The Original Iron Man

This week has sure been a roller coaster ride!  At the first of the week Alabama was one of only a few states without a known Coronavirus case. That has now changed and only West Virginia remains in that category.

With all that's going on across the world our assignment helping shepherd missionaries to the temple is on hold for a while. At least we are not on lock down and are able to get out and move around.

We were able to attend the temple with four districts on Tuesday and Wednesday - some 31 missionaries - before we had to cancel the remaining temple dates for March.  These last three weeks have been very successful and have taught us how to better plan and organize missionary temple trips.

We saw Elder Droubay on Tuesday. He is from Erda, Utah and knows our grandsons, Zach and Ian.

Elder Droubay

Now for Iron Man. This is a statue of the Roman god Vulcan.  It was made for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and is the largest cast iron statue in the world. It was created using ore mined and smelted in Birmingham and was made to promote the developing iron and steel industry here as Vulcan was believed to be the god of fire and forge. It sits on a hilltop south of Birmingham looking northward with a commanding view of the city.  Vulcan is 56 feet tall, weighs over 50 tons and stands on top of a 124 foot pedestal.  It is a major icon for the city of Birmingham so we just had to swing by to see it.

Not knowing what to expect we took the elevator ride to the observation deck on the tower. Just as we stepped out of the elevator and the doors were closing behind us at the top we learned that the deck of the observation platform is made with sheets of open mesh steel that are see through. It's quite breath taking - literally! One of us was not happy with the other one of us for bringing them to the observation deck. Someday we may look back at this experience and laugh, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Looking north toward Birmingham.

We found another interesting landmark in the area southeast of downtown Birmingham. This one is more secluded and less visited than the Vulcan. It is an old iron bridge that spans the Cahaba River and is no longer used for vehicle traffic.  To get to it we had to travel a couple of miles on a gravel road.

Road to the old iron bridge.

Old Iron Bridge

Cahaba River

This would be a pretty spot to take a picnic lunch. Walking out on the bridge we soon saw why it is no longer safe for vehicles.

It is starting to warm up here although it still rains about two days out of three. There have been daytime temperatures in the 70's. The trees are starting to blossom, new leaves are showing and daffodils are in full bloom. Spring is in the air.

This weeks mission miracle is a reminder that every day is a miracle and a gift.