Tennessee Sunrise

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences and joing for the first time Jesh @ Seasons @ St Germain's Blog  Thanks to Jesh!
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 
This is my favorite Irish Blessing
May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come thru your door! 

This should be the end of our Tennessee trip and photos, we started off the 2nd full day with a sunrise at the Tennessee River and then we were off to see the waterfalls and more of the Falls Creek Falls State Park.

I am sharing my week's favorite this sunrise shot above.


For Teresa's Fridays hunt..thanks Teresa for hosting.
1. The letter L
2. Week's favorite
3.  Lace


We had a full day planned for our last full day in Tennessee, it started with a sunrise view of the Tennessee River.

My last sighting of Tennessee birds, were the Black Crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Herons, Double Crested Cormorants, a Hawk, White Pelicans and more Sandhill Cranes.

The view at the Buzzard's Roost, Falls Creek Falls State Park.

Same park but, this is a different bridge than the bridge on my last post. For Tex's Good Fences, I have this shot of the suspension bridge at Piney Creek Falls, Falls Creek Falls State Park. We crossed several bridges at this park.

I am attracted to all the dogs I see while I am away, this cute furbaby was near the waterfall. If you look closely in the top right corner I have a bit of fence for Tex's Good Fences.

This was the Piney Creek Falls.

This is the view at Falls Creek Falls, the main attraction at the park called Falls Creek Falls State Park.  I think the water on the waterfalls looks like lace for Theresa's Friday's Hunt.

George's Hole, a pretty spot in the Falls Creek Falls State Park.

My Tennesse moon capture is another photo for Teresa's hunt and my week's favorite photo.

After a full day of birding, hiking, visiting the waterfalls and park we were back at the hotel before dark and saw a beautiful moon.
As always I hope you liked my photos. Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments.


To see more pretty skies, fences, barns and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt    Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Falls Creek Falls State Park

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

On our first day in Tennessee after seeing the Sandhill Cranes we drove to see the waterfalls at Falls Creek Falls State Park. The park is 25,000 acres consisting of a lush forest, streams, waterfalls, cascades and scenic gorges. On this post I am sharing the Cades Creek Cascades and waterfalls.

Our first stop in the park was at the Cades Creek Falls and the Cascades.

The Cades Creek waterfalls. and another rainbow.

It was a windy day at the park so outside the birds were hunkered down and hidden. I did hear a few Titmouse, Chickadees and Kinglets around the visitor center.

We walked over several of these suspensions bridges.  This bridge was at the Cades Cascades.

I loved this view of the Cades Creek cascades, there is a small rainbow too. This park has several waterfalls and we tried to visit each one if only for a small amount of time.

Along the drive at the park, we stopped for a quickie look at the view above.  I like the trees.

On another post I will share the Falls Creek waterfalls and views of the gorges.  I hope you enjoyed my post. As always, I appreciate the visits and your nice comments.  Have a happy new week ahead!

As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Tennessee Sunset

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

I still have more photos from our trip to Tennessee.  These are some Tennessee scenes with skies, fences, barns and some birds of course. LOL, I can not do a post and not include some birds. I hope you enjoy this post.

For my week's favorite for Teresa's Friday's Hunt and Tex's Good Fences meme above, this big guy came to greet us and was scratching his head on the fence.

These cows were mooing at us and a few of them walked over closer to us.  I was leery of getting to close, this fence did not look that strong.

For Tom's Barn Collective a barn with the rolls of hay outside. Sorry for the quality my drive-by shots are never clear.

I hope you are not tired of seeing Sandhill Cranes, they seemed to be all around during our visit. A nice Tennessee birder told us we could find more Sandhill Cranes at this cow farm. He was right on we found the cranes, cows, fences and a barn. I hit the jackpot here.

We saw a good number of Sandhill Cranes at the farm. They were spread out all around the farm. There is some kind of fence on this photo above.

This barn looks like it needs some help, it was nearby the cows we saw.

For my skywatch entry it was near sunset we were back at the Cherokee Removal Memorial park to see the Sandhill Cranes and the sunset. I like the colors in the sky above.

For Teresa's Friday hunt, above is my week's favorite photo. I love this sunset and reflection on the river.

Edited to add a photo of a Killdeer for the letter K

Teresa's Friday's Hunt Week of March 11...thanks Teresa

1. starts with the letter K...I saw some Kestrels along the road and Killdeer on the field with the cows but no photos.
2. week's favorite
3. Flower...my plant zone is slow to see flower here. Maybe some daffies coming soon.


 "Live for the moments you can not put into words." unknown

As always I hope you liked my photos. Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments. To see more pretty skies, fences, barns and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt    Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Trail of Tears, Tennessee

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

Hello, I am sharing some scenes from our visit to Tennessee Feb 17-20th. It was an action packed trip from sunrise to sunset each day. We did some sightseeing beside birding, I know you are surprised about that. It is not always about the birds. I hope you enjoy the photos. The first and last days were taken up just for the drive to Tennessee and back home.

During our Tennessee trip we visited the Cherokee Indian Removal Memorial and Museum. The park was built as a memorial to the Cherokee Indians who were removed from their homeland and forced on the journey west known as the Trail of Tears. This area had 9 encampments of thousands of Cherokees that waited weeks to be sent across the river at Blythe Ferry. In 1838 around 9,000 Cherokees were forced to leave their homes and march west toward Oklahoma.

Our shadows at the Blythe Ferry crossing..the start of the Trail of Tears.

"How do we ever prevent the greed and lust for power from causing another Trail of Tears?" The memorial wall on the left side memorializes the 1835 census of the Cherokee. The map shows the actual trails showing the different routes taken by the Cherokees on their journey west.

A look at the memorial. 

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. " Jimi Hendrix

A message above is from Chief Chadwick Smith of the Cherokee Nation.

Yes, here are some of the birds seen around the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and the memorial park. The Sandhill Cranes, Eastern Bluebirds, Mockingbird and  a Yellow-rumped Warbler. I hope you enjoyed my post. As always, I appreciate the visits and your nice comments.  Have a happy new week ahead!


As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Saturday's Critters #116

Saturday's Critters #116

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

More sad news to share, we lost another dear blogging friend in Smiling Sally.  Sally was the host of Blue Monday. I am not sure of the details, but I believe she has been sick off and on. My prayers go out to Sally's family. RIP Smiling Sally!

The Sandhill Cranes were plentiful during our Tennessee trip. I have seen them in Florida, New Mexico and a few in Maryland. The Sandhill Cranes stop at the Hiwassee Wildlife refuge during their travel from their wintering ground in Florida to the Canada Tundra. I know these are not the greatest photos, the birds were quite a distance away.

The Sandhill Cranes stand nearly 4feet tall. They have a long neck, long legs, their bodies are gray and they have red on their heads.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." 

You can hear some of the Sandhill Cranes as they fly in on my Youtube video above.

"Spring is nature's way of saying, Let's Party!" Robin Williams

Some White-tailed deer we saw at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. I hope you enjoyed our visit to the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.

An InLinkz Link-up

As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

If you have been following my blog for sometime you know hubby and I love to travel. Now that we are both retired we can up and leave whenever the weather is nice. This trip to Tennessee was planned just the night before we left, we wanted to take advantage of some mild weather for our drive to Tennessee. I had been watching  EBIRD the site to see if any Sandhill Cranes were still being seen at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and we heard about a great Tennessee park called Fall Creek Falls State Park from Betsy @ Joyful Reflections.

We arrived at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge on the morning of  Feb 18th. The cranes fly into and out of the wildlife refuge daily. Numbers of  Sandhill Cranes and an occasional Whooping Crane can be seen at the wildlife refuge from November to February. We met some wonderful nice birders at the refuge, I believe the  local birders were looking for the elusive Whooping Crane. All the people and birders we met in Tennessee were super friendly and helpful.

We stayed in a nearby town Dayton, located just miles away from the refuge and not too far of a drive to the Falls Creek Falls State Park. The Hiwassee Wildlife refuge 6,000 acres is located where the Hiwassee River and the Tennessee River meet.

There were a lot of white-tailed deer in the area of the wildlife refuge. I am sharing one photo of the deer with this fence shot.

Teresa's Friday's Hunt
1. letter J
2. week's favorite
3. a cuppa

For Teresa's Friday's Hunt I am sharing my favorite photo above with the Sandhill Crane reflection.

The observation deck is a good distance from where we saw the Sandhill Cranes. You know me by now, I still had to take photos even with the great distance.

A pretty blue sky with the Sandhill Cranes in flight.

It is cool to hear the Sandhill Cranes flying in, sometimes we saw some large groups of cranes both arriving or leaving. These images do look better if you click to enlarge them.



In four days we drove more like 1,700 miles after sightseeing around the parks and Tennessee. We had a total of four days traveling, 2 of the days were taken up on the drive down to Tennessee and the drive back home. So we had just 2 days to see everything we wanted to see in Tennessee, not a lot of time.

A pretty view from the overlook of the Tennessee River and the Hiwassee Island.

Another favorite image was the moon over the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.

I will have a lot more from our trip to Tennessee and of the Cranes coming soon.
As always I hope you liked my photos. Thank so much for stopping by and for the nice comments.


To see more pretty skies, fences and fantastic photos from around the world please visit the memes below.

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.  Thanks also to Teresa Friday's Hunt  

  I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..