Finding things to do in and around Red Bay, Al

Sunday, Kirk and I put the top down on the jeep and took off on a drive. It was a hot, but beautiful day. Our first stop was Coon Dog Cemetary. Yes, you read it right, a cemetary for Coon dogs. Now, these dogs have a lineage and were probably worth their weight in gold to their owners. Their owners must have loved them dearly because they went all out by having headstones stating date of birth and death, name of owner, and name of dog. Most had flowers on their graves. This is the only Coon Dog Cemetary in the world. The drive there was beautiful. Driving around here is like driving through a forest. It's gorgeous. You can smell the honeysuckle (at least that's what I thought it was.) as you drive down the road. After the cemetary, we took off for the Rattlesnake Saloon, which was just a few more miles down the road. This place, as we found out when we got there, is only open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11 am to 11pm. Well, we happened to talk to a man on the property and he told us that since we had a jeep we could drive on down to the saloon. Now normally, you would park you car in the red dirt parking lot and take the Alabama Limousine (a 4-wheel drive truck w/benches in the bed of the truck) down to the saloon. Also, on the land before getting to the saloon are horse stables, some campers, silos made into cottages and restrooms, and a house with a pool (probably the owners). We drove the jeep down a steep dirt road with a roped fence on the drivers side of the road to prevent falling off the cliff. It was a short drive where we saw cliff overhangings. Under the cliff was the saloon, and an outdoor stage with tables/chairs seating. Right above the saloon was a natural, small waterfall, that fell into a small fountain that sits in front of the saloon. We will definitely go back when they are open. We then took a drive to Florence, AL. This is home of the Alabama Country Musica Hall of Fame. We did not take the tour. We drove by the Wilson Dam, and stopped at the birthplace of Helen Keller. It was closed so we couldn't get in, but did get to see the outside of her house. On our way back we drove through the Natchez Trace National Park. There are a lot of neat things to see around here and we have at least another week to find them. Our RV should get into the body shop by the middle or end of this week and we were told that once it is in, it would take about 5 work days to complete. Of course, this coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend so they have an extra day off.