We had never been here before and enjoyed it much. It reminded me of a sleepy fishing village. It's not your typical beachy resort type area with tons of people.
The next day we ventured over to Gulf Shores to enjoy the day with some of my family that was vacationing there. While there we enjoyed the beautiful weather, crystal clear water and fantastic food!
But mostly I enjoyed getting to visit with my sis. Hardly ever do we get to spend time together so this was a blast.
SUPER SQUIRREL!!! The other morning I looked out the window and saw this gigantic, supersized squirrel sitting on the fence. My first thought was someone's exotic animal had escaped. This is the biggest squirrel I have ever seen. My hubbie and I couldn't figure out what the white was on his face. I pulled out the binoculars and discovered it was just white/gray hair. Maybe he's grandpa of the woods.
We decided to watch him for a few minutes. Knowing squirrels, we figured some free entertainment was coming up and sure enough. Isn't amazing how they can just shimmy up a tiny metal pole with no problem. 
Can't you just hear his thoughts? "H'mm I wonder what's in here? Let me see if I can get a closer look."
I'd say he got a real close up view. Unfortunately for him our bird feeder is spring loaded. Everytime something heavy gets on it, it pulls the little covering down over the holes.
One of our hikes led us to Grotto Falls. The trail actually walks right behind it so you could feel the cool splashing from it.
This is the trail right behind it.
It was a beautiful area that we enjoyed much!
Then on another hike to Rainbow falls we first came across this little splash of water. 
Then a ways on down, or should I say up, the trail we came to Rainbow Falls. There was lots of people here so I only got this one good picture.
As usual on our hikes I was always keeping my eye out for anything of interest such as this Flame azalea. In a vastness of green this color was easy to spot.
I don't think I have ever seen a red topped mushroom before. 
I wonder how long this tree had been laying here? Not sure what kind of fungus this was but if you enlarge the pic you can see some type of bugs enjoying it.
Normally we never see any wildlife on our hikes. But then we came across this guy laying across the trail. He didn't seem in any hurry to move. Even with rocks and sticks being thrown at him from two ridiculously scared adults(gee, I wonder who), he seemed perfectly happy to stand his ground. I thought we were going to have to walk over him but luckily he decided to mosey on.
This is more like my kind of wildlife. She was only about 20 feet from us and didn't even seem to mind us watching her.
She kept on going down the trail right over from us. Unfortunately, we didn't see anymore of them.
The rain and fog had rolled in but I still found it beautiful. 
Luckily I was able to snap a picture of these wild turkeys on the side of the road. They weren't bothered by the rain.
We decided to take a different route back home and discovered this area by the Ocoee river. When the 1996 olympics were held in Atlanta this is where the kayaking events took place. We had never been by here before.
Not to mention my little cherry tomatoes. I think I saw one smile at me, he was so happy!
Before you start thinking I've got great tomato producing plants listen to this. I have 13 tomato plants and so far guess how many fruits I have eaten off of them. Give up? ZERO. Yes, you heard me right. Nada, zilch, none....... Between hot temps, no rain and those pesky little(sometimes big) tomato worms my poor plants have suffered tremendously.
See that little cuke? Hopefully he'll grow into a big boy. I have harvested 4 off the vine and they were mighty tasty. Now the vines are covered in blooms so hopefully I'll get stocked up.
The Limelight hydrangea too was enjoying it's splattering of drops.
I know if it could have, this iris blade would have sucked these little droplets thru it's foliage. Needless to say all my plants were so happy with a little rain. I hope we get more. We need it.
They had the American flag on the stage so I tried to capture fireworks and it in the picture. It turned out to be my favorite.
Reminds me of a flower, jellyfish or meteorite flying thru space.
Not sure what this reminds me of but I like it.
Looks like lightning bugs woven together with string.
