18 June 2024 Returning to Huntsville

My business was done. It was time to head back to Huntsville for a night's stay before my flight home. I enjoyed a couple cache finds and seeing a new park area with birds, but was happy at the thought of going home.

The picnic area looked as though it was abandoned years ago.

This was an odd, old building near the picnic tables. I have no idea of its purpose. Perhaps it was a restroom.

16 June 2024 Traveling South

It was deep south for me on this business trip. I was headed two Muscle Shoals and was happy for a few moments to rest and enjoy a rare visit to the area.

It's meal time...

This small rookery was a very pleasant surprise.

Great views from a quiet trail

3 March 2023 Another Walk In the Woods of Alabama

My colleague had an early return flight so I gave him a ride to the airport.  I had scheduled a later flight in case more time was needed with the customer I was visiting.  I took the free time to visit the same park from a few days prior hoping sessile trilliums were now in bloom.  An early morning downpour had been replaced by bright blue skies by the time I reached the trailhead.

The rain had swelled the stream in the park.

I was happy to see the sessile trilliums had opened up since my arrival.

The water was cloudy from the turbulence but the change in flow was immense.  Two days earlier, I crossed this nearly dry stream in the area near the lower right edge of the image.

Rue Anemone had opened within the two days since my prior visit.

It has been ages since I have seen a 747 sitting on the tarmac.  This one was sitting far away from the terminal.  The inner nacelle on the left is missing the engine.  A little over 400 of these jets still fly with only about five percent still in passenger service.

2 March 2023 The Rolling Stones in Muscle Shoals

 My day was spent mostly in meetings with a very unhappy customer and follow-ups with colleagues.  After dining at a very pleasant restaurant in downtown Florence, a colleague pointed this historical marker while we were walking back to our hotel.  The Holiday Inn mentioned in the marker has given way to a large Hampton Inn, but the history is still great.

In December 1969, the Rolling Stones recorded these hits which were released on Sticky Fingers in a room at the old Holiday Inn.

 

Scenes of recording the songs in the Holiday Inn room were reportedly included in the movie documentary Gimme Shelter from the infamous Altamont Concert where a concert attendee was murdered by a Hells Angels member acting as a bodyguard for the Stones.

1 March 2023 Visiting Huntsville

I had a really early flight to Alabama.

I was in Huntsville for a couple days of business.  I arrived early and was waiting for a colleague's flight from Monterrey.  While waiting and headed off to see a bit of the area and find a few geocaches.  My first stop was at Historic Huntsville Depot and a local rail museum.  The 1860  building was constructed pre-Civil war.  

0-4-0 Switcher in the yard area  The color scheme appears to make this once part of the Southern Railroad.

The area includes a nice example of a turntable and what appears to be a newer or heavily updated roundhouse.

The museum was closed so my visit was limited to the grounds.  I made my way to nearby natural area for more geocaching and hopefully very early wildflowers.  I had not seen false garlic before this stop.  The flowers caught my eye.  Looking on line gave resources that say this a far-reaching, invasive plant that is difficult to eradicate.

I had better luck spotting the very-familiar, native spring beauty in bloom.

Cut-leaved toothwort is also a native spring wildflower.

A true surprise on the walk was a spotting a number of sessile trilliums unopened, but very near blooming.

Cemeteries hold a different level of respect in the south.  My colleagues flight was delayed so I stopped by a cemetery to read some of the history.

Lena Mitchell was born in Maine in 1906 and eventually settled into Huntsville where she passed in 1959.  She was noted as a gypsy queen and palmist.  Her grave site is still visited with trinkets left.  I was truly surprised to see that t-shirts are still sold celebrating her.

  The cemetery was also unusual with the trunks of felled trees carved and left standing.