Tuscaloosa Museum Of Natural History & Tuscaloosa River Walk

Saturday we went to Tuscaloosa to check out the city - we drove through the University Of Alabama campus - this is a very beautiful campus with impressive architecture.  We went to the Alabama Museum Of Natural Science which was pretty good - not a lot of variety of displays but they had some interesting pieces.

The Museum Building

12,500 Year Old Woolly Mammoth Skull from Wisconsin

25,000 Year Old Meteorite Fragment Fom Winslow, Arizona

Radio Damaged By The Hodges Meteorite -  In 1954 a meteorite crashed through the roof of the home of Ann Hodges of Oak Grove, Alabama.  The meteorite struck the radio pictured below and then struck her - the only recorded incident of a meteorite striking a person

Mastodon skull found near Demopolis, Alabama

35 million year old Sirenian skeleton found in South Carolina

Mosasauer Skeleton Found In Alabama

Basilosaurus cetoides - The state fossil of Alabama - this is a replica of the Eocene era whale

After the museum we went to the Tuscaloosa River Walk (about 4 miles down and back) - the following pics were from there.   

The site where Tuscaloosa was surrendered to the North during the Civil War

Typical barge used on the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers

A pair of work boats used to push the barges up and down the river

The Bama Belle excursion paddle boat

The Bama Belle departing for a luncheon cruise

Deer Lick Creek Recreation Area, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Wednesday we moved from Chewalla Lake Recreation Area in Holly Springs, Mississippi to the Deer Lick Creek Recreation Area in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  This is a very nice Army Corps Of Engineers campground located on Holt Lake which was made by damming  the Black Warrior River.

Our Route

Our Campsite

The dam and lock just below the campground - you can see a tugboat and a barge in the lock on the far side

View from one of the hiking trails

The dam and lock in the distance viewed from the campground

View of one of the hiking trails along the shore - lots of interesting rock outcroppings & caves

Small dam on an adjacent lake near the campground

Seems like a stiff admittance fee

We didn't see anyplace to put the money so we just went in - Donna & Darby on the 50 ft. diving cliff

Chewalla Lake Mississippi, Elvis's Birthplace - Tupelo, Tupelo Auto Museum

On Wednesday we moved from Peoples Creek in Missouri to Chewalla Lake Recreation Area in Holly Springs, Mississippi - there is hardly anyone here - we have had the place to ourselves for most of the time we have been here.  

Our Campsite

An Indian mound at the recreation area not far from our campsite

Darby's island - we take him to this little island and let him run off-leash

Chewalla Lake from the dam

On Monday we took a trip to Tupelo, Mississippi to see the famous auto museum (billed as the largest auto museum East of the Mississippi)  and also  Elvis's birthplace which is about a mile from the museum

The museum entrance (sorry for the fuzzy pic - it was so humid my lens was fogging up)

Some of the cars

Too bad they misspelled the name on the radiator

The 1950's rows

One of the two Leslie Special cars used in "The Great Race" movie

The Barrister Corvette - built by George Barris for Liberace - this is 1 of only 7 that were built.  George Barris was a custom car designer famous for designing the car in "The Munsters" TV show, the Batmobile, Kitt (the car in Knight Rider) and many others

BB King's Rolls Royce

This car was purchased by Elvis as a gift for one of his employees 

Richard Petty's '84 Grand Prix in which he one the 200th race of his career at Daytona in 1984 - this was the last race he won

Sign at Elvis's birthplace

Elvis's birthplace and childhood home - the two room house was built by his father

Statue of Elvis at age 12

The church that Elvis attended as a child - the building was moved to the Elvis's birthplace grounds from its original location about 2 blocks away when it was scheduled for demolition

Peoples Creek Missouri, Lake Wappapello, Mingo Wildlife Preserve, Bald Eagles, Raccoons

Wednesday we moved from the Ray Behrens Recreation Area to Peoples Creek Recreation Area in Wappapello, Missouri - about 4 hours further south of where we were.

Our Campsite at Peoples Creek on Lake Wappapello

The marina next door to our campground

Back side of the dam near our campsite

View from across the lake - only a couple miles across the lake but it was an 18 mile drive and a 3 mile hike to get to where this photo was taken

Sunset on Lake Wappapello just below our campsite

Lake Wappapello has it's "ducks in a row" - I think maybe they were lining up to get ready to migrate - not sure

Found an old cemetery in the woods on one of our hikes - here is a Confederate soldier's gravestone

We spent part of a day at the Mingo Wildlife Preserve, about 8 miles from the campground - most of these wildlife photos are from there.

Blue heron in flight

Bald Eagle

A second bald eagle not far away - probably the mate ofthe first one

Another blue heron

Raccoon digging in the mud - there were two of them but the other one wouldn't turn around to get his picture taken

Another blue heron