Wind Creek State Park and Cheaha State Park in ALabama

                  Sunday 10/20/2013

After a week in Chattanooga, TN., we headed out, but first we had to go through Chattanooga to catch I-59 South.

Our campground in Chattanooga was just off I-75 just north of  the Georgia border. We went back north on 1-75 to I-24 through the city.

Check out these homes on the edge of the mountain. I think this is called Lookout Mountain, which we never got a chance to check out while in Chattanooga. Maybe next time!

I-24 takes you through the city and along the Tennessee River.

After leaving TN, I-59 takes you through Georgia's NW corner of the state.

A few miles down the road, we entered into Alabama. Getting closer to my Nana kid fix!

At Gadsden, AL., we left I-59and headed south on Hwy.77. This Hwy. took us past Neely Henry Lake.

This lake is a reservoir and formed by damming the Coosa River. The lake has a water surface area of 11,200 acres and 339 miles of shoreline. Birmingham is SW an hour away.

Most of Hwy. 77 is 2 lane, but there was an occasional 4 divided lane highway.

Hwy. 77 turned into Hwy 21 and bordered the Talladega National Forest. At Sylacauga we turned east on Hwy 280.

In Alexander City we turned south on Hwy 63 for 4 miles to Hwy 128 to Wind Creek State Park.

Wind Creek State Park is on Martin Lake. Joe splurged and paid an extra $3 a day for a waterfront site. He actually traded a sewer hook up which was another $3 a day for the waterfront site instead since we were only going to be here for 3 nights.

The next day we took a day trip back north to Cheaha State Park. This state park has a campground, motel and restaurant. The drive was 62 miles to this park.

We came to see the highest point in Alabama at 2407 ft.

It cost $3 per adult to get in the park. This is the tower to get the high views.

It was a cloudy day, so the views were not real clear.

Plus there were all these tower wires ruining the views. In the tower, there were dirty glass windows to see out. If you were tall like Joe, you can get on your tippie toes and get glass free pictures.

Thank goodness I have a tall husband that could take these pictures.

There were 62 stairs to climb to the top of the tower. Joe and I  both must be out of shape again, because those 62 stairs were a lot of work.

On the way out of the park we stopped at the restaurant because I saw another viewing spot.

View of Talladega National Forest below.

The restaurant has a really nice patio with great views. If you didn't bring your lunch, this would be a great place for lunch with the best seats in the area.

Once again, we were too early for the fall colors.

We headed back down the windy mountain road of Alabama.

Once back to Hwy. 281, we turned north for a few miles, and came to another lookout stop.

If you can see the tower on the top of the mountain, that is the highest point in Alabama.

At Hwy 24 we turned east, than south to do a loop drive back home. The total drive was 140 miles. A bit longer than we thought it would be.

The next day, we were going to drive to Auburn, AL, but it was another 40 miles there and 40 miles back, and neither of us felt like another long drive. We stayed home and in the afternoon took a longer walk around the campground. This is the beach area of Wind Creek State Park.

On our walk we found a fishing pier and cafe/ boat rental store. ( kayak and paddle boats).

Views from the fishing pier.

This picture makes the water look bluer than it really is.

We could get more of a house for our money verses Northern Michigan lakes in Alabama. And we would be much closer to our girls and grand kids. But it would be freaking hot in the summer, and the water is not as pretty as in Michigan.

This is a picture of our Nest across the cove from another part of the campground. The lake bottom is clay/muddy, and this is the true color of the lake water.

We leave tomorrow to continue our trek to the gulf. Depending on what time we get out of here and how the drive goes, we might drive straight through to Robertsdale, AL where we can stay at Styx River RV Resort for free because we have a membership there. We might also just decide to stop at Wal-Mart mid way and make it a short drive. We don't have reservations in Gulf Shores until Nov. 1, so we are not in a big rush.

Wind Creek State Park is a really nice park.  It is one of the biggest state park in Alabama with 642 campsites. It has a large and busy playground.