Trip Down South

We really enjoyed our trip down South last month. It was the first time I had really been to the South so it was neat to experience something new. We were only there for a week and the was so much that we didn't see and do that I really want to go back again at some point for a more extended trip. It was really fun to get a taste though.

We had super cheap tickets into Atlanta - $80 round trip so we started our trip there. Here is our first look at The South - an Atlanta sunset outside of our plane window:

For our first real stop we saw Montgomery, Alabama. There was an inch of snow on the ground and since they're not used to snow, most everything was closed up. We were wanting to go into the Rosa Parks Museum which even has a children's wing but it was closed. We atleast were able to see the arrest site though where she was arrested for not giving up her seat initiating the bus boycott and that was pretty neat.

There was also this cool urban art kiddie corner to the Rosa Parks Museum depicting the third march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the intimidation and Jim Crow laws preventing black Americans from being able to exercise their right to vote.

We also saw a Civil Rights Memorial that memorializes martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. The museum behind it was closed but it was good at least to be able to see the memorial.

We stopped for lunch at this awesome creole place in Prattville - Uncle Mick's Cajun Cafe. It was a little out of the way but I was eager to try real creole food and the place did not disappoint. They had gumbo and jambalaya. They had alligator. And this cornbread that just so buttery and yummy. There was dirty rice and black eyed peas and these delicious buttery green beans. Everything was sooooo good.

After lunch we continued on toward where David's grandma's live and saw Grandma Wilcox in Castleberry, Alabama. David got a four generation shot with his grandma and dad since his dad happened to be there helping take care of his mom at the moment so that was nice.

Castleberry was probably the most rural place I have ever been. It was so different than what I'm used to. All the houses were super spread out. Many of them could only be reached via dirt road. And there were just trees everywhere. I felt like the houses were literally in the woods. Most of the homes didn't even have the trees cleared immediately surrounding their houses. Aside from a few spread out homes and dirt roads there was also just a few churches, cemeteries, one school, and the tiniest ghost town of a main street, and really not much else.

We spent some time with a lot of David's extended family. It was really fun to get to meet a lot of his cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. David has a lot of really funny relatives and just hanging with them and chatting was a hoot. One of his cousins works as a chef and we had lunch at the restaurant she works at - The Gathering Place. I had the fried green tomatoes and they were so good. I had never had that before. Trying new food I've never had before is one of my favorite things about visiting a new place.

After spending some time with David's extended family, we continued on further South to Pensacola Florida so we could spend some time at the beach. It wasn't really hot but it was warm enough to get in the pool some and play on the beach some. It was really fun.

We also wanted to see some of the nature in the Florida panhandle so we went to the Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park. It was really neat to see all the trees and the Bayou. We didn't see any alligators though we did seem some alligator trails.

We also saw the Florida Caverns State Park. The cave was really neat to go through and our guide through the cave was really informative and entertaining even too.

Tessa is pretending to be a bat here after we talked about how bats take can live in caves. Our tour guide pointed a bat too, which was cool to get to see.

There were also some hiking trails at the Florida Caverns State Park and we had a lot of fun hiking there. The trail had trees that had fallen over that were growing mushrooms and moss growing on limestone, plants unique to The South, and small placards describing the vegetation. It was so educational and fun.

One of the hotels we stayed at had this cute front porch. It seemed like every house in the South had a front porch for the classic front porch sitting. I couldn't pass up enjoying a little front porch sitting myself. All we needed was a bit of lemonade and we would have been set.

For our last day, we spent the day in Atlanta. We visited the Civil and Human Rights Museum. It was such a sobering museum. It was really well done and powerful though. One exhibit, a simulated sit-in, was particularly moving. Listening to the kind of hateful, scary things, that those brave enough to actually endure a real sit-in made me so sad for what they endured and for that hate in the world. There were so many powerful, thought provoking exhibits. In the Human Rights section of the museum, there were exhibits on genocide, child labor around the world, sex trafficking, racism and sexism and other types of discrimination still going on today. It was a difficult but important museum to go through. It was the kind of place you walk out of thinking - how is there so much hate in the world and what can I do. It leaves you really wanting to work toward greater equality for all.

It was a really good trip but really a week there just mainly shows you how much there really is to see that you still want to see. For instance, I didn't even have a chance to eat some traditional Southern fried chicken or shrimp and grits or beignets. I still want to see alligators and manatees. And I still really want to visit New Orleans. It was a lot of fun but we'll definitely have to go again.