Oak Mountain State Park

 After an incredible heavy and emotional thirty-six hours making stops along the Civil Rights Trail, I decided we needed something to clear our minds. We grabbed Chick Fil A for lunch, a little Starbucks for a pick me up, and then went to Oak Mountain State Park located just outside of Birmingham. As the middle mini said, "someone needs to tell Alabama these are not mountains," don't be impressed by the size of the mountain. Do be impressed by all this state park has to offer.

There's camping, cabins, a golf course, a lake, boating, boat rentals of all kinds, swimming, so much hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, basketball courts, and more (that I'm sure I missed). We made our way to a waterfall trail that proved to be rigorous when we realized we had to climb down a mountain (pretty much a large hill) side and back up. The trail system is well marked, so we had no issues following along.

I love how my dog constantly stops to make sure we're all together. If we're not, he stays exactly where he is until everyone has caught up. This also means that I have to be stealthy when taking action shots, so the dog doesn't notice I've fallen further behind than what he's comfortable with.

This was a very cool and easy trail for all skill levels. The wooden enclosures along the trail housed native birds that had been rescued. Very cool to see. The rest of the trail was a loop in the woods. We only did a portion of it before turning around because by that point everyone's legs were sore from climbing.

It was at this time I almost unwillingly took a dip in the lake too. Zeus has never been able to pass up a body of water, no matter what season it is.

This is now one of our favorite state parks we've ever been to. The minis have put it on the list to come back to someday and I can't say I'd be against it. There is a small fee to get in (a per person charge), but it was completely worth it for the amount of things there are to do in the park.