Bluff Park Photo Shoot

The Tip Top Grill sits atop a large bluff on Shades Crest Road at the highest point in Jefferson County. It has a fantastic view of Shades Valley, so Gary and I went to try to get another sunset.

The view from the Tip Top Grill can be fantastic, but when we went to shoot the sunset it was very hazy and the partly cloudy conditions quickly gave way to cloud cover that stretched all the way to Texas. No hope the sun would peak under the clouds and paint their bellies pink and orange. As a side, I wonder why the Tip Top Grill is only open for breakfast and lunch when a dinner view of the sunset over Shades Valley could be fantastic.

Years ago I lived near Bluff Park and would frequent this hardware store when I needed something for the house. They always seemed to have it, and there's not much better than just wandering around a really old fashioned hardware store.

The skinny aisles and floor to ceiling displays just make me want to go in and see what I might need.

This sleepy wooden Indian stands outside On A Shoestring in Bluff Park. I guess he's chained there to keep him from wandering off, although he looks too tired to go far.

Highlands Golf Sundown

From behind the 17th green at Highlands Golf Course near downtown Birmingham, AL.

Sundown Birmingham

Birmingham developed based on mining, railroading, and steel.

Sloss Furnace, very near downtown, was still in operation when I moved here in 1971, belching fire into the night sky as I drove by on the First Avenue Viaduct. It's now a museum.

Birmingham also became a transportation center, and any night we're here shooting, the trains are constantly rumbling past.

As the sun goes down and the lights slowly come up, the nickname the Magic City seems to come to life for me.