1-31-17  a covered bridge and a beautiful sunset---

The other night we had dinner at Applebees.  I had forgotten that they no longer have the happy hour specials or riblets, but it wasn't a total waste.  They have pictures of schools and places around the area.  The picture we happened to be by was of a covered bridge in Sugarhill.  Knowing there was a covered bridge nearby, I was determined to find it.  Actually Ken was the one who found it, my internet searches weren't going too well.  Anyway---today we decided to go check it out.

The internet said it was about 8 miles from our place in a park named Pirkle Park.  We found the park without any problems, but didn't see any signs of the bridge.  So we drove on to another entrance to the park.  Still no bridge.  Finally put the coordinates for it in the phone and were led back to the first parking lot.  That's when Ken noticed it hidden away.  We parked and walked over to it.
Along the way, we passed through a huge soccer park and playground area.  This is the playground.

OK, so it's probably not an old historic bridge, but it's still pretty.

 I like Sugar Hills emblem.

fancy rails on the bridge.

Another view of the bridge

 Not the best time of the day to be trying to take picture of the bridge with the sun so low in the sky, but it was another 70 degree January day so it was perfect for wandering around.

 This is part of the soccer park.  There were several soccer fields and they were all being used. 

 There was also this Eagle Scout project here---with flag pole.  I like the end results, just wonder if it's really a big enough task for an Eagle Scout project?  Speaking of Boy Scouts---we heard on the news today that they're allowing girls to be in Boy Scouts now!  Why?!!!  What's wrong with letting boys have their group and girls having theirs????

 Looking over some more of the soccer fields.

 Love this sign!!!  As an x-coach and x-ref (for volleyball), I totally agree with this.  I've even had to yellow and red card a few people from time to time!

a map of the park.  Lots of walking paths throughout, too.

some of the interesting flora along the way

 and foliage.

 Since it was nearing sunset and Lake Lanier was nearby, we headed there for sunset.  But since we were close to the dam, we headed that way instead of to our usual Old Federal Park.

Looking over to the area we ended up going to as we were driving over the dam.

 The warmth of the late sun shining forth.

Looked pretty clear, but we were there so were going to wait for sunset anyway.

 A Park Ranger was at the park (West Bank, I believe is where we ended up).  Asked to see our parking pass.  Ken whipped out his senior National Parks pass.  I guess he saw my camera and asked if I was into photographing birds.  Then proceeded to tell us about a place on the other side of the dam where there's a bunch of birds.  Now I have that on my list of places to check out.  But for now, I trampled a bunch of pine cones getting over to the water's edge.

 Looking back towards the parking lot. 

The sun almost down.

 wandering around for different angles.

 thought it interesting how a cross showed up in this photo.

 One of the birds that flew by while we were there---a Great Blue Heron.

 Some clouds did appear on the horizon and I wondered if we would get a brilliant sunset.

Zoomed in it looked like the whole sky was lighting up.

there was even a fisherman in a boat down there.

Looking East 

 Back to the West. 

Now that the sun was down, we waited for the magic of the clouds changing colors.

 It was the best sunset I've seen in awhile.  The colors were quite intense.

 And it lasted for 30-40 minutes.

 I had time to take all kinds of weird pictures!

 Looking towards the road that goes over the dam.

By the time I got back to the car, the show was almost over.  We even had a sliver of a moon visible.

With all the constant protesting and political news for the past year, it's nice to be able to escape into a beautiful sunset!  This morning I even cancelled our flights to Orlando for this Sat. with all the protests at the airports now.  Our new president, Trump, has put a ban on immigration from 7 terrorist countries for 90 days until the vetting process is stepped up, yet there are millions of people protesting this at the airports now.  I don't get it!  Girls in boyscouts; now we should let anyone into our country---even if they're criminals and terrorists!  Don't they teach history anymore and how tough it was for immigrants to enter the country 100s of years ago???  Anyway---come Saturday we'll be driving to Orlando to avoid all the protesters at ATL and MCO.