A trail, a river and some red bugs

Across the street from Lisa Falls is one of the entrances to the Little Cottonwood Canyon Trail. We only did a short hike since it was getting close to lunch and we were already hungry.

We came across a river with a little bit of water flowing so we followed it for a while.

We saw these red bugs all along the trail but I couldn’t find any info on them. Does anyone know what they are? They were everywhere.

More from our hike in Little Cottonwood Canyon in October.

SkyWatch Friday

Hiking under the water fall

Our visit to Noccalula Falls north of Birmingham would not be complete without a hike down to the river and under the falls.

A quick video under the falls to show how loud it was with the water crashing over.

The hike down wasn’t bad. The weather was cool and the rain held off.

As we got closer to the falls, we had to be careful climbing over the slippery rocks.

The wall under the falls was full of these little birds nesting. This was cropped up and they blended in pretty well. My sister saw one fly into the nest. Otherwise I don’t think we would have noticed them. I think this is a northern rough wing swallow. A first for me.

SkyWatch Friday

Saturday morning walk at Chesnut Park

The water was almost gone in May due to the drought we were having. Most of the little ponds were dried up and the deer were grazing in the pond.


Most of the plants were looking parched.

Little critters.

I took the shot of the small alligator from the boardwalk. It wasn’t until I got home and cropped up the picture that I noticed he had a hook sticking out of the side of his mouth. I hope it dislodged when he ate his next meal.

The small river that heads out to Lake Tarpon.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World

Able to leap tall buildings

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Okay, so they’re not that tall. And there’s not that many of them. A view of downtown Tampa from the river.

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The Rivergate Tower, nicknamed the Beer Can building” is the 6th tallest building in Tampa. It sits right on the river.

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A view of south Tampa.

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New tall buildings behind the museum.

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The Marriott hotel sits right on the water.

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The history center has a great view of the water and south Tampa.

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A reminder to stay out of the lakes and ponds in Tampa.

More pictures from our afternoon walk along Riverwalk in downtown Tampa.

SkyWatch Friday