Mill Creek Dog Park

Alabama is the butt of a lot of jokes, even from other people in the south. Especially people in Alabama. And, the state has provided a lot of comic material. For instance, many people in Alabama put more emphasis on college football than a college education, and, to many state residents, "fried" and "sweet tea" are considered food groups in Alabama. Add to this the fact that Alabama has more than once proved extremely resistant to change, and it's easy to see why Alabama is often a punch line.

But no matter how much you enjoyed "My Cousin Vinny," it's just a movie, and bears as little resemblance to real Alabama as Scooby Doo does to actual police work. For instance, it may surprise you that there is a city in Alabama that has been instrumental in the development and growth of rocket technology, both for space exploration and for defense. Huntsville, Alabama is the home of the Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA's largest civilian rocketry and space propulsion research center.

As you might imagine, in a place with so many smart people, there are smart entertainment venues. Huntsville is where the famous Spacecamp is located. Huntsville has a campus of the University of Alabama, and the city has an opera, a ballet, and a symphony. Not exactly the Alabama you've seen on TV, is it?

Huntsville is at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, and there are a lot of parking trails in the area. One trail, the Millcreek Greenway, is attached to a dog park. As you might expect in a town of smart people, people in Huntsville really know how to care for their dogs. Mill Creek Dog Park is one and a half acres of off-leash puppy fun. The park has open grassland and trees, lots of benches and plenty of poop bags and. There's a separate enclosure for smaller dogs.

The larger section of the dog park has some agility equipment and connects to Mill Creek, which, in the summer, can run very low. Both sections of the dog park have water fountains for dogs and humans. Volunteers bring tennis balls and other dog toys, and in the summer, wading pools are provided by the city. Because the park can get muddy, there are plans to install a dog washing station outside the fence.