4/8/2022 – 4/13/2022
I spent the 8th driving to Tallahassee, FL.
On the 9th I explored Tallahassee. It’s not a very big city so I could walk most of it. I parked by the college the night before so I could get straight to walking the next day. I first went to the Museum of Florida History. That was kinda neat for a free museum. I then walked over to the capitol building. I wanted to go to the observation deck, but it’s only open during the week. The tall building is the new capitol building and the other is the old.
After the capitol, I walked through downtown and up to the Governor’s mansion. The whole mansion was fenced off to stop protesters. I’m not very political, but DeSantis is an idiot.
On my way back to the van I walked through the college, Florida State University. They were having their Spring football game, so the whole place was partying. It was wild. I stopped at Fermentation Lounge to get refreshed before looking for a place to watch the UFC fight.
I called every sports bar in town and only one place gave me a maybe if they were showing it. I went to Pockets Pool and Pub as the waitress said they might be showing them. I was their early so I watched some of the Masters. They allowed smoking in there so I only stayed for a drink. I went next door to 4th Quarter Bar and Grill to watch the prelims. This was a great dive bar and the patrons were fun to talk to. I watched the main event back in the van and camped at the bar for the night.
On Sunday I spent the day watching the final round of the Masters. There were some amazing shots at the end. After that I drove up to Montgomery, AL.
On Monday the 11th I explored downtown Montgomery, AL. I parked by the capitol building and started walking. I started at the Archives, then found the First White House of the Confederacy, and the capitol building.
As I moved downtown I walked by the Hank Williams museum, then the waterfront park, and the King Memorial Baptist Church. This is where Dr. King was a pastor.
I walked back by the capitol and they had one of the replicas of the liberty bell and all of the state flags.
It was still early enough in the day so I drove up to Birmingham, AL for the night.
Tuesday was an awesome and busy day. I started by going to the Southern Museum of Flight. They had several different kinds of planes there, from the beginnings of flight, to kit planes, to military aircraft. They had a section dedicated to the SR-71 with a bunch of parts from the plane in cases. I think this was the first time I’ve seen an Hind helicopter in person. They also had one of the D-21 drones There are only 17 left and I’ve seen two of them.
Outside of the museum and down the road a couple blocks is where they have their larger aircraft, including the YF-12. I’ve seen six of the 30 SR-71 variants that are left so far.
Just seeing that would’ve been enough to make my day, but next I went to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw it on Google Maps. I definitely didn’t expect what I got. This museum has over 500 motorcycles, several random cars, most if not every Lotus race car type, a race track, and more random stuff. I was here for over three hours. There were five levels to the place and a basement that wasn’t accessible. Down there is where they do the restorations. If you are interested in motorcycles this is the place to go.
I took so many pictures that there are too many to post here. You can see them here.
After that museum it was only 6PM so I headed downtown to explore the city. There were some cool old buildings from the early 1900’s and modern skyscrapers. There was a intersection called the “Heaviest Corner on Earth” that had the first four skyscrapers in town.
There was some neat architecture throughout downtown. Along the railroad tracks there was the Rotary Trail that lead to Railroad Park.
By this time I was wiped out. I had already walked five miles and I needed a sit down. I stopped at Good People Brewing Company. I hung out with the staff, they were good people, until they closed, then headed back to the van.
Today, the 13th, I went to the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark. This was the old ironworks from the early 1900’s. It was really interesting going through the process of how iron was made.
My next stop before leaving town was Vulcan Park. A statue of Vulcan was made here for the 1904 Worlds Fair.
I was going to head over to Mississippi next, but there were some crazy storms going through there and I didn’t want to get stuck in them. I’ll be heading out tomorrow.