Waking up the next day in Birmingham we reflected for a bit on how great it was to see family. We were able to go through 4 cities and towns and were able to show them two states. It was a ton of fun. Now it was back to Julie and I and we were ready to hit the road.
Next up on our Alabama travels was the capitol of the state, Montgomery. The drive from Birmingham is only an hour and a half so before we knew it we were pulling up next to the capitol building and stepping inside. The Alabama Capitol building is a very important building in terms of American history. In 1861 Alabama and 6 other southern states decided to secede from the union. As there were no tours going on at the time Julie and I decided to do our own walking tour with the assistance of their brochure. When we entered the room where the decision took place to form the Confederate States of America it was a pretty surreal feeling. We were the only ones in the room and the air still felt heavy as if the walls still knew that a decision that had changed the course of millions of lives and an entire country had taken place there. After spending a few more moments there we toured the rest of the building before heading outside.
Montgomery was a much nicer city than both of us had anticipated. Walking down its main street there were community beautification projects going on all over. New sidewalks were being poured, buildings refurbished and people walking everywhere with smiles on their faces. Even with all of this however, Montgomery does have its dark past. Stopping at the cities main square we read on a plaque that this was the stop where Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and refused to move to the back. On this same spot Martin Luther King Jr. had marched by on his way to the Capitol Steps from Selma. As it was a few hours earlier we really stopped to think about all of the history that had happened in this small city. In the 1860’s the Confederate States were born here and 100 years later the fight for civil rights was happening on the same street. It was almost an overwhelming feeling.
Even with its dark past however Julie and I both enjoyed Montgomery for all its history. We walked around a great park right on the Alabama River before touring around downtown. We had a beer at a great outdoor bar while we watched people stroll by. Walking back to Bubbles we noticed that we had parked next to their baseball stadium and in this found our favorite minor league team ever….the Montgomery Biscuits. We immediately went into the team store buying shirts, hats and a little stuffed Biscuit mascot named Monty. We thought whatever marketing team came up with this name was genius. If anyone is interested the Biscuits are a Double A team affiliated with the Tampa Bay Rays. https://www.milb.com/montgomery/. From the Biscuits ballpark we drove to the campground for the night.
The next morning we woke up ready to hit the road. As it was my brothers’ birthday we thought we should get him something so we stopped back to the Biscuits ballpark buying a buttered Biscuit hat and stopping by the post office to mail it off to him. After a quick happy birthday call to him we were off. The destination for today was Gulfport, Mississippi. This was our 3rd and final time going to MS. The drive was beautiful. Bright and sunny going down I-65, a bit longer than our last few drives at 3 hours and 30 minutes. We enjoyed it nonetheless. Later afternoon we finally made it to Gulfport. It was pretty neat as the campground was directly across from the beach and the gulf. We hadn’t seen the ocean in many weeks since leaving South Padre Island, TX so it was great to see again. After taking a walk on the beach and cooking dinner we settled in for the night.
The next morning we woke up ready to explore again. Today we would be exploring the small Mississippi Gulf town of Gulfport. The drive to the little town was pretty neat. In this area of the gulf the 4-lane road is literally right on the water. After a short drive we arrived and parked. Gulfport isn’t necessarily a big town and after finding not much open yet we settled into a coffee shop to figure out what we were going to do. The only open thing it seemed was a casino that we stopped at. Julie and I are not gamblers as some of you may remember from our Las Vegas post but we will always throw $5 down and see what happens. After spending the $5 in about 30 seconds and wandering around the rest of the casino we went back into downtown Gulfport and found a BBQ restaurant to eat at called Murky Waters BBQ. In our opinion it turned out not to be the best but it was far from the worst as well so we were pretty satisfied. As there wasn’t much else to see in Gulfport we drove back to the campground and spent a good amount of time walking down the adjacent gulf beach enjoying the sounds of the waves lapping gently against the sand. It was a good end to a relaxing day.
The next day we awoke ready to explore our last Mississippi town, Biloxi. Biloxi is a beach town but its probably best known for its casino’s. Entering Biloxi is like driving down the Las Vegas strip albeit a lot smaller. There are huge casinos on either side of the road for about a mile. We found parking and started to walk around Biloxi wanting to check out more of a local’s area before checking out a few of the casinos. As it turned out (or seemed to us anyway) that for the most part Biloxi is the casinos. So in turn in we went. First up we visited the Hard Rock Casino follow the Harrah Casino. The Hard Rock was pretty neat as they had a lot of Rock N Roll memorabilia on the walls and a bar that was only staffed by a robot bartender. We then walked over to the Beau Rivage where after exploring we decided to eat at their buffet. Upon walking in the cashier found out that it was my birthday the next day so decided to give us a 2 for 1 deal. Thank you cashier! After stuffing ourselves at the buffet we walked around the casino a bit more before heading back to our beach campground and relaxing for the rest of the day.
The next day we woke ready to go again. Today we said goodbye to Mississippi and headed back to Alabama. It was also my birthday and as such we would be getting a hotel in downtown Mobile. We packed up and hit the road. On the drive over to Mobile prior to crossing over into Alabama I had noticed a sign for The Shed BBQ. If any of you have ever watched any of the BBQ versions of Food Paradise on the Travel Channel there is a good chance that you may have seen The Shed already on TV. As we had passed the exit already we turned around and headed back. The Shed as it turned out was exactly as its name had described it. It turned out to be a collection of sheds put together to form this BBQ restaurant. We walked in, placed our order and sat down. When our name was called we got up and grabbed our food. Then BBQ nirvana happened. This food was amazing! After it was all said and done The Shed BBQ is in our top 3 (we now have visited 20+ BBQ restaurants). The atmosphere, the food and the fact that it’s a bit out of the way all made this restaurant awesome. If anyone is near Ocean Springs, MS please stop by The Shed BBQ for a great meal.
From The Shed we continued our way over the border into Alabama and onto Mobile. Neither of us had ever been to Mobile before and we were not sure what to expect but both ended up loving it. Mobile as it turned out for the most part looked like the French Quarter in New Orleans. Wrought iron banisters, small blocks, French influence, it had it all. First up for my birthday day was to watch my favorite hockey team the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was the 1st round of the NHL playoffs and I had to watch the game. We found a sports bar and took a seat. It was great as it was mid afternoon so not too many people were in there. We were there for a few hours watching the game, which Tampa won 5-3. My birthday was going pretty well so far.
After the game from the sports bar we wandered over to Lit Cigar lounge where I enjoyed a cigar and we both had a few drinks. Mobile was such an unexpectedly nice city we thought as we enjoyed our drinks on the sidewalk. (Side Note- Just like New Orleans bars had to go areas and you could drink on the sidewalks around town). From the cigar bar we walked back to the hotel to rest and shower up. After consulting Google we found one of the best seafood restaurants in town was called Chucks Fish. The name scared us a bit at first but when we got there we saw that it was a legit seafood and sushi restaurant. After a few courses of sushi and drinks we called it an evening, called an Uber, ran through a down pouring rain storm and were back in the hotel. All in all I had an amazing birthday! It was sure one to remember.
The next day we woke up ready to explore a bit more of Mobile. We discovered that the French founded the city in 1702 as the 1st capitol of New France. This was why there was such a French influence on the town and that in actuality Mobile did not look like New Orleans, New Orleans looked like Mobile. Between 1702 and today Mobile was part of France, Britain, Spain and finally the United States. Today you are still able to see all of this influence in the city. That morning we walked the streets stumbling into a festival in a park with bands playing and vendors selling all sorts of wares and food. This was really neat and gave us a great local feel to the area. After a few hours we hopped in Bubbles, as it was time to hit the road once again. Alabama as it turned out is now one of our favorite states. From Tuscaloosa to Mobile every city that we visited was vibrant with friendly people. We loved every minute of it. Please check it out when you are considering an upcoming vacation!
Next up….We venture into the Panhandle of Florida!
