Sweet home Alabama…

Welcome :)

I will try to keep most of these entries pretty short and sweet considering this is already going to seem like a novel for some…

We visited the Temple of Sibyl. The Temple is basically an open-aired gazebo, with a beautiful view. It was made as a replica of the Temple of Sibyl in Tivoli, Italy (near Rome.)

Next we drove through the 5 points south neighbourhood on our way to the McWane science center. Most people that go there actually have kids, who are running around trying all the fun experiments (and trust me the parents try a few too.) Tyler and I are lucky that we don’t even have to pretend to go there “for the children” we can honestly say … we are the children! So we ran around trying all the different experiments like making Robyn-sized bubbles (aka fun-sized) and testing our peddling ability on a game where you escape a dinosaur on a bicycle (not my vehicle of choice if I’m trying chased by a T-Rex.)

I;m in a bubble!

Tyler with the motion sensor screen

Love it!

HAHA face prints

We also competed in a balance game (I won) a reflex game (Tyler won), and we worked together on a dinosaur knowledge quiz (we failed…1/7 to be exact, if I was better at Math I would know what percentage that was.)

Then we challenged each other to a mind control game where you where sit across from each other, wearing weird piece of head gear and stare at a tiny ball which you are trying to “push” (with your mind) to the other side of the table. The trick is to think of nothing, but you soon realize thinking of nothing is in fact thinking of something. Then you try to concentrate on as little as possible, but your mind will always wonder and inevitably begin to think of something. I ended up winning the challenge, which technically means I have better mind control…but I think they are trying to tell me my mind is blank, hmmm. Although I did semi-cheat, just before we started I asked Tyler how long we had to drive on our next stretch…I knew he would be calculating and recalculating and thinking about the drive…and I would win J

For lunch we made our way to Kelly Ingrim Park, which has a wonderful view of the 16^th street Baptist church. It also has a few sculptures to represent various elements of the civil rights movement, and has a freedom trail that you can walk to get around the park. We had a lovely picnic, and then began our walk along the freedom trail, where we encountered a family. The grandfather was recounting stories of the civil rights movement to his grandkids in great detail, and every time he mentioned ‘they’ (assuming he meant the white people) everyone would glance our way slightly…I began to feel slightly uncomfortable. You know that feeling you get when someone mentions apartheid and they look at you like you did it? Yeah, that feeling…

A sculpture from the park

Where we had lunch

So we decided it was time to head for our next destination…Savannah, Georgia!

Our 5 things we are thankful for today…

1)      McWane science museum ... Especially the bubble display

2)      Beating my boyfriend at the balance and brain power challenge (he beat me at the reflex challenges)

3)      An awesome co-pilot who keeps me hydrated and fed

4)      Breakfast at la Quinta inn (hmm waffles)

5)      Free Alabama post cards ... Yah la Quinta! (Apparently AL likes their state more than MS)

Vulcan Park (we went there too)

McWane Science Museum was easily one of the highlights of the trip; it’s actually something we found at the last minute too. I was pleasantly surprised by Birmingham, AL, I really expected this to be one of the less fun stops, however they came around and surprised me a bit. Again though it seemed like there was a lack of downtown life on the streets, however given it was a Sunday during the day there were likely a lot of people attending church.