Day 9 - Atlanta, GA to Montgomery, GA

Today was an interesting day.  It was our first day without any sort of guidebook to help us along.  We generally followed the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way down and numerous books and blogs helped us know the best places to stop.  Similarly, much has been written about the Atlantic Coast, so we have ideas for the way back up.

However, we're headed down to Perdido Key to pick up a new character for the next part of our adventure.  That means we're going from Atlanta to Montgomery to Mobile which borders Perdido Key.  These cities have a rich Civil Rights-era history, but we weren't sure what else.  It turns out, there's not much else.

The usual hotel breakfast was followed by heading straight out of Atlanta to avoid traffic.

Welcome to Alabama!

The first stop was Auburn because I wanted to see Auburn University.  I don't really know anything about it outside of the football program.

Auburn football stadium.

Auburn water tower and city.

Stadium again.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't much there.  The town itself was sort of run down.  It had the feel of a college town, but really didn't compare to UVA or UGA.  It wasn't worth the stop.  (I hope no one that reads this is an Auburn fan.)

After that it was time for Montgomery, which we knew little about.  Of course, the first stop was lunch.

Baked chicken, macaroni and cheese, okra, lima beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread,  Sweet tea, of course.

Inside of Mrs. B's.

A wall decoration.

The outside.  It's a house converted into a kitchen.

I liked the authentic Montgomery experience, but Erin didn't.  I didn't mention that we were a little worried about bullets coming through the windows.

This was directly across the street.

Here is the house we parked next to.  (Inhabited, by the way.)

Here's the view down the street.

Basically, Montgomery is terrifying.  We drove through downtown and it was pretty awful.  Then we drove to get food and that resulted in the pictures above.  We didn't expect it to be so bad given its status as the capital.

We did a walking tour of downtown next but the rain cut it short.

The safety of the visitor's center.

The nicest building we saw.  (But it's vacant.)

We'll have to see it next time.

A fountain on top of a natural springs.

Looking down to the Capitol down a mostly abandoned street.

Rosa Parks center is about the only new-ish building.

The rain forced us back to the car, so part two was done more on wheels.

Confederate Memorial

State Capitol

The strangest thing was that we didn't see a single person anywhere near the capitol.  No police, no other tourists, no anyone.  In fact, we saw less than 10 people the entire time we were in downtown Montgomery.  It was eerie.  We joked that there was a plague or zombie apocalypse that we didn't know about.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Church.

Liberty Bell replica!  We found another one!

Civil Rights Monument.

Church attended by Confederate officials.

Old house for rent.  There were a number of these available.

Me with Texas.  Each state had a flag and stone from the state.

House where MLK lived.  (Horrible area!)

Montgomery had some sites, but pretty much everything was related to the Civil Rights movement and the city doesn't appear to have changed at all since then.  There was nothing new being built and a huge number of buildings were vacant even next to the Capitol.

One of 20+ doors that looked just like this in the core of downtown.

A representative lot in Montgomery.

That picture is not an outlier.  That is really the average condition we saw and many lots are inhabited in that condition.  We spent our time in the core, but it wasn't pretty.  We've all heard stories about Detroit, but Montgomery might belong in the same category, if only on a smaller scale.

After the scary tour, we checked into the Courtyard and caught up on some outstanding tasks.  Nothing else happened until dinner.  Erin was tired of the southern food that has become a staple of our diet, so we did something a little different.  A woman named Janet runs a six table restaurant with no menu.  She customizes a menu based on your preferences.

Giant plate of paella for $9.

Very simple dessert.

Erin had some vegetarian paella and was quite happy.

We're a little scared of Mobile based on what we encountered in Montgomery.  Mobile doesn't even have the historical sites that Montgomery does.  On the other hand, I guess we can escape to Mississippi if Mobile isn't interesting.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

One last picture from a famous Montgomery sight!

The famous Rosa Parks bus stop.

I'm sure the original bench is in a museum, but there is still a bus stop!