Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Alabama's natural bridge.

Saturday, May 4 Day 12 (cont'd)

It was such an incredibly beautiful day!

 Cows and horses grazing in meadows filled with flowering clover


It wasn't long before we crossed the Alabama border. We have come East on 78 to 278.  The temperature was 38 degrees this morning but it is warming up a little.


It may not be real apparent, but those clouds low on the horizon are the storm we have been under. We know we haven't escaped it! 



The weather map shows us still moving through it toward the east.   


We have picked out a couple of sites we want to see along the road today.  One is a natural bridge, the longest one east of the rockies.  It is privately owned, and  we missed the entrance signage.  We talked about whether to turn around and go back, and we were glad we did!



This little waterfall was beside the parking lot as we entered.

Our first glimpse of the natural bridge took our breath away.  There is a lot of water falling into it from the hard rains. 

 You can see how big it is by seeing John standing under it.


 And other people posing below.

This configuration of the rock shows the power of the water

I picked up this flower that had fallen from a tree and wondered what  it was.

They advertising their picnic area, but it was a little inaccessible! 


 This feature in the rock is called "Indian Face." Can you see it?


The gift shop was filled with Confederate flags, homemade boxes and carvings, lot of Civil War memorabilia, including diaries and cookbooks.  I had two questions for the proprietor:  What was the type of tree whose flower I held in my hand, and what type of rock formed the bridge?  The type of tree, he explained was a "popular" tree.  Another customer said it was a "Poplar" tree.  And the rock:  He concluded it was bedrock, after telling me that "taint nobody never axed me that question."  OK.  But in rereading the sign out front (see above) I realized that the formation was sandstone that had washed away, leaving the iron ore exposed.  Maybe no one had asked because it tells you right on the sign.

Here's a plaque that was for sale in the gift shop.



No comments:

Post a Comment