What is this?

Can you guess what the above picture is of and where it was taken? 

The first person to answer correctly will win an autographed copy of an even better picture suitable for framing. To show we are serious, here is the picture that you can win:

First Prize picture of Snapping Turtle

The only thing necessary to claim the prize will be for you to download, print and autograph the picture. What could be easier? Keep those guesses coming in.

This big guy was in the creek flowing through the park where we walk. As you can tell from the picture he blends into his surroundings quite well.  It is very exciting to see a real, live snapping turtle in it's natural habitat. We asked a man who walked by about it and he said that this was the first one he had ever seen in the park. Coincidentally, it was the first one we had seen there as well.  To get an idea of the size of this monster imagine a yard stick laid next to it.  Now imagine taking a reading from the yard stick and saying to yourself, "Wow, is it actually that big?" Well, yes, it was actually that big!  

Our current assignment is to help get apartments ready for the 24 missionaries coming in this week and to help find other housing as more come over the course of the summer.  On Thursday we ran some things up to Tuscaloosa to prepare open apartments there. Four Elders met us to help open the apartments and carry stuff in.  

Elder Rout, Wiseman, Jaszkowiak and Fife

We sure do love the missionaries. They seem to be holding up well in challenging circumstances.

On Saturday we hiked about a mile in to Caney Creek Falls about an hour and a half away. There are some amazingly beautiful water falls here in Alabama. It felt good to get outside, stretch our legs, breathe fresh air and convert sunlight into vitamin D. 

No problem at all doing the social distance thing here. There wasn't another soul around until we were hiking out. We imagine in the summer it will be quite busy with people swimming and playing in the water, but it was cool enough Saturday that we had it all to ourselves for awhile. Here are a few more pictures. The large leaves are on a type of Magnolia tree that have a tropical look. 

So, how about the picture at the top of the page? It was taken looking up into this tree. The light showing in the middle of the picture is actually coming in through a hole about 20 feet up the tree. We see a lot of hollow trees here and wonder how some of them are still standing. Don't worry if you weren't able to guess what it was. The consolation prize is an autographed picture of a turtle. Feel free to download and autograph at your leisure.