Sweet Home Alabama!

After our time in New Orleans, we headed further east into Alabama to Montgomery, home to the Civil Rights Memorial and the Rosa Parks Museum. On our way towards Montgomery, we stopped in Mobile and had lunch with Tiffany, who is also going to be heading to Ecuador in June with us. It was fun to meet another person who is asking the same questions we are and having the same excitement & anxieties! Of course, I did a lot of talking because I'm a chatty cathy. She is going to be a Health volunteer who was originally slated to go to Fiji, but is still excited to go to Ecuador. She is also one of many who majored in Spanish in college. We met up at this very cute lunch place called Spot of Tea, and now we can say that we already know one person who we'll see in June!

After that, it was off to Montgomery, AL. Our first night we went to the gym, finally! Our hotel had a partnership with Gold's Gym, so that was totally great. It was almost empty and also a new facility with way more options than a hotel gym could offer. Then, we got a little taste of Southern Korean BBQ. When Hyundai was brought into Montgomery, many Koreans also moved into town. There were several Korean churches, restaurants and markets that we passed when we were driving through Montgomery, so we figured we should give it a try...and I have to say that it was just as expensive as Cham Sut Gol, and not nearly as amazing. Plus, no Thrifty's ice cream or steamed egg or rice paper. Pshhh! Luckily, I think I've convinced Jennifer that we should go when I am next in town...in less than 2 weeks! Yes!

As always, not holding still for the camera, lol. Ok banchan. No fishcake!

The next day we visited the Rosa Parks Museum, as well as the Civil Rights Memorial & Center. I really enjoyed this part of the trip because it is such a fascinating part of our recent American history and something that people who are still living experienced first-hand. I also liked that the Civil Rights Memorial Center also included a small section about civil rights issues that are still happening today and ways that we can each commit to promoting civil rights for all people. It was surprising how empty downtown Montgomery was too. For a town of 200,000 I think they must all be hiding out in the 'burbs and I'm not sure many travelers come through. We were seriously there on a Saturday and hardly saw anyone. Another thing we found interesting was that there were armed security guards in front of the Civil Rights Memorial (which also shares the building with the Southern Poverty Law Center). I assume it is because the SPLC might be a target as a result of the work that they do and civil rights cases that they have won (against different white supremacy groups like Aryan Nation and also their current case against the Imperial Klans). Either way, the guard was nice enough (probably bored because there was nobody around, so he was super chatty with Adam and I, talking about traffic, the weather, digital cameras...).

The site where Rosa Parks refused to get off the bus and got arrested. It's located right in front of the Rosa Parks Museum.


Civil Rights Memorial

Civil Rights Memorial and Center

From Montgomery, we stopped in Tuskegee, AL. I had no idea that Tuskegee University was so large, or that it was also considered a National Park Services site. The Booker T. Washington house was closed for refurbishment, so we went to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, which was also under construction but still open. It's interesting to see some of these things in person that we only previously read about and to remind us that we forget a lot from history class!