Horseshoe Bend & Russell Cave

Yesterday afternoon, we arrived at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, site of a famous battle in which Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians, and completed the Junior Ranger program there. It was a nice park. To complete the program, we had to watch the movie, explore the exhibits, and drive around the battlefield. We then continued north, stopping east of Birmingham for the night.

This morning we continued mostly north, zig-zagging from Alabama to Georgia to Tennessee, and back into Alabama again, on our way to Russell Cave National Monument. Every once in a while, our GPS system lets us down, and this was one of those times. We eventually made it to Russell Cave, but it took us in the back way, up and down the side of a mountain on a narrow, winding, badly paved road. Unlike other caves we've been to, Russell Cave is special not for it's geological features, but because of its archeology. It was lived in by native Americans off and on for over nine thousand years.

Like at Big Thicket, we had the visitor center all to ourselves, and even had a Ranger accompany us on a short walk to the entrance of the cave, pointing out plants and discussing local wildlife along the way. The visitor center was fairly small, and the kids were able to complete their Junior Ranger programs pretty quickly.