carpe_diem_for_me

The Birmingham Zoo offers a wide range of fun and exciting things for young and old! We have a splash pad for the kids, a carousel, a new train that has just been donated, camel rides, giraffe feedings, lorikeet feedings, an awesome butterfly exhibit, “Kangaroo Kountry” where eventually we are hoping the kangaroos will eat out of visitors’ hands, biofact presentations throughout the park where visitors can see, touch, and learn about animals that are in the zoo, sealion and wildlife shows, and an upcoming African savannah exhibit where animals will cohabitate with one another as they do in Africa. We will be the second zoo in America to do this, and I am really excited and looking forward to all that they accomplish!

It is definitely a wonderful place to visit!

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My husband and I went to the Moundville Archaeological Park on Memorial Day and we had such a good time! We hiked a nature trail which led to the Black Warrior River. We saw over twenty mounds which were built by the Mississippian Indians around A.D. 1000-1500. On top of these mounds or hills they built temples, council houses, and homes of the nobility. Around two dozen of the mounds are still in existence today. It was exciting to climb the tallest one (Mound V), which is over 60 feet tall and has around 80-90 steps. It is amazing to realize how much work went into these mounds. The Indians had to carry baskets of dirt at a time, dug from special areas, to create them. And they all have perfect dimensions!

There is so much history in this place that it is hard to capture it all in a paragraph ~ it is definitely a must-see!

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Ruby Falls is one of the largest (if not the largest) underground/cave waterfalls in the world. It is so beautiful and breathtaking ~ it brought tears to my eyes! Our tour guide was awesome, offering alot of information about the falls and cave that I have never heard before although I have been there many times. He told us that it had been around since the dinosaurs and the falls had actually started in a different place than it is now. Because of erosion, etc. the falls are now several yards back from where it originally began. Leo Lambert named the falls after his wife Ruby.

The story behind Ruby Falls is amazing, and I definately will be back many more times!