Heritage, not hate?

I was very trepidatious about going to Alabama. I mean we've all heard the stories about liking your sister a bit much and running into townies in the back woods, but when we were less than a mile across the border and this was in the town green area, I started to worry a bit more.

I mean we were in Florida, rural Florida, for 50 miles; we cross the border and it's like Welcome to the Deep South, circa 1950!

Now that being said, Alabama was actually quite beautiful. We stopped to camp in the Conecuh National Forest. It was a largish campground and we were there on a Saturday, so we thought that we might not get a spot. Not only did we get one, but it was so lovely next to the lake, and no neighbors on either side made it even better. We made a huge fire, cooked hotdogs and even had an owl come into camp for a bit.

The only downside to this spot is that the showers were BAD! When Mike came back from the bathroom the first time he said, "Well no shower for me; looks like a prision shower!" I giggled, but unfortunately the women's showers were no better.

We headed out early in the morning. The fog had just cleared and I was sad to leave this lovely place, but thunderstorms are coming and we can't hike here today.

Sometimes Mike has forgotten why he put certain points on the map because he did it so long ago and we never even thought we would be coming to these areas. Yet in the case of this park, I am super glad that he did because what was supposed to be a quick trip to a waterfall turned into a 3/4 day of fun.

Coming up to the waterfall you can see the bronze statue from a long way off. It is clearly hurling itself into the river below. As soon as I spotted it I knew it would be a sad story about a Native American Princess.

This is Noccalula Falls. It cascades over 90 feet into the Black Creek ravine. When we were on top of the falls you could see a trail that runs under the falls, but it wasn't on the hiking map that we had so I was puzzled.

After gazing at the falls we walked past this super cute wedding chapel. I think this might be the first wedding chapel I've ever seen in a State Park. Come to think of it, the only other wedding chapel I've ever seen in any park is in Yosemite Valley. Even though it didn't look like it at first, the park was actually quite large. They had about 15 miles of walking trails.

After we'd finished hiking we randomly ran across the park's office. I stopped in to see if they had a park stamp. The woman looked at me like I was crazy; she had clearly never heard of park stamps. But she did tell us about the park gift shop...

What she didn't tell us was that the gift shop was right in front of the cutest retro attraction. When we arrived, we were the only people in the entire park and so had the Huntington miniature train ride all to ourselves! Our train operator was also extremely cool. As he drove the train around he told us about all the attractions in the park, as well as historic facts of the area.

On his suggestion we headed straight down to do the walk behind the falls. I was very excited about this because we had seen the trail from up above and I had really wanted to do it.

It's not all that often that you get to go behind a waterfall this big. If it weren't for the one in the Grand Canyon, this might be my favorite one that we've seen since we left.

They also had a large outdoor exotic zoo. We wondered where all these animals came from, and ended up having that question answered when we went inside to see the indoor zoo. The gentleman working inside told us that many of the animals were confiscated from people who had them illegally, or were given to the park when people realized that they couldn't care for the exotic animal they had purchased. My favorite story was how the lion came to live there. A woman bought it at an exotic animal auction, and when the lion was only 4 months old she couldn't handle it. Who randomly buys a lion?! Anyway it was best for the lion because she looked very happy in her pen.

Then we went outside to the farm animal petting zoo. The goats were very excited to accept snacks from Mike.

Got lucky and arrived at the petting zoo at feeding time. I got to give the llama some green beans which are evidently her favorite. When we first got here we thought that we were going to spend less than an hour at the park, and it turned into most of a day. I have to say I'm a huge sucker for train rides and petting zoos so this was one heck of a day for me.

Another happy coincidence was that, by staying at Noccalula Park for so long, we changed where we were intending to stay for the night and ran into a National Monument that we did not know about. I spotted it on Google Maps while searching for a Forest we could camp in.

This is an incredibly small National Monument but it holds in its trust an enormous period of human history. Indigenous Americans inhabited this area from 6500 BCE to 1650 CE. These are the oldest verified human inhabitants in the American Southeast. In the museum at the National Monument you can learn about the history of Native American peoples. I wish there had been more for us to see and experience at the actual site, but when we learned about how they excavated nearly 10,000 years of history layer by layer in the caves, I was truly astounded.

After we left the National Monument, we drove across the mountain pass between Alabama and Tennessee. We spent the evening in the first State Forest that we have ever seen. Here is a picture of the sun going down in Franklin State Forest. When we read the Google reviews of this State Forest, people are truly grateful that it exists. People expressed that, in Tennessee, if you are not rich there are very few places to get outside, hear the birds, and just not be anywhere near anyone else.

Once we left the national forest we came to the dry County of Lynchburg. It is the amazing historic home of Jack Daniel's.

You might wonder why Jack Daniel set himself up in a dry county, but once you take the tour, the beautiful freshwater Spring on property answers all your questions. It provides the water for the liquor, as well as the water to quench the fires that make the charcoal to filter the alcohol.

When we got to Jack Daniel's we decided to sign up for the Angels' Share tour. If you don't know what the Angels' Share is, it's supposed to be the whiskey that evaporates out of the barrels.

Our tour guide was Ron and he was totally fantastic. This is Ron taking us into the Rickyard. A Rick is a measure of wood. There are about two Ricks in a cord. Jack Daniel's uses Sugar Maple cut into 2 by 2 pieces. They then stack up the pieces of wood and burn them into charcoal. To keep any off flavors out of the charcoal, they light the fire using Jack Daniel's raw whiskey.

Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures in a lot of places, but here is Ron sitting in front of the Spring that used to provide all of the water for Jack Daniel's. It's a wonderfully idyllic place and you can see why he would go to so much trouble to set up his brewery here.

The guy in the center wearing the white hat with a black band is Jack Daniel. This is the last known picture of him that was ever taken. If you look at the black gentleman sitting next to him, you would be looking at the son of the man who taught Jack Daniel how to distill. Jack's mentor's name was Nathan Nearest Green. Nathan started out his life as a slave who was brought in to teach Jack to distill in the 1850's in rural Tennessee. Later, after slavery was abolished, they ended up living right next to each other and worked together as equals which was, in this time period, unheard of.

Jack Daniel's distillery has done a good job preserving, not only the present, but also the history of whiskey distilling. Here is an antique bottle filler that I found particularly fascinating.

After the tour we got to do a whiskey tasting. We picked the Angels' Share tour because this was the one that gave you the upgraded samples. It was worth it to me because I'm never going to buy a $75 to $150 bottle of Jack Daniel's. If you look at the red labeled sample all the way to the right, it was my favorite. It is their brand new whiskey made completely out of rye.

The very last thing that we got to see was the way in which barrels are stored for their 4+ year ageing process. Jack Daniel's is one of the few breweries that only uses their barrels once. You might wonder what they do with them once the Jack Daniel's comes out. Surprisingly there is a very large secondary market for these barrels. Of course a small number are made into souvenirs, but an enormous number are sold to breweries and wineries that use the barrels as a place to age their product. The next time you see a barrel-aged beer, you can wonder to yourself if it was done in a Jack Daniel's barrel.

Also if you want to go the expensive road you can actually buy your own barrel of Jack Daniel's whiskey. Amazingly you only have to pay Jack Daniel's $3000 for the barrel… unfortunately you have to pay about $5000 to US Government in taxes! A bit rich for my blood.

On the way to Mammoth Cave National Park we passed Stone River National Battlefield. It is a park that memorializes the Battle of Stones River. It is a key multiple-day battle of the American Civil War that took place on December 31, 1862 and January 2, 1863, and resulted in a strategic Union victory that gave the North control of Nashville and the shipping roads therein.

The visitor center does a wonderful job walking you through the major moments of this day's long battle which had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. About 76,400 men were engaged in the battle and there were 12,906 casualties on the Union side and 11,739 on the Confederates. If you do the math out, it means that more than 1 in every 3 men perished. In the visitor center there were many audio recordings of personal testimony from the soldiers and the citizens of the area. More than almost any other place we've been, this one really helps one to understand how the soldiers were feeling before and after the battle.

This is the National Cemetery at Stone River which was created in 1865 and contains 6,000 Union graves. It is quite a large cemetery and interestingly cannot house any Confederate soldiers' graves. It was a fact that I'd never considered but, because they fought for the ceded portion of the United States, they were ineligible for burial on national land. It's a bit sad because in this area family members often fought for opposing sides, and if brothers died on the same battlefield they would be separated in death.

Another interesting thing that is housed on the battlefield is the nation's oldest intact Civil War monument. It was erected by William Hazen's brigade on Hell's Half Acre. His brigade was the only Union unit not to retreat on the 31st. They gave Union general Rosecrans a solid anchor for his Nashville Pike line that finally stopped the Confederate tide from sweeping the Union forces.

We charged in fifty yards of them and had not the timely order of retreat been given — none of us would now be left to tell the tale. … Our regiment carries two hundred and eighty into action and came out with fifty eight.

- Morgan Smith, Thirty-second Alabama Infantry

Here is a photo of one of the places that the Union and Confederate soldiers would have needed to cross. Of course some of the trenches and earthenworks are gone, but I can plainly see why the casualties were so high.

Welcome to the world's longest cave! We had not originally planned to stop here but made such good time through Florida that we added it. Currently 412 miles of passageways have been surveyed by volunteers. Just to give you an idea about how big this really is, Mammoth Cave is nearly twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun.

When we got to the area it was chilly but when we got up we were surprised by the snow that had fallen. It's been a bit of a shock to go from the eighties to the thirties, and after all Kentucky is regarded as being in the South.

We booked ourselves in on the Grand Avenue tour. This tour is four miles and takes about 4 and a 1/2 hours to complete. The park lists it as very strenuous but really it wasn't all that bad. You enter the cave from the Carmichael Entrance and end at the Frozen Niagara Entrance.

Clearly you can see that this is not a natural entrance to the cave. That's ranger Andy you can see walking down the stairs ahead of me. She was quite a good tour guide and managed to keep all 87 people on the tour moving in the right direction. This section of Mammoth Cave used to be privately owned and the proprietor put this entrance in.

Unlike other caves that I've been in, Mammoth Cave is a mostly dry cave with Gypsum formations like the ones you see above. These formations grow very slowly and dissolve in water. That's one of the reasons that they are seen less often in wet caves.

After getting back from the tour, I read some of the reviews online. A lot of people were scathing about how ugly and boring a lot of the tour was. Both Mike and I found the majority of the time extremely interesting. This cave has a long history and I found the different areas varied greatly. This tunnel that you can see in the photograph was naturally formed by moving water that has long since sunk to a lower level. The cave has 5 main layers and this is in layer 3.

Do you remember how I told you that thia part of the cave used to be privately owned? One of the things that the tour guides used to have the guests do was to take their tallow candles and mark the ceiling, one dot at a time. If you look carefully you can see that this one is from 1889.

One particular section of the cave has many signatures which were found while the cave was undergoing a cleaning. The park used to serve food in the cave, but then found that the practice was damaging the cave.

These formations on the ceiling of the cave are called Anastramosis. They are fascinating features that let you know the water in this section of the cave went all the way up to the ceiling at one time.

At the end of the tour you get to the Niagara room. This room has the formations that most people associate with all caves. You can see the draperies in the background; unfortunately what you can't see is that there is a waterfall cascading in the middle of the photograph. This room definitely had the most dramatic formations, but was not my favorite. In the middle of the tour we passed through an undulating section that I can only describe as a slot canyon. I have to say this is the first time I was ever in anything like that underground.

Here is another shot that shows the stalagmites in the same room. Also you can clearly see that there is non-white light on these formations. This light is designed to reduce heat in the cavern and also to discourage algae growth. You wouldn't think it but caves actually have a tremendous problem dealing with algae growth.

Right at the end of the cave we got to see a plethora of cave crickets. Sometimes I forget how much people don't like insects, because many of the tour participants were truly horrified by these amazing insects.

After Mammoth Cave we got to see the Mississippi again, but this time we got to see her in a high state of flood. Here you can see how whole roads are underwater.

And not a little bit of water! Enough water that the trees were buried up to the canopy. When we looked into it, it seems like this flooding is becoming more and more "normal".

This architectural marvel opened in 1980, and was designed by E. Fay Jones, but i swear it was inspired by fairies. The American Institute of Architects placed Thorncrown Chapel fourth on its list of the top buildings of the 20th Century, and I think you will be able to see why.

Thorncrown Chapel rises forty-eight feet into the Ozark woods. It is made from wood and contains 425 windows. If you'd like to know what it's like to be in the chapel, there is a short video on my Instagram account, c_cocozza. The base of the chapel is set on native stone and a colored flagstone walk leads you to its simply artistic door, making it blend perfectly with its setting. Critics have called it "one of the finest religious spaces of modern times." If you're ever in the area, though I'm not sure why you ever would be, this is one of those places that's worth going a little out of your way to see.

After we left the chapel, Mike suggested a hike on Whitaker Point trail that goes to Hawkbill Crag.

When Mike and I stood at this point we both agreed that it was very reminiscent of the outlooks on the Appalachian trail. If you look in the background you can see that Spring has not come to this area yet. Unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to linger because we wanted to knock out another small hike in the Ozarks before dark.

Mike is very into waterfalls so many of the hikes that he picks have waterfalls on them. That being said, this is probably my second favorite one of the trip. The only one that beats it was in the Grand Canyon.

Mike will tell you that I despise using the word unique because it is vastly overused and therefore cheapened. Just to get under my skin while I'm blogging this section, Mike said, "Well what if it's more unique?" Unfortunately I'm not sure I have a better word for this formation. It is so unusual to have a cap rock whose thickness is great enough that the water can bore a hole in it without just cracking, yet not so thick that the water just runs over it like a traditional falls.

Here's another look at it from the top side. It almost looks like the drain to an industrial sink.

After our second hike we actually went back and stayed fairly close to the Whitaker Point trailhead. The forest was beautifully dark and quiet and there was even a fire ring for us to use. I swear I'd have a fire every night if I could.

Our spot was so nice that we spent the next morning catching up on our journal writing. Since we were parked in a National Forest, there were houses not too far away and one of the neighborhood dogs even came for a visit.

Today we chose to do a bit of a National Forest scenic byway. It is a North-South road that runs 127 miles in Northwest Arkansas. It reminded me of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but with a lot more elevation change. I felt as though someone should have warned us when we got on, that some of the areas would be 12 or 14% grades.

I have to say that some of the views were really worth it. Unfortunately they were doing some prescribed burns. You can see the haziness in the distance. I know I keep making references to the Northeast, but I guess I was surprised how much Arkansas had in common with Pennsylvania.

So talk about being in some kind of a place at some kind of a time… I'm really not sure if it was the right place or the wrong place to be, but there we were at the Ouachita Visitors Center in Arkansas. I was super disappointed that they were closed because it meant that we were not going to get a park stamp, but it did mean that I got to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately before that happened I heard a tremendous crash of breaking glass. I stopped and looked back at Mike in the van. I gave him the shoulder shrug that said "Did you hear that too?" It was odd enough that I went back to sit in the Van to figure out what to do. At that point we saw a kid come out of the bathroom and go and talk to his friend. It was very clear that they had broken the mirror in the bathroom. Because I'm so crazy I got out and took a picture of their car and called 911.

The operator took us very seriously and sounded personally upset by the incident. Only later did it become clear that she was a local dispatcher who lived in the area and knew, as we did, that the National Forest did not have any money to replace broken items. Also the police got there in less than 5 minutes after we got off the phone with 911. We saw them pull in as we drove out of the parking lot. Of course we went back to give a statement to the officer. He was extremely friendly and we hung out for more than an hour as we needed to wait for a woman from the National Forest to come and unlock the bathroom. The guys were young adults, but not totally stupid young adults... just smart enough to lock the bathroom behind them. While we were talking to the officer, we heard on his radio that they had found the two guys that we saw. I have to say I felt fairly vindicated.

Eventually a volunteer for the National Park Service showed up to unlock the bathroom. She was beside herself and told us that in the 20 years that she had been there they had never had any problems leaving the bathrooms unlocked. On a totally selfish note, she also gave us stamps for the National Park and helped us find a campsite. I guess this time altruism won out because later on we'd find out that there were not a lot of free places to stay in the area.

And interestingly, it didn't end there. The head ranger of the National Forest came to collect evidence. I know it might seem crazy, but keep in mind that the National Park Service has had their budget severely slashed. Almost every park we go to has had to cut back on some of their services and that certainly doesn't allow for vandalism that they have to clean up after.

It may not be the first National Park but it is the smallest, and to be honest it actually depends on what you mean by first. The area was initially protected by an Act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832 and it was protected before the concept of a national park even existed. The history of the formalization of saving public land for the benefit of all is a topic of great interest to me.

On the face of it, it might seem odd that the federal government would choose to protect an area that is just bathhouses, but if you think about the evolution of medical practice it makes more sense. Remember it was not until the 1850's, when Joseph Lister encouraged doctors to wash their hands and wear sterile gloves, that there was any thought given to the practice of cleanliness, also Penicillin wasn't even discovered until 1928, almoat 100 years after the preservation of Hot Springs. So as odd as it seems, hot water was prescribed as a cure for many ailments.

The Hot Springs visitor center is right next to the only remaining bathhouses that currently serve guests. The Buckstaff is the oldest functioning bathhouse and still treats guests to a historically accurate bathhouse experience. On the other hand, the Quapaw is a modern spa that still uses the hot spring water. The visitor center is built in the Fordyce Spa and does a nice job showing visitors what a bathhouse experience would have been like in the 1800's.

Inside the gift shop you can stop to have your photo in one of the ceramic tubs from the Fordyce. Mike is always such a good sport about my touristy photo desires.

One of the things that I liked best about the Fordyce bathhouse was all of the beautiful stained glass. This one was in the ceiling of the men's bathhouse.

As you can see no expense with spared to make the space beautiful. There were marble benches and private rooms and this brass fountain in the center.

In one of the side rooms of the bathhouse I spotted this! It was love at first sight. Then Mike came in and said, "Don't expect me to build you one of those! You'll never get out of the shower." That is a possibility but I don't see any reason why I shouldn't have one anyway.

Because the Hot Springs area has been in use for so long, all of the surface sources of the Spring have been covered over. This was done to promote cleanliness and to ensure equal standards for all the bathers. When the site became a National Park, the park service did build one area where you can see and feel the water coming out of the ground. It's quite odd to see the water steaming.

After touring the bathhouses we took a walk out to Goat Rock. This trail is fairly far from the main street so we didn't see very many people. It also afforded us a pretty view of the town below.

After hiking a couple of loops, Mike was ecstatic that he got to go to the only brewery that's inside a National Park. The beer was only mediocre but the experience was worth it.

So I have to take a little aside from the trip so that I can tell you what's going on at home. Sandon called me about a month ago and said it's raining in my bedroom. He told me not to worry, that he put down a bucket, but that something was obviously going to need to be done.

Luckily Sandon and I have a neighbor who is also a contractor. He agreed to come and do my roof at an incredibly reasonable price. He and Sandon took time away from their Saint Patrick's Day festivities to put a new roof on my house.

And I have to say it's a good thing that we did, because March has been smacking Pennsylvania with quite a bit of snow. The even better news is that my roof survived the last onslaught with no issues. In theory all good to go for 30 years!

I've never been to a Civil War battlefield that was quite like Vicksburg. To the outside observer in our area, they might think that it's very similar to Gettysburg. It is if you only look at the monuments and statues, but the physical set-up of the battlefield and the style of the campaign are quite different.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, was a fortress city and it dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. Because of this fortification, General Grant had one heck of a time trying to siege the area. The battle of Vicksburg was really more in line with some medieval tactics in which commanders would cut off the supply line and then starve out the walled city.

Early on in your tour of Vicksburg you come to the Shirley House. This structure is the only pre-Civil War structure inside Vicksburg National Military Park. It was used as a planning area for the Union troops and was referred to as the 'white house'. When we were at the park I wondered why this was the only surviving building. Only later, when I went back to read more about Vicksburg, did I discover that on May 18, 1863, Confederate soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses in front of their works. All the outbuildings were quickly burned, but the soldier assigned to destroy the Shirley house was shot before he could complete his task.

There are two States that put up an outrageous number of the more than 1,300 markers at Vicksburg. One is Ohio and the other is Illinois. The enormous monument that you see above is Illinois' tribute. If you count, there are 47 steps, one for each day of the siege, and its design is reminiscent of the Roman Pantheon. Inside there are 60 unique bronze tablets which list the 36,325 Illinois soldiers who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign.

Another monument that I thought was beautiful is Missouri's. I love how it seemed to have a harbinger of peace standing on the bow of a ship.

Yet if I had to pick my overall absolute favorite monument, it would be the one from Kentucky. Kentucky was heavily divided during the Civil War. Technically it was neither a Union nor a Confederate State, but that was just the official position. Almost all of the citizens had their mind made up to one side or the other. Because of this mentality it was one of the chief places where the "brother against brother" scenario played out. Another interesting fact about Kentucky that shows the deep division is that both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were sons of this State.

Because the battle of Vicksburg was such a drawn-out siege, there are some very interesting items that were built to last and keep the troops safe as they moved arround the battlefield from forward to rear positions. This one is near Thayer's Approach on the North side of the battlefield.

In the siege of Vicksburg only one ship was lost, the Cairo. This is the only old ironside ship that survived from the Civil War.

Ii sank in the Mississippi river outside of Vicksburg very rapidly. Because of this, all the men aboard were not able to grab their possessions. This has led to a treasure trove of artifacts. You can see some of them on display here.

I was so amazed by the diversity that I thought I would add a second photograph of the artifacts. You might be wondering what happened to the men that owned them. Amazingly no one was drowned as the ship went down.

Here you can see her boilers that drove the paddle wheel at the back of the ship. It's astounding to me that these enormous vessels were driven by steam and paddle.

She was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War. I have to admit it was amazing to see the siding still attached to the wooden ship. It really was some way to end our trip to Vicksburg!

Mike's Dad went to Biloxi, MS after hurricane Katrina to help with rebuilding homes. While they were there, someone recommended The Shed...

And oh my gosh we were glad they did! We got their sample platter as well as pulled pork nachos. Everything was extremely good but the pulled pork was definitely my personal favorite. They also do sides of bacon for $1. Trust me, this is an extremely worthwhile upgrade. You get one piece of quarter-inch-thick smoked bacon that will make your heart want to sing.

Then there was the bathroom… Mike came out of the bathroom and asked me if I had dead animals looking at me while I went. I couldn't decide if he was joking with me but I nodded no. He said you don't believe me!! I'll go and get you a picture so you can see too. While he was taking the photograph, another guy came into the bathroom and gave him a very strange look. When he came out he was laughing. It's not very often you get strangely stuffed heads above the toilet.

I think Mike and I did a pretty good job cleaning up all of their food. Not that it was a very hard task. 😉

That night we slept in the parking lot of the Golden Nugget Casino. It was a lovely quiet place to sleep and we even had a view of the Biloxi Bay. In the morning we went to a restaurant called The Greenhouse. They served nothing but biscuits and biscuit sandwiches. You can see Mike eating one, though my favorite were the ones that had lox and capers. After this we're on our way to New Orleans, so get ready for great jazz!