Deep in the heart of the South

Husband and I returned from our road trip a couple of days ago. We hit 9 states in 6 days! Whew! We made stops all long the way to break up the driving. I don't want to bore you with a travel log, but I do want to tell you about our favourite stop: Birmingham, Alabama. If you are ever in Alabama, make sure you stop in Birmingham! There is plenty to see and do. I pulled out my handy dandy travel book (which I got from the library. What a great resource the library is! Whenever we travel, I go and get books out on the places we are visiting and make plans.) and read about Vulcan Park and the Botanical Gardens, both close to each other and both free (you got to love that!). Vulcan Park is home to this huge statue that won first prize at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904. That's your history lesson for the day! After the park, we headed over to the Botanical Gardens. What an amazing gem! Husband, it turns out, is allergic to Botanical Gardens and did not enjoy sneezing his way down the pathways. The Gardens were beautiful, but how can you go wrong with flowers, trees and bushes everywhere? Tucked in the far corner was a Japanese Garden, complete with a lake full of goldfish, turtles and loons. If you are ever in Birmingham, do not miss this place! I want to go back in the summer to see all the flowers in bloom. Yes I know: Alabama in the summer is not on any one's top ten destinations list, but the Garden was so beautiful that I would suffer through the heat.

View of downtown Birmingham from Vulcan Park

The Vulcan Statue: his backside was bare. Husband had to get a picture (which I refuse to post). Husband was amused. Yes, I married a 4 year old!