Don MillerI 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 20th 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 It has been replaced by Finance, telecom and Education.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.
Maybe when you return you could consider a position as a city planning advisor. You have a lot of experience.
Yeah. I am pretty good at telling other people what to do.