Travel Tuesday

So, with keeping with my New Year resolve, we were at the beach last week. On the way, we stopped off in Montgomery, AL. We just love little side trips to see unusual and the big things along the way. I was really excited this time. 

We had a plan. An ambitious plan. It meant we might not get to the beach until much later than we usually do. But, considering it's nearly an 8 hour drive (which I hate), anything to break it up is good. 

We left early--5:30 a.m. In 4 hours, we were there just in time for things to open. First stop, a photo op with Hank!

 I was not happy about the orange work barrels. That's a way to ruin the shot.

So we got creative. I got a little closer and adjusted the angle. I was so happy with how the picture came out---until I noticed the reflection in the statue. Sheesh!

We spent about an hour browsing through the museum. It was sooooo good! We weren't allowed to take photos so I pulled these off the internet.

Here is his 1953 Cadillac. It is awesome! Hank Jr. inherited it and has loaned it to the museum. This is the car he died in at the age of 29 due to heart issues. He was on his way to do a concert in West Virginia.

I don't know why, but even young people looked older back in those days. Still, this museum had tons of memorabilia from records to clothing to furniture and personal effects. Very interesting. We listened to his music for part of the ride after that.

 Right down from the Hank museum was this building.

 This is the Steiner Loebman building.

 It has a casket on top. No one knows why, but they don't think there's a body inside.

I love when they leave old things alone. I think it just adds character to the downtown area. I don't know how old this water tank is. The Alley is full of assorted restaurants and bars.

When we pulled up to the White House of the Confederacy, I was not happy to see all of the yellow caution cones. Of course, they are meant for people like me who tend to slip, fall and break their ankle on wet, slick surfaces. Still, I don't like them in my photos. I managed to reduce them to this one.

Then Butch got this idea. Perfect! Anyway, the "White House of the Confederacy" is a little misleading. Jefferson Davis only lived here with his family for 2 months. You know how long 2 months is---nothing! But to hear the tour guide tell it, everything important for the Confederacy was decided here! Yeah, right! Still, it was very nice and had some original furniture. We're glad we stopped, but I think we're going to be selective about touring old houses. After awhile, they all look the same.

 While we were there, we had to visit Hank's grave.

After this stop, lunch was next on the itinerary. We were going to the highly ranked, #1 restaurant in Montgomery. We had to drive 7 miles which didn't sound like much, but when it's mostly stop lights, it took quite awhile to get there. We were disappointed to find it in a strip mall. As if that wasn't bad enough, when we got to the door, it was closed. I suggested we just fast food it and be on our way. Butch, not to be deterred, headed on down the road and found the Shrimp Basket.We decided to check it out and we're glad we did. We shared the seafood gumbo (not so great---only one teeny shrimp) and the crawfish po boy. OMGosh y'all! The po boy was incredible! We got the extra crawfish on it since we were sharing. It was heaping! The sandwich more than made up for the gumbo. We'd go there again. Turns out we'll be able to. There's one in Panama City!

After lunch, the rain had started. We decided to postpone the rest of our stops until the next time we're coming to the beach---which will be in February. 

We ended up getting to the beach around 3. We had a fun day that didn't seem so much like hours and hours in the car. 3-4 hour stints is about all I can take! 

This is how we do it! Otherwise, I'm flying!