It was collectively decided that this year for our annual vacation with our friends that we would all be meeting in Alabama. Now when people found out we were heading to Alabama, the first question was "and what is in Alabama?" We had to honestly answer "well, we don't know..." but we were excited to find out. We headed out on Tuesday after Chris escaped from work. We stopped in Rockford, and had a very enjoyable dinner with our friend John who lives in the Rockford area. We then continued on our way to Geneva, IL where we stayed over night and picked up our fifth passenger Lesley.
Unfortunately, the next day was a miserably rainy day, which killed our driving time quite a bit, and by the time we hit Indianapolis we were a little limited on what we could do for a break. We decided to check out the Children's museum the kids had a great time running around and there was some pretty neat things for us older kids to check out too.
After wearing the kids out we trucked our way down to Knoxville, TN were we stayed the evening. The next day was cloudy, but nice enough that we thought we would do some hiking in Smokey Mountain National Park. This was a really neat park and I would really recommend everyone visiting it at some point. On our first hike we tromped up a nice path past a small black bear (Lesley's sharp eyes caught that one) to the very pretty Laural waterfall. After that hike we took a scenic drive through some old growth forests where there were some old farmsteads, it was very inspiring yet sobering to explore these structures. To think of the hardships people living in these mountains would have had to endure, and how lonely life may have been for them as they created their homes. But the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful through the drive. We finished up our day in the park with a hike to the highest point in the park. Unfortunately it was getting fairly cloudy by the time we reached the summit so the view could have been better. We continued our way through the park and unwittingly followed our GPS through a very, very, very windy road through the mountains to get to Chattanooga, TN where we would be spending the night.
Friday morning we woke to a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to go to Rock City on Lookout Mountain. This is a fun little tourist trap, I mean attraction, that was built around the time of the depression as a private garden but it attracted so much praise that they finally opened it to the public. Trails guide you through cracks in the mountain, over crevices, and through tunnels and caves for a very unique experience. The grounds have a plethora of plant life which are very well labeled for people who are interested in such things, while cute nicknames and hiding gnomes keep the kids entertained. If you are brave enough there is even a suspension bridge across a good chasm to put a little adrenaline into your system.
After visiting Rock City we opted to travel on to Alabama to find the house we were staying in. We were all shocked when we saw the place and a little scared to set foot inside. This was a monster of a house with a $1,300,000 price tag, which I am sure will be the most expensive house I will ever set foot into. We also were greeted by the first inhabitants of the house, which were all very large spiders and they were everywhere. Luckily spiders and I get along very well so many of them were saved and tossed out the door. The bedroom we slept in could have nearly fit the upper floor of our house into it.
When everyone finally arrived we decided to go shopping for food for the weekend after finding some food. Chris and I have never eaten at a real BBQ restaurant, so the group went on the hunt for quality fair. There was a small shack down the way from where we stayed which the town locals said had the best bbq but our party's Alabama natives weren't so sure they agreed with the local assessment so we continued on our hunt until we found a nice little bbq joint that had a nice hometown atmosphere and really good food. That night the ladies went bug, frog, and spider hunting while the gentlemen drank some beer an caught up with each other. I will say one thing about Alabama they sure know how to grow some huge bugs.
We crashed and woke up early the next morning for a quick breakfast and plans to hike the Walls of Jerico. The hike was listed as six miles long and strenuous. The word strenuous has never frightened us away from any hike, so away we went down the mountain. Since it had rained on and off the entire previous evening the trails were muddy clay and slicker then ice in some places. We continued on while Fara explained some interesting facts about the flora and fauna, and showing the kids ridiculously huge millipedes (I would estimate an easy 5 inches), and snails. Unfortunately the trails got a little too treacherous and we lost two of our party of ten. The eight remaining decided to continue on and meet the other two back at the house. The eight continued our decent finding colorful millipedes, snakes, and newts until we reached the little stream running at the base. A hand made log bridge was the driest way across and then we started running into the boy scouts. We received multiple warnings that we probably couldn't make it to the walls with small children because of how bad the trails became. But we decided to press on. We walked through some very pretty forest and by a small cemetery. We continued following the trail and crossing a small creek, until it became clear that Chris and I with our two small children could not continue on. So our party of eight dropped down to a party of four who would make it to the end. We decided to take the kids back to the stream and let them play for a while. We then had the long hike back up the mountain to our cars. When it was all said and done the kids did great. Jasmine did great walking six miles without having to be carried and Kai made it at least 4.5 miles before having to be carried. Even though we didn't make it to see the walls the hike was amazing. I found this link to a webpage which has what the actual walls look like if you want to see them http://huntsville.about.com/od/photogallery/ig/Walls-of-Jericho/
We finally all made it back to the house, and took showers because we were all pretty muddy and vegged for the rest of the night.
Sunday it was raining and cold so we decided to go to cathedral caverns, which was a very impressive cave to say the least. Chris and I have been in a number of caves and usually it is pretty tight spaces but this cave was very different, the huge spans of open space were ironically a little unsettling to me. That being said the cathedral room of the cave and the subsequent rooms with all of the unique flow stone, cave bacon, pillers, and stalactites and stalagmites were very beautiful. It was a pleasant surprise when our guide turned off the lights and shone a light onto a broken off stalagmite and it glowed after the light was removed. Apparently there is a high amount of phosphorous in the caverns architecture that accounts for this unique characteristic.
We spent the remainder of the day visiting, napping, and relaxing. Unfortunately, we had to part ways the next day. We miss our good friends quite a bit, and I was sad to leave them. But we had to get home. On our way home we stopped by Mammoth caves which was a very unique cave experience also, the fist part of our hike we passed through tight vertical shafts which were just awesome in their shape and structure. The decent down into the main cavern was one of the best parts of the tour. You descend nearly 200 feet into the earth going from one fissure to the next. It was truly one of the most unique cave experiences I have had. It almost had the feel like you where one of the original cave explorers going into a tight hole to see what you could find. You finally level out and follow a small hole you have to crouch down to walk through which ends in a contrasting vast open room. Every cave is unique, and I really love getting the chance to explore them. The kids loved this cave because they got to ride on a school bus.... everyone was happy.
Our last stop was the Indianapolis zoo. There is not really a ton to say about a zoo, the kids enjoyed seeing the animals.
Fishin' at Devils Lake
Peewee's Nest
