Water-tower.

Exploring the many animals along Deibert Park with Grandkids

Hiking in the Dismals with daughter and grandkids 

Hiking at TVA Rock-Pile

Bird Site 6  along the Tennessee River below Wilson Dam

Bird Site 7 along the Tennessee River below Wilson Dam

Waterfalls in Alabama

Cheaha State Park Falls
The three best waterfalls to see near Cheaha State Park are Cheaha Falls, Devils Den, and High Falls.

Secret Falls Phil Campbell, Alabama
Secret Falls is one of two falls located in the Dismals, Phil Campbell.
Tucked deep within the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Dismals Canyon is 85 acres of nature. 

 The canyon is home to two waterfalls, Secret Falls and Rainbow Falls, and six natural bridges.

Waterfall on Shoals Creek, Killen, Al 

Noccalula Falls 1500 Noccaluala Park Gadsden
Named after a Creek Indian princess, Noccalula Falls stands 90, feet tall and is one of the most visited natural attractions in the state.
When rain conditions are normal the waterfall is around 20 feet with a smaller one located a little to the right of the higher fall. While heavy rains cause the two falls to merge into one wider waterfall.

Noccalula falls during a drought.

Noccalula falls during normal rainfall, in Gadsden, Alabama.

Man-Made Waterfall at UNA, Florence, Alabama

Man-Made Waterfall at Marriott Hotel Florence, Alabama 

Waterfall at Shoals Creek Preserve Track Hiking Trail 

Coldwater Falls Tuscumbia Spring Park 2009

Coldwater Falls Spring Park Tuscumbia

The man-made Coldwater Falls was constructed with over 2,000 tons of sandstone and today sees more than 4.3 million gallons of water flow each day.

Desota Falls Menton Alabama 

The concrete dam above one of North Alabama's tallest falls, Desota Falls was built in 1925 for Alabama's first hydroelectric power plant.

Wilson Dam Falls Florence, Alabama

The Wilson Dam is the only neoclassical-style dam in the Tennessee Valley Authority System, integrating themes of Ancient Roman and Greek architecture into the modern structure.