Lauderdale/Colbert Counties, Alabama – As farmers bring in a bountiful harvest and the lazy days of summer draws to a close Mother Nature starts to light up the landscape with the dazzling colors of Autumn. We started our “leaf-peeping” journey by heading north up Chisholm Rd into Tennessee until we intersected with the Natchez Trace Parkway, unfortunately, the foliage on the parkway right now is at 65 to 75% of mature color. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there was still some great sights, but in another week to ten days the leaves will be in full color.
We headed south for a ways and then stopped to snap off a couple of shots of the Highway 20 overpass which is one of the original overpasses on the Trace. Our next stop was Cypress Creek Picnic Area for some pictures of the creek and surrounding woods. The creek was at a low flow but still was beautiful and had some interesting highlights coming in through the trees.
We left Cypress Creek and proceeded south to Colbert Ferry Park; this was my wife’s first visit to the area so I gave her the $2.00 tour of the park. In the picnic area near the river we talked to a couple from Mississippi that were also out doing a little leaf peeping. They had brought a picnic lunch and were setting up at one of the tables for a fine feast with a million dollar view. We decided next time we would plan ahead and do the same.
Moving on, we got off the Trace at Highway 72 and drove on to downtown Iuka, MS, this was my first visit to Iuka in several years. The last time I was in downtown Iuka was when TVA started closing down the Yellow Creek Construction Project.
While we were downtown we decided to try out one of the locally owned establishments for some lunch. We chose the Pennywinkle Station, Debra ordered the chicken salad and I had the burger, then we topped the meal off with a slice of coconut and black forest cake. It was an enjoyable lunch and when we’re back in that direction we definitely will stop again.
We did make one additional stop before heading back to Florence at the highest point in Mississippi. We followed the signs out of town and made our way to the summit of Woodall Mountain, folks I got to tell you, here in Alabama that is just a big hill and when we lived in Chattanooga it would have been called a speed bump. But when you live in a state that the tallest building is a 10 story casino I guess you got to be proud of any landmark.
Check out all of the images from the day trip below.
If anybody knows of a local dining establishment that you would like for us to review in the Shoals area drop me an email at dreasons.qcdnews@gmail.com or call 256.415.7721
All photos by Dave Reasons
