Alabama the Beautiful!

I've been looking so forward to our trip to Alabama and there were many reasons. First, I haven't seen Melanie and Andrew since Christmas.  Second, I've never been to the Deep South and was really excited to be eating, seeing, and doing what the southern folk do.  I enjoy going off the beaten path when it comes to trips.  I love seeing and experiencing different cultures.  Third, Alabama is a random place to go on a vacation. You don't hear many people say, "I'm going on my summer vacation to the deep south of Alabama where it's nasty humid."  Fourth, my entire family was coming, the more the people the more cray cray and fun it was going to be.  Fifth, this was a major trip for us.  We don't fly very often and this was Amelia's first airplane experience.  McKay and I were both anxious and downright terrified.

Our first day in Alabama we had to eat at the IHOP of the South, the Waffle House!  They're on every corner, they're cheap, fast, and are known for their waffles.  I ordered the pecan waffles with cheese grits, bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs and it was pretty dang good.  This meal was definitely not my healthiest.

My family are big Diet Coke fans, so my mom saved up all of her Coke Reward Points and was able to get all of us into the World of Coke for FREE in Atlanta!  This was fun, we got to see the history of Coke and the best part was we got to try different drinks from around the world.  My favorite were some of the South American drinks like Inca Kola.  The worst was The Beverly.  I don't understand how the Brits like the taste of carbonated bitter garbage.  We drank until we were sick.

We visited the iconic The Varsity in Atlanta.  It's the world's largest drive in.  Meh, the food was not the highlight of Atlanta, but at $7.25, it wasn't that bad.      

Nearby we saw there was a very old and historic Oakland Cemetery .  There were a couple famous people buried here and its the site for the 3,000 unidentified confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Walking around and seeing such beautiful gravestones was so such a treat but also very sobering.  It made me think how precious each of those lives were and how each of those men and women buried there had a life, family, passions, and a story.  Sometimes I wondered, what was their story?  We saw Margaret Mitchell Marsh, the author of Gone with the Wind resting place.

The next day we drove the four hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  On the way there we stopped at this place called Uncle Mick's Cajun Cafe in the small town of Prattsville (15 minutes west of Montgomery).  This cafeteria style place had very southern and Cajun cooking going on.  The owner who also served the food could tell we were first timers so he had us try a taste of his recommendations.  I ended up getting the dirty rice, with alligator gumbo and crawfish etouffee.  It was a fun place and a great way to experience a taste of the bayou!  Also, their pecan pie was really good.  

In Gulf Shores the sand is white as sugar and the water is warm as bath water.  We were lucky enough to rent a place RIGHT ON THE BEACH!  I would recommend this!  It made it super convenient with kids and babies. It was fun to see beach goers fish for sharks.  We saw a couple 3-5 ft sharks being cast onto the beach.  Kind of crazy!  Some of the family got stung by jellies.  Good thing we had kind beach neighbors who had this numbing liquid so we didn't have to pee on anyone.  I was really happy to see the beaches restored back to where they were like before the BP oil spill of 2010.

We went to the most unique and crazy restaurant called Lambert's just north of Gulf Shores.  They're known for their homemade baked rolls and servers throwing them at their customers.  Melanie got pegged in the head by one of these airborne rolls.   The roll guy comes out with a pan of hot and fresh rolls from the oven on a cart and walks around and throws rolls at starving customers.   They're also known for their pass arounds where servers walk around with large bowls of fried okra, beans, fried potatoes, macaroni, cooked cabbage, and a bunch of other random food and they'll serve it on your napkin.  My favorite was how they served drinks in 50 oz plastic convenience store mugs.  Talk about real casual dining.  It took over a hour to get a table and I can say that as I was waiting outside in the misting fans, I thought to myself, "this better be worth it."  I ordered the BBQ ribs and they were pretty good.  What makes this place worth the hour wait was the fun atmosphere and the throwing rolls.    

On the way back from Gulf Shores we stopped in Montgomery where we saw some of the historical sites of that town.  We saw the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached and we took a tour of the First White House of the Confederacy.  

The next day we spent the day in Montgomery where we visited the Civil Rights Museum.  This was a really cool place but it made me really upset and sad that people were treated the way they were because of the color of their skin.  We learned about the history of segregation and how African Americans were hated, persecuted, bombed, and terrorized in their own city.  I really liked it how the museum portrayed how different the lives of blacks and whites were during that time.  How the mortality rate for blacks was half of whites. 

Right across the street is the famous 16th Street Baptist Church where four little girls were murdered when members of the Klu Klux Klan set off a bomb in the basement of the church.

For dinner we went to this place called Moe's BBQ in Vestavia Hills.  This was one of my favorites.  I was in the mood for a lighter meal because when you're on vacation you tend to eat so much more then you do at home!  So I ordered the smoked turkey breast salad that came with a slice of grilled cornbread.  McKay ordered a side of wings and they were my favorite out of anything I ate there!  I had a bite of the catfish sandwich and a pork ribs and both were delicious!

We went to the historic Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham.  This was such a fun place to see!  It was built in 1882 where it produced pig iron until 1971.  This place is haunted and it was kind of eerie and spooky as we walked through the tunnels, engine, furnace, and blower rooms.  I loved the industrial architecture of the place.  I kept on thinking how cool it would be to take some of the artifacts and put them in my house.  We saw a couple getting their wedding pictures taken here.  They hold concerts and weddings here too.  The best part about it, it's free! 

We went to this restaurant called Urban Cookhouse located in Homewood, Alabama.  SO good!  It was fresh, cheap, and really good.  I ordered the Down Home.

I was really sad to leave Melanie, Andrew, Dexter (their dog), and Alabama the beautiful.  Once we got home and I was able to sleep in my own bed, I realized how good to finally be home.  Thanks Melanie and Andrew for hosting six additional people in your home for an entire week.  You're great hostesses!