the water course

This was a wonderful attraction while it was there but has been closed. Hopefully something else will take its place.

Discovered The Water Course while looking for things to entertain our 6-year-old granddaughter on a road trip between Birmingham and Montgomery. Clanton is about 45 minutes from Montgomery and an hour from Birmingham. The Water Course is described as an Environmental Education Center, in the Alabama Power complex in Clanton. The website does not do it justice. There were many interactive learning centers (probably more educational for those kids slightly older). We had joysticks to help pick up trash from the rivers on a big screen (sort of like the old pac-man), with points scored depending on the size of the trash you collected. There is a game show based on environmental questions, rated from simple to difficult, with everyone standing at a podium and hitting buttons to answer the questions. Strobe lights and disco balls announce the winners. A tour of the Mitchell Dam is on a video, but you get to "steer" the cart that drives through the facilities. There is a giant fake helicopter that takes you on an aerial view of the waterways of Alabama. Plus a free plastic hard hat. No time limit. We were there on a school holiday, and there was only one other family in the place. So we "played" with each of the attractions several times. Free, by the way. Kids might actually learn something about water conservation and usage. If not, it is a wonderful diversion for a road trip or as a separate destination. Right off the highway.Give lots of credit to Alabama Power for the effort they put into this. Website: www.alabamapower.com/education. Phone: 1-800-280-4442.