The first part of this month, I made a pilgrimage of sorts to Alabama, where my father's family lived before moving to Texas during the Great Depression. It was the absolute perfect time of year for such a trip, with the heavily forested hills glowing with every possible shade of orange, red and yellow. The weather was kind to me, with the days being comfortably in the low 70's, making for enjoyable research at old cemeteries in forgotten towns.

Here are some of the pics from the trip:

Fall Foliage - needs no explanation


Abandoned cabin in an abandoned community. Basically, the community of Riverton AL no longer exists. The area where the town stood, was flooded by the TVA Project. The site of my grandfather's house is now in the middle of the Tennessee River, approximately where the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee meet. I have no idea about the history of this cabin, just thought it would make a cool picture.


This is the grave marker for a little one who would have been my great-great aunt. My cousin and I used a wire brush to clean off this marker in an old cemetery in the forgotten town of Riverton, AL. Sometimes the digi cam takes amazing photos.


This land formation is called Natural Bridge. The picture doesn't do it justice. Its quite high and there is a partial cave beneath it.


This is a picture of Natural Bridge from below the formation. Must be one of those things that you "had to be there."


A birds-eye view of the Tennessee River.


And last of all, here's me amidst all the lovely autumn foliage.

beautiful pics Caro - Thanks for letting us 'go' with you. The stone bridge and log cabin - so neat to see those. Larry said 'Carolyn looks completely different everytime I see her'
I said, that's what she looked like last week ;-)
Does water still run under the bridge, or is it long gone (still can't use ques mark - i must be wearing this thing out tonight

The natural bridge was probably the rock covering over a cave. The cave is still there, but it has no roof, except for that one huge slab of rock forming the "bridge." The inside of the cave had that typical wet look of caverns, but no water visibly pooling. However, down the path at the visitor's center, they had water fountains with water from artesian springs. It tasted good too. Sometimes water from artesian springs tastes awful.

Tell Larry not to ponder too much over my changing appearance. Every time I look in the mirror, I think, "Who the h**l is that?"

Amazing how the tomb stone is standing the test of time.

First we have Maggie with the rattler, now Carolyn is risking meeting bears in out of the way caves.

Great pics Carolyn, you are really mastering that digi, and I found the natural bridge impressive. Did you walk across it?

Oops! Sorry Terry. Didn't see this post until now. Didn't get to walk across the natural bridge. That is not allowed anymore. It really is much more impressive than the photos would appear. And yes, it was an out of the way place. It was in the NW part of Alabama, and I was the only tourist there, although several others were just beginning the hike when I finished. Probably wasn't the safest idea I've had.

Got to take a few risks Carolyn, that's what makes life worth living. I shall be facing the Christmas shoppers soon as I search for a present for Christine, so you see I too know how to walk on the wild side...

Good luck Terry - just consider it a chance to play great white hunter stalking the rarest of prey in the jungle mall

More like Yorkshireman releases rare species of moth from his wallet in cheap area of shopping centre.

LOL, but I not falling for it ;-)
but will Christine ?!