Last Sunday, Chase and I decided to take a trip up to Noccalula Falls Park in Gadsden, AL. I used to go there as a child with my grandparents and parents. It has always been a really neat place to visit. Actually, it's much cooler now than it was back in the day, because they have added an animal section. Some of the animals you can pet but most of them are inside fences.
There are lots of old buildings that were built back in the 1800's and brought to the park from all over Alabama. I love seeing the way things/buildings were made back then.
This is the inside of the Old Country Store. I can't imagine living back then.*** In case you don't know, Noccalula was an Indian Princess that lived around the falls way back when. One day she jumped from the falls to her death because she was forced to marry a man that she didn't love. She was so upset that she decided to take her life and end her problems. ***
To read more about Princess Noccalula click here and it will take you to the website.
This is the sign that you walk under as you climb down in the gorge to walk around. I was really scared actually that I might slip in fall but thankfully the rocks weren't wet so it was safe or safer than usual. (note..I was taking a serious chance going down there and being pregnant but I was EXTREMELY careful and walked slow.)
This is me standing inside the cavern/gorge, I'm not sure what you call it, but it's this HUGE space behind the falls. It was absolutely amazing to stand under there and think about how much earth was above you. It was actually a little scary at first! Unfortunately, there wasn't much water running over the falls but it was still really pretty.
This is the Princess Noccalula statue that is at the tops of the falls. (She wasn't actually that tall.)
This is Chase. Can you tell how BIG the caverns are? It was really cool to be down there!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chase and I went rode the train and went to the zoo part of the park. First thing we saw was this doe. She was so sweet! She let us walk up to her and pet her. Some people were feeding her.
There was a whole deer habitat there. Lots of doe, yearlings and a few bucks.
Both of the bucks were inside the barn but we did get this picture. You can see the antlers of the other one behind him. I had never been that close to a deer before. They were so elegant and calm.
There was a purring/growling Canadian Lynx. It was actually quite funny! I could growl at it and it would talk to me or growl at me. haha! We have a video on our new video camera but it isn't compatible with Mac computer, which Chase has and the CD reader in my PC is broken so I can't download the software. Hopefully, one day we'll figure it out. I'm hoping we don't have to buy me a new computer.
Anyways, here is the last animal photo that I will share with you since this post is getting so long. This is a female lion. She is just chilling on that rock. She was REALLY BIG!! I wish she had been up and walking around but she was smart and staying in the shade.
All in all, we had a great day together! After the park we went into Gadsden to eat at Top O the River. It was such a good lunch and we were extremely full when we left.
