Jacksonville to Birmingham Road Trip Guide

After enjoying the adrenaline thrills of a theme and water park, it may well be time to do something a little calmer and more relaxed as you start to approach Birmingham. Nature is amazing above ground, but going into the depths of the earth can add a whole new dimension of how you perceive the world. Not far from Birmingham, on the edge of the Talladega National Forest, are some of the most amazing caves in Alabama and in the entire USA.

The DeSoto Caverns are immense and full of fantastic geological formations that will leave you totally awe-struck. Head underground and enjoy the spectacular laser light show as it bounces off the rock walls. Then learn about who used the caves as a hideaway during their long history and about how the caves were formed from a well-informed tour guide. After you've explored the caverns, head back above ground and challenge your friends to find their way out of the three-quarters of an acre maze before you do.

Test your friend's mettle - as well as your own - by taking them to the Wild Adventures theme park. The park is located just south of Valdosta off the I 75 in the direction of Old Clyttaville and is a super fun stop to make on your weekend road trip. It's basically three parks in one. A theme park with wild rides, a spring to fall water park with wild slides and an exotic zoo with semi-wild animals.

Yes, it is totally wild and while you might want to miss out on the zoo, you won't want to miss the stomach-churning roller coasters, the sky-high swing or the space tower blast off - and those are just three of the scream-inducing rides. The aquatic park will test your courage too as you launch yourself down almost vertical pipelines and slide on an inflatable down a seriously steep slope. While having to pull your swimsuit out of your nether regions when you hit the pool at the bottom isn't the most elegant thing to have to do, it does mean you were brave enough to go for it. And after all, water parks are all about making a splash, elegant or not.

Visit the Suwannee River State Park on your road trip from Jacksonville to Birmingham and you'll soon discover it's a state park with a difference. If hiking through meadows full of flowers and forests of pine trees where there's nothing to see or do other than listen to the sound of birds chirping is not your thing, you'll love this park. The state park is about one-hundred miles from Jacksonville along the I 10 and sits within the boundaries of the Twin Rivers National Forest. That's not what makes it special though.

Hit the trails in the Suwannee River State Park and really spook your friends out. Along the trails, you'll come across two ghost towns almost buried in sand, an abandoned cemetery and the remains of old ferryboats as well as earth mounds dating back to the Civil War. The park has a small campground with around twenty campsites for RVs. They're all on a single loop in a dense forest setting that's ideal for a night by the campfire with your friends scaring each other with tall tales of cabins in the woods.

There's nothing quite as good as being at an outdoor music concert with a few of your closest friends. Stop off at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park on your road trip from Jacksonville to Birmingham and you can do just that. The park is around an hour and a half's drive from the city near the town of Live Oak and is a fantastic place to start your weekend.

The park has a music hall where a variety of bands from all genres perform including lookalike tributes of iconic stars and some top country artists. There's an auditorium where large festivals are scheduled throughout the year too. Plus there are also special weekends just for bands when they can go and audition. The park has a campground with over six-hundred campsites and when you want some outdoor time away from the music, there are trails to hike or the Suwannee River for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing.