Quick Stops

Cumberland Falls State Park

Since it's a long drive to Clearwater from Florida, we planned a stop along the way to help break up the drive and make it feel more like we're on vacation.  Our first stop was Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky.  This state park is located in the Daniel Boone National Forest - not sure how that works out, but it does.  The falls are 125 feet wide and 60 feet down.

We spent around three hours there on a very beautiful day.  We had a picnic lunch and did some birding down by the falls.  It was a really nice break in the drive. 

The park has many services and amenities including camping, picnic areas, a museum, nature trails, fishing and more.  The most spectacular feature is the waterfall.  When the skies are clear at night during full moon, the mist from the falls creates a moonbow.  Apparently, this is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where this phenomenon can be seen.  

For more information, visit there website at: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/cumbfal2.htm

Norris Dam, Tennessee

About an hour and a half down the road from Cumberland Falls, we saw a sign for Norris Dam.  A quick look at the map showed us it was right off the interstate.  Since we share the same name as the dam, we thought we should make a spontaneous stop and see what it looked like.  It ended up being a fun little stop.

We did some birding while there and found a couple of new birds for our life list.  We only stayed about 20 minutes, but it was a nice way to stretch the legs and fun to say we've seen a dam that has our name on it.