Our Trip To Collinsville...

For several weeks now my hubby has been wanting me to plan a day to go to Collinsville Alabama. Collinsville has the largest outdoor market in the South East. You can find pretty much anything there, such as fresh home grown produce,canned goods, animals of all kinds, every kind of craft imaginable, farming equipment, clothes, toys, movies, paintings, household goods, plants, jewelry, automobile parts, instruments,and photography props. Yes, even photography props!...  I told you that you can find pretty much anything there:) Early Saturday morning, we met up with my parents and made the trip to Collinsville. We had a good time.

Several weeks ago,(when we were in the mountains) we saw an add in a flier about Untamed Mountain. We also saw that it was just down the road from Collinsville Market. So we knew if we made the trip  to Collinsville market that we would have to check this place out.

After we left the market ,we stopped by a little local store to get the best directions to Untamed Mountain. The directions took us out in the middle of nowhere. We thought we were lost until we hubby happened to see a tiny little sign on a pole saying turn here. We followed the signs until we saw the huge sign above and we knew we had made it. It wasn't what we expected. I was expecting something like the Atlanta Zoo with a paved drive and parking with hundreds of people everywhere. Instead,we drove up this long rugged dirt road hill that was in very poor shape. I told my hubby, I wasn't so sure about that place. It felt deserted. We saw no cars until we got to the top. Then we saw a nice little wooden place, with a few cars parked in the gravel parking area. We unloaded our gang and made our way to the entrance. It was probably one of the nicest animal places ever. It was very clean and the animals were well taken care of (you could tell). We pretty much had the place to ourselves. I think there may have been 20 other people there,if even that ,but they were scattered out. So we pretty much walked through alone. The first stop was the petting area. It housed lamas, goats, turtles,birds, chickens, Zebras, horses, etc  It was the calm before the wild...really.

Next stop was the bangled tiger cages. TV doesn't do these animals any justice. They are amazingly huge. They were around 400 pounds each and NOT cute little cats at all. The first one leaped out of his water hole and charged the fence. He wanted out. He wanted out bad. He wanted the children that were with us and it scared me. He had his eyes on the babies in the red wagon and I didn't like it at all. When they say untamed...they are. I told Brent to come on ,because I didn't like the way the first tigers reacted toward us. Only a chain link fence with no top separated up from a 400 pound beast. Well, the next tiger reacted the same way. A man & woman was just down the hill below us and they ran up to see the tigers ,because they had only laid there when they passed by. They couldn't get over how the tigers were all of a sudden going nuts over us. We got away from them and the next stop was the lions. The lion hissed & roared. However, the lion had nothing on the bangel tigers. I don't know how they got the title as king of the jungle. The bangel tigers could have almost swallowed up all the lions. Anyhow, as we passed by each little fenced area we got the same reaction. All their animals wanted our babies. It's a scary feeling. You could just see it in their eyes. They wouldn't take their eyes off the babies. Next we went by some wolves. The wolves wanted Jacob really bad. The only animals that didn't react that way was the cavy, wallibies, and bears. The bears seemed like stuffed animals compared to the tigers, panthers, foxes, lions, wolves,bob cats, etc. I am not even exaggerating.

After we had been up and down all these little rugged gravel hills and through the woods, we finally came up on a small group of people. They had a guide with them. The guide giggled and asked, "What did the tigers think of the red wagon?". We told her they went crazy, she giggled and said, "That's because we feed them with a red wagon". ..hmmmmmm.....shouldn't they have some kind of warning sign about that ? Such as,"NO RED WAGONS OR RED CLOTHES ALLOWED"  because we met up with a man dressed in red and he had gotten the same response. The animals were going nuts & a storm was fast approaching, so I was ready to get out of that place. If by chance one of those trees fell on the fences those animals were coming out & after the people with the red wagon...us!

The people that own that place have their house right there on the mountain too. I wouldn't live there for nothing. I wouldn't even want to be their neighbors...hmmm....maybe the tigers have already gotten there neighbors, because we didn't see any one...lol (Just kidding). If they had a storm to hit that area of Alabama like it hit just up the street from there on April 27th it could for sure be like something out of a horror story. Those animals are wild.

The funniest part of it all was us trying to find our way out of that place. Hubby and Ashley were infront of me and Brent was trying his best to get back up the hill while pulling the wagon. Ashley grabbed the back of that wagon and pretty much carried it with two babies in it up the moutain. It didn't take her but a few seconds to get up to the top. She got scared too...lol Jacob even got scared and nothing ever scares him. Bailey said she wasn't scared at all ,because she had her uncle Brent to save her...lol

Well,I do believe that Untamed Mountain was probably the most scary place I've ever visited.

Hubby said he would like to go back there on a pretty day and see all of the animals that we probably missed, but I'm not sure I'll go back with him but if we do go back, we will NOT be taking babies or wearing red.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

We Are On The Fence!