Tourin' the South Part 3

(Last summer my mom and I went on a road trip through the South. I wrote this recap on a different blog last year. I thought I'd write it up again, add photos, and share the trip with new readers. Enjoy!)

Day 6 - Sunday, July 4th - Montgomery, AL
We had stayed in Selma, Alabama, and decided to drive into Montgomery to see what we could see. Two points against us - it was a national holiday AND a Sunday, so the chances of seeing very much were slim. However, we did some research online and found a Church of God in Montgomery, and off we went to the Rosa L Parks Avenue Church of God. It was a great time. It was a small congregation, but they were so welcoming and warm to us. The pastor's wife invited us to sit in front with her, and it was really just a great time. We left feeling very blessed. We ate lunch at a place called O'Charleys, much like an Applebee's or Chili's.

We wandered into Montgomery, still a little unsure of what we were doing. We found the church that Martin Luther King, Jr. pastored, which is right across the street from the capitol building, with its confederate flag still waving, and a statue of Jefferson Davis (elected President of the confederacy).

 Since the Civil Rights Memorial wasn't open, we decided to drive around and found the riverfront walk, where they were setting up for the Fourth of July bash. You know what? We found a patch of grass in the shade and sat for hours - people watching, listening to music, eating treats, and watching fireworks. It was a really nice time.

Day 7 - Monday, July 5th - Selma to Monroeville, AL
We had stayed overnight in Selma again, and took off in the morning to find the site of old Cahawba, one of the first (the first?) capital of Alabama. It was settled, flooded a lot, and so the capital soon moved, but business remained there for quite some time, until after the Civil War. The businesses started to leave, and later in the mid-twentieth century became abandoned. Homeowners sold off their bricks, so really there are no buildings left standing. There were some columns left, from a mansion, but they were left because the shape of the bricks was too hard to sell. And the cemetery is still there. Definitely CREEPY, especially considering we were 2 of about 6 people wandering all over about 20 acres.... and there were little run down old houses (that were newer) scattered here and there. Super creepy.

We left Cahawba and headed to Monroeville, Alabama, a town I definitely needed to see. I couldn't imagine visiting Alabama without getting a chance to see the town where Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) grew up. Unfortunately, being the national holiday, nothing was open. We killed an afternoon and evening in our hotel room, watching hours of TLC :) We stopped at the Winn-Dixie for snacks, since the only things open were fast food.

Just one of the many small towns we passed through.

Tourin' the South Part 2

(Last summer my mom and I went on a road trip through the South. I wrote this recap on a different blog last year. I thought I'd write it up again, add photos, and share the trip with new readers. Enjoy!)

Day 4 - Friday, July 2nd - Franklin, TN - Decatur, AL
We slept in and started down to Franklin, south of Nashville. They have a really cute downtown, and we walked around the shops for a while. After that we went to tour the Carnton Plantation, a private home that was turned into a field hospital during the Civil War's Battle of Franklin. After the war, they donated part of their land for a Confederate cemetery, where all of the soldiers' graves remain to this day. Even more haunting were the blood stains in the upstairs bedrooms where the surgeons did their work for six months.

 Mom had bought a Groupon for a restaurant in Franklin called the Daily Dish. In this restaurant I ate the best Greek Salad of my life. End of story.

We decided to continue South to Alabama, where we sought out a hotel room for the night, and ate at Five Guys, a burger joint that I've heard all sorts of things about. It lived up to its reputation.

Day 5 - Saturday, July 3rd - Decatur, AL - Selma, AL
We planned to head down the Interstate to Selma, to take in some of the Civil Rights points of interest. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we ran into some serious traffic, and got off the interstate and got to figure out some back county roads. Before this we had managed to avoid the interstate anyway, so we had already been enjoying great scenery, especially of rolling hills and wonderful houses.

On our way to Selma we stopped for lunch at the Brierfield Cafe. Of course this place has no website, because ... you know.. it's the kind of place your teenager next door works after school. The place was empty, but I enjoyed my sandwich AND the fried green tomatoes we tried out. We're going for broke with trying Southern food. This probably should be "eating our way to through the South" instead. I'd never had fried green tomatoes before, and I really liked them. Yum.

We finally found Selma, and the tourist welcome center, where two nice ladies gave us all sorts of pamphlets and pointed us in the right direction. It was much warmer this afternoon, and after we started walking away from the tourist center, the lady followed us outside to make sure we weren't walking to the starting point of the tour. We reassured her that we were just stepping away to figure things out. They also told us where we could get some good dinner :)

We decided to do a driving tour of Selma, which focused on architectural influences of important landmarks and houses. Right up my alley. The most interesting fact to us was that many old houses were moved from nearby Cahawba, AL. Looking online, we see that Cahawba was the state's first capital, from 1820-1826, but was abandoned after the Civil War. We're thinking about visiting there later on. At the end of the tour we came to Brown A.M.E Church, site of many speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.

So on the recommendation of the ladies at the welcome center, we headed to Lannie's BBQ (again, no website, of course). While we felt a little out of place, the food was worth it. Oh. My. Word. I got fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collared greens. Now, I've never had collared greens before, so I didn't quite enjoy them, but the mac and cheese and fried chicken were WONDERFUL. I'm on my way to gaining ten pounds.

So here we are, in Selma, and going to visit Montgomery tomorrow!

(In other news, Athletarian is having a giveaway that I really want to win. Every girl needs a good headband.)

Tourin' the South Part 1

(Last summer my mom and I went on a road trip through the South. I wrote this recap on a different blog last year. I thought I'd write it up again, add photos, and share the trip with new readers. Enjoy!)

Mom and I have been planning this trip since last Fall, and by "planning" I mean buying plane tickets, draw an imaginary circle, and mentally taking notes of places we'd like to visit. I've never been to the South, and Mom has been to one or two of these states, so this seemed like a great opportunity. Both of us love history and this of course is a great place to study. We only had a few certain things on our itinerary. Instead, we are winging most of this trip!

Day 1 - Tuesday, June 29th - Our town to San Diego
Mom doesn't want to consider this part of our trip, but since it involved getting up early and traveling, I will consider it. We stopped at David's Bridal in San Diego so I could order a bridesmaid's dress for a September wedding, and made a couple of stops at some stores (where I found shoes for the wedding for $15!), and picked up Nick and Linda at the airport and went out to dinner.

Day 2 - Wednesday, June 30th - San Diego to Nashville, TN
Nick and Linda got up early to take us to the airport. After dropping us off they headed back to Mexico to be the wonderful people they are and help hold down the fort while Mom is away with me :) Our flight was from San Diego to Denver, then Denver to Nashville. It was nice because each flight was only about 2 1/2 hours, and our layover was only an hour. I'm so used to flying Alaska, that it was a little weird to fly a different airline (Frontier), but of course it was fine.

We arrived in Nashville and got our rental car and were on the road by about 6:30. Our hotel was south of town, but flipping through a tour guide for the month of June showed that they were showing "The Wizard of Oz" at a park in Nashville for free, so we headed over there, thinking it started at 7pm. Well, it didn't start at 7, but waiting around for the movie gave us enough time to get some popcorn, strawberry lemonade, and cupcakes bought from a bus. We didn't end up staying for the movie, but we got in plenty of people watching. For me, it was so nice to sit outside on a warm summer evening and not be cold! Mexico can be warm during the day, but at night it gets so chilly - I never sit outside at night without a big sweatshirt and jeans!

We made our way to the hotel, and settled in.

Day 3 - Thursday, July 1st - Nashville, TN
We had scoped out our day to include plantations and music. We stopped first at the Belle Meade Plantation, a plantation built around their thoroughbred horses, one of which is the ancestor of many champion racing horses in America. A beautiful place, we were the first ones there and got our own tour guide through the mansion.

After that we headed into downtown to visit Jack's BBQ on Broadway. We seemed to hit the restaurant just as the Presbyterian convention liberated its people for lunch, so we had to wait a while. When you are waiting for something like this, you always wonder if it's worth the wait. It was. I had a pork shoulder plate with green beans and mac and cheese. Delicious. One thing I enjoyed was the ability to choose your own side of bbq sauce. The highlight of the meal was when Mom got up the courage to pass her cards to a group of Presbyterian pastors. Networking!

Jack's was a recommendation from a friend, as was Hatch Show Print, the famous printing house known for its distinct style. Still in business, Hatch Show Print creates many show posters and announcements that you continue to see around town. They had fun posters to see, and fun souvenirs.

We headed over to the Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 - 1974. We took the tour, which was a nice precursor to the show we were going to see later on in the evening. I knew the Ryman was an important building, but gaining all of the information about the start of country music and the community it influenced was great. They had a small, special exhibit about Johnny and June at the Ryman. It was amazing to know that this was the very stage where so many influential country stars got their start.

After the tour, we meandered around downtown, looking at boots, checking out the river, getting some ice cream.

We were scheduled to see a concert at the Ryman, so we walked back over and were surprised to find that there was a pre-concert concert on the plaza in front of the auditorium. It was a great distraction while we waiting for the doors to open. At 7:30 we got to see Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder, a wonderful show included in their Bluegrass Grass Nights at the Ryman series. Seriously, wonderful musicians. It was such a fun show, a great environment, and very inspiring. Ricky's band were so talented, it was just amazing to watch, it (mostly) distracted me from those hard wooden pews!

A good read

We all need a good read once in a while, right? I couldn't help but snatch this picture.

By the way, those spots on the floor: I didn't put them there, and they won't wash away. I try not to be that gross.

Manfriend time.

Hey there! It's only been two weeks (insert eye roll) since my last blog entry. On one hand I haven't had much talk about. On the other hand, I have, but have been lazy with my camera. I'll try to do some updating as I go along, but I can't promise that it's terribly exciting.

Manfriend came and visited last week. We had last seen each other at the beginning of June, and the span of time from June 5th to July 16th (6 weeks) was the longest stretch we had gone without seeing each other since we've been together. We did it, though. On visits past we've taken a ton of pictures, but I guess our excitement has died down. We took one obligatory "we're together so we should take a picture" picture.

Manfriend actually works from home, and so this time he brought his work with him. What a jip. We spent most of our days apart, while I taught kids and did dishes and other stuff, and he hid away in his room, working on his computer. That was strange, but a good introduction to what it will be like when we both have real jobs, and aren't seeing each other all day because we're on vacation, visiting each other.

I insisted on taking a picture when we made milkshakes. Why? Manfriend had never had homemade milkshakes before. WHAT? That's crazy. I know! That's why I took a picture of the occasion!

By the way, that is a look of pure enjoyment, not disgust. I know it could go either way.

Manfriend left me all by myself here in Mexico. He was like "Sayonara!" and off he went. It was easier this time, however, because I will see him at the end of August, and at THAT time we will start living in the same city. Excitement abounds. Also, we e-mail about 20 times a day, so we can't miss each other that much, right?

A good run

I've still been easing back into the running thing. And when I say easing I mean like... really easing. Even Tuesday I was running a super slow pace and only did 3.5 miles, although I wanted, and intended to do 4. Today I just set out and told myself to just run, no matter the pace or distance.

So I ran, and I kicked it up a notch, thinking that I would just run faster for however long I felt that I could, no pressure. Somehow, but by the grace of God, I ran 3.5 miles at that pace. A full minute off of my mile pace from Tuesday. I have no idea how that happened, but it did. And it felt good.

I Love Charts

This is why usually I can't talk to people about things - it never ends up as a real discussion. Not only that, when having a discussion presenting new ideas or wondering about different sides/takes on things is never accepted. The other person has never been okay with just the wondering. When I can't wonder, I quit.

Source: I Love Charts