• Travel

    Green Mountain Nature Trail in Huntsville, AL

    Today I’m covering another travel post from my archives that never got written about. Last week I wrote about Two Must-Sees in Huntsville, AL for Taphophiles Today I’m sharing a little about a beautiful park and hiking trail called Green Mountain Nature Trail a.k.a. Madison County Nature Trail. 5000 Nature Trail Rd SE Huntsville, AL 35803 If you enjoy getting out in undisturbed nature this is a spot for you to see if ever in the Huntsville, AL area. The 1.5 mile loop around the 6-acre Sky lake is beautiful and quiet. There are additional side trails that branch from…

  • Travel

    Smith Mountain – Jacksons’ Gap, AL

    Sunday before Memorial Day we went over to Lake Martin (Dadeville, AL). Our usual tradition of camping at the lake with our friends got derailed mainly due to weather. However, Sunday turned out to be a hot sunny day. It’s crazy that as many times as we’ve been to Lake Martin, we had actually never been to Smith Mountain. There’s a .8 mile loop from a parking lot to the fire tower and back. Once you get up to the tower there are some beautiful views even if you don’t go up the tower. After hiking back down, we stopped…

  • Life

    West Coast Trip:Day 13

    Day 13 of our West Coast trip was the day we were headed home. Our flight didn’t leave till later in the afternoon, which gave us time to do something. When Rob lived out in Portland, his favorite place to shop was Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer is similar to a Walmart, but way better. It is truly a one stop shop. From furniture to groceries to name brand clothing it has it all. After having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we headed over to Fred Meyer so the kids could see what an awesome store it was and…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 12

    As I mentioned before since our days were so long (in a good way) but since we covered so much ground and so many amazingly beautiful places my daily travel posts aren’t including as much detail and as many pictures as I’d like. I want to write individual posts on many of the spots on this trip in more detail with more pictures. One day when I’m caught up, I’ll go back and share more. Today’s post covers our last full day of our west coast trip. We slept later that day than any other day on trip, which was…

  • Travel

    Hike at Cloudland Canyon

    Over our 4th of July trip, we decided to go to Cloudland Canyon State Park, which is located in the northwest corner of Georgia about 25 miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee. This Georgia state park covers 3,485 acres on the western edge of Lookout Mountain. Rugged landscaping and views of Sitton Gulch Creek, which splits the mountain. There is a paved, wheelchair accessible for about a quarter of a mile that overlooks the edge of the canyon. There are 4 more hiking trails that are range from moderate to strenuous. The Waterfalls Trail starts off paved and then moves into the…

  • Travel

    DeSoto State Park Hike

    During our time in North Georgia, we actually ventured back over to our home state of Alabama. We had spent the morning not to far from the Georgia-Alabama border at Cloudland Canyon State Park. We had planned to be out all day, so we had packed a picnic lunch. We ended up at DeSoto State Park, which is on Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne. It covers 3,000 acres of forests, rivers, waterfalls, and mountainous terrain. The picnic area overlooks the A.A. Miller Dam. We stuffed our faces with fresh cut cold cut sandwiches, chips, cookies, and Gatorades. Our lunch entertainment…

  • Life

    Drew’s Upcoming High Adventure Trip to Philmont

    The guys on one of their practice hikes at Chewacla State ParkIt’s usually this time of year, when I send out the address where you can send Drew cards, letters, money, etc while he’s away at Boy Scout Camp. This year he’s not going on a normal camping trip. On June 14th, he will board a plane to Denver, Colorado where he will spend a few days getting acclimated to the altitude while site-seeing in that area. On June 17th, he’ll arrive at Philmont Scout Ranch (near Cimarron, New Mexico) where he and 8 other boys along with 2 of…