Wheeler: It's for the birds.

The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge near Decatur Alabama is a great place to see water fowl during the winter. Even this december, after such a terrible drought, there was enough water to attract all kinds of ducks, geese, and even sandhill cranes.

The refuge is disjoint, with different areas and different trails seperated by several highways. For general information on the site, check their website here. Visiting the visitor's center is a must, for maps and information.

At the visitor's center are 2 trails. One leads along a loop begining and ending with a small cypress forest. Durng warmer months, this area is full of small songbirds. Beyond the cypress is a typical southern forest full of lower brushy undergrowth and muscadine vines. The loop does pass by a man made pond with a sheltered area, but though the people on dutey tell us that the birds do frequent this spot, we have never happened upon anything there, aside from some dragon flys and bumble bees in the summer. On the returning portion of the loop is a large stand of bamboo, and a persimmon tree with it's branches hanging low over the path. Once we visited in late summer, and, reading that the fruit was indeed edible, decided to try some. I can strongly recommend against doing this. The taste was extremely bitter, and seemed to instantly and permantently dry out the mouth. We later learned they are not full ripend until the first frost.

The seond of the 2 trails leads to a 2 story bird blind structure overlooking some wetland habitat. In the summer, this area has many common song birds, and the occasional hawk. In the winter, this is the chosen spot to view the wintering sand hill cranes. These lanky birds float like magic through the air to land, one after another, in the midst of the other birds, proceeding to either eat calmly among the cut crop fields, or to bicker with other cranes.

There are other trails throughout the area, each with a slightly different habitat, and accompanyment of birds that shifts throughout the years. Perhaps my favorite feature of this park is the complete lack of a crowd. Having visited in the off season of late summer, we had been expecting more of a crowd in winter, but were pleasantly suprised to find ourselves almost alone in the park.

Pantheon - Concrete Wonder

The Pantheon of Rome, not to be confused with the Parthenon of Athens, is something of an architectural wonder. The current structure was built in 125 AD, after the original structure had been destroyed 40 years earlier. The name means Temple of all the Gods, and was originally used by the Roman's to honor several gods. It is one of the best preserved Roman stuctures, largely because it has been in continuous use since its contruction, becoming a church after Rome's conversion to that faith.

The building itself consists of half of a cube for the bottom, and half of a sphere for the top, such that the full cube would perfectly contain the full sphere. The entryway is sheltered by a protico 3 pillars deep, and very tall. There are no windows,
just a large circular opening, known and the oculus, or great eye in the ceiling. This opening measures 30 feet across, and is the only real reference for size when one looks up into the massive dome. The dome itself is constructed of unreinforced concrete, and is the largest such dome in existence. It is a structure that even today's engineers would have difficulty reproducing, and it is nearly 2000 years old. The coffered ceiling originally had copper stars inside each square, and the roof was once covered in copper as well. Over the years the metal has been stipped from the church, and the marble has been stipped from its exterior. Today, the Pantheon is the final resting place for artists and kings, most notably the famed Raphael.

The church is unimpressive as it is approached from the back side, appearing only to be a large worn structure of exposed brickwork. Upon reaching
the plaza the Pantheon faces onto, its size and granduer is immediately apparent. Still, the massive columned porico masks the dome's size, which can only be full appreciated from inside. Once inside, there is nothing but the cool air and the distant echo of voices from the many other visitors. The space is a bit croweded. The ceiling feels a mile away.

While this site may not get as much attention as the forum and the colliseum, it is possibly the most impressive and inspiring of them all. Don't miss it!