I get around (Mercifully the last verse)

I had a few days freed up from the lake house so I thought it was time for some exploring. This time, I headed to Alabama, Birmingham in particular. It took longer to get there than I expected. Mostly because it took forever to get through Atlanta traffic.

I finally arrived in mid afternoon. I didn’t know what to expect really. I was pleasantly surprised. It has the southern tip of the Appalachian mountains running through it, a nice downtown, lot of neighborhoods. Granted, it has seen better days economically. Its industrial base has waned considerably since its heyday in the Mid 20^th century. It has been replaced by Finance, telecom and Education.

The past few years have seen a slight resurgence in the downtown core. With Restaurants and bars. I was there on a Saturday night so I took a stroll around. There didn’t really seem like a critical mass. It seemed that the bars were spaced one every couple of blocks with nothing going on between them. A dark and quiet couple of blocks too. I am not sure what the crime rate is there but I did pick up my step looking for a place to hang out.

The good thing about having a few bars to choose from, is that you pretty much always end up in a lively one. I landed in The Collins, busy Craft cocktail bar. It gets good reviews on the web. I lasted 5 minutes. I just wanted a beer but everyone else wanted a fancy multi ingredient cocktail. Each one was lovingly and painstakingly poured, mixed shaken and stirred by big bearded hipster bartenders. For A REALLY long time. The kind of place where you needed to order 2 beers and get in line for the next two to stay stocked. I was obviously not cool enough and I definitely didn’t want more than one so I gave up and went around the corner to a micro brewery gastro pub.  Seemed like a nice crowd there too. I had a beer there but just wasn’t feeling it so I gave up and headed over the mountain to my hotel.

I was tempted to stick around another day but since it was Sunday, I didn’t think there would be much going on. I decided to head up to Chattanooga for another visit. I stopped by the nice little town of Huntsville. Also had a Sunday afternoon in the south peace and quiet vibe going on so I didn’t stay long.  

I was in Chattanooga a couple of years ago and thought it had potential. Since I was here, I figured I would try it again. It was a quiet week, so I was able to get a bunk in the highly recommended Crash Pad Hostel. It was empty except for a couple of folks on the first floor and some people in the private rooms. I liked it so much that I stayed and extra couple of nights. I lounged around mostly. Did some hiking, watched the sunset from Lookout mountain and just walked around. I would highly recommend a stay here over a hotel any day. You just need to book way ahead. I think I was just lucky that week.

There was a science fiction convention in town for the weekend and my luck had run out. They were totally booked up so I packed up and headed over the mountains to Greenville, SC.

That’s where I got rear ended twice in three hours. See the earlier post for details.

All of my pictures are on my other computer so none to post here. With that I am all caught up on the blog except for some stories from the cross country trip. They’ll come as I get inspired. In the meantime, I am finishing this up in the Atlanta Airport. On my may to Amsterdam. And beyond. It is a one way ticket so not sure when I’ll be back.  

My instagram will probably be more active since I hope to stay very busy over there.  Check that out too.