Bellingrath Gardens

Today we spent most of the day at Bellingrath House and Gardens. http://www.bellingrath.org/  We started out with a river cruise on the Fowl River.  It was very interesting as they explained a lot about the river, plants, and the birds.

 

 

There were many very nice houses along the river such as this one.

 

They have built some platforms like this one for the ospreys to nest on.  See the pair on this one?



This tree was in one of the yards we passed, not sure what was on it.  Looks like grapefruit.

 

 The view from our seat on the boat.

 

After the boat cruise, we toured the house but no pictures were allowed inside.  They call this mirror lake.

 

 

The gardens were filled with blooming azaleas.  Many of the flower pictures were taken by Mom.

We walked out on a long boardwalk over part of the river and saw this large turtle under the water.

 

 Is this bamboo growing over the walkway?

 

It sure is!

 

Not sure what kind of snake this is.

 

A little spanish moss on the trees in the parking lot.

 

It had been a long day with no lunch, so we stopped at Dick Russell's Bar-B-Q for supper on the way home.

 



Ed's Seafood Shed

We slept late this morning and then went to the other side of the bay for lunch at Ed's Seafood Shed.  It's a popular local seafood restaurant, built up on stilts just off of the road crossing the bay.

 



 We got there before the noon rush and it was quite relaxing.

 

This is the view from the window by our table.  That is the interstate bridge across the bay in the background.



 

I had the fried oyster and scallops lunch special and Mom had grilled shrimp and scallops.  Not thinking that this meatless Friday was much of a penance.

 

After lunch I went to Bass Pro Shop while Mom picked up some clothes at Penney's.  I finished out the day with Stations of the Cross and the parish fish fry.

Alligator Alley

Today, we headed across the bay to Alligator Alley. They rescue alligators that are pests and raise them in a large swamp. They have hundreds of alligators there.  This is a group of 2 year olds.  By the way, if you click on any of the blog pictures, you should get a bigger picture on your screen.  Note: You can now comment without signing in also.

 

 

Here a few of the larger ones sunning themselves.

 

 Here are some of the three year olds.

 

 Have you ever held an alligator?

 

Have you ever kissed an alligator?

 

They do have some teeth.

 

Mom was feeding this one.

 

 Just catching a few rays.

 

These things that look like tree stumps are called cypress knees.  They grow up from the roots of the cypress trees in the swamp to help the roots get oxygen.

 

Can you find an alligator in this picture?

 

The story of an alligator called Captain Crunch.

 

Captain Crunch.

 

 

Can you find three alligators in this picture?

 

 Can you find a turtle in this picture?

 



USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

This morning we headed through the tunnel and out to the Battleship Memorial Park.  They have the Battleship USS Alabama, a submarine called the Drum, and a building full of planes to tour.

 

This is one of the four propellers from the ship.

 I'm trying to figure out how the shoot these guns.

 Or maybe the bigger ones.

 That's a big anchor chain!

 Here is Mom inside the firing control for the big guns above.



 To get there she had to climb through this hole.

 And up through this tight space!

 This is a view of the bridge across the bay that we drove on last week.

 



 Mom climbed way up to one of the upper decks!

 And even went down inside the ship to the lower decks!



We were tired when we got done!