As the drive from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham only took roughly an hour we arrived in our hotel in the suburbs of Birmingham in seemingly no time at all. My mom, Cindy and Aunt Lorri were still riding with us. After checking into the hotel and relaxing for a few minutes it was time to go out and explore the town a bit.
After checking out what Google had to say about the town and where to go we found a speakeasy bar called the Marble Ring in Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood. The Internet told us that while there was no sign for the place the entrance was on the 2nd floor of the building inside of a small hot dog restaurant. Inside the hot dog restaurant there was an old phone booth, which then you pick up the phone and tell how many are in your party to gain entrance. We thought this sounded like a good time so off we went. Just as the article had stated we walked up the stairs, through the hot dog restaurant, into the phone booth and picked up the phone. After telling them party of 4, the back end of the phone booth opened and in we went.
The contrast between the hot dog restaurant and the inside of the bar was pretty crazy. The bar was themed to look like the mid 1920’s. It had a very Great Gatsby feel to it. We were seated and given menus. We were told that when we were ready to order all we had to do was to press a small button on the side of the lamp at our table. This was pretty neat. We all had a few cocktails and small appetizers before pressing the little button once again to pay our bill. We found out that while talking to the waitress by pressing the small button a light turned on near the bar, which corresponded to our table letting the waitress know that we needed service. From the Marble Ring we walked a few blocks to the Avondale Common House for dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night.
The next morning we woke up ready to hit the town. Today we would be spending most of the day in the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook. This suburb, one of Birmingham’s nicest as it was one of the cities first suburbs, was developed in the early 1940’s. It has a mixture of neighborhoods with 3 “villages” or small town centers. These were built to look like small English towns and even though they were built 70+ years ago they still looked brand new and still had their charm. The first village we visited was “English Village”. This was in the most beautiful area of the town located on the side of Birmingham’s Red Mountain. As it was a Sunday morning not much was open except for a coffee shop which we stopped at and relaxed with a cup for a bit before wandering around a bit more.
Next on the tour for the day was to visit our RVing friends that just happen to be in the area as well. We had met Debbie & John while at an RV park in Palm Springs, California and had visited them in Tucson, Arizona as we passed through the state. We had initially met them as they are from Syracuse, NY and at RV parks in California it is pretty rare to see a NY plate so we walked over, said hi and met new friends. They were not too far away from Birmingham in Hoover, AL so off we went. In about half an hour we pulled in next to them and said our hello’s. It was great to see them and find out where they had stopped on their drive from Tucson to Alabama. It was also neat for my mom and aunt to meet our new friends and see how big a normal RV is (While Bubbles is an RV at only 19 feet it could fit inside Debbie & John’s rig). We had a great time catching up with Debbie & John and made plans to see them over the summer back home in NY.
From Hoover it was time to see one of Birmingham’s most famous attractions, the Vulcan statue. The Vulcan statue is a 56-foot statue of the Roman God Vulcan – God of Fire & Forge. This was created for the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis to show off Birmingham’s steel industry. Today it sits atop Red Mountain in its own park overlooking the city. The statue and park were both spectacular. The park was impeccably maintained giving great views of the city on one side and the suburbs on the other side. You were also able to go up inside the statue for an even better look about 200 feet up (The statue is on a tall pedestal). While we did have to pay for the opportunity to go inside the statue it did come along with entrance to the small museum on property, which told the history of the city of Birmingham. All in all this was a great park and museum and one that we would come back to again next time we find ourselves in Birmingham.
From the Vulcan we drove to Crestline Heights Village walking around, getting another coffee and enjoying ourselves before driving back to the hotel. As it had been a long day we relaxed in the hotel for a while before going to a restaurant near the hotel for dinner and calling it a night.
The next morning we woke up to another beautiful Alabama day. It was a bit sad however as my mom and aunt were set to fly out back to the northeast early that afternoon. To make the most of our time we had a quick breakfast before driving over to the Homewood neighborhood and walking around. This section of town was booming with stores, restaurants and new housing being built all over. We wandered in and out of a few stores before it was time to drive to the airport. As the airport wasn’t too far away we were there in no time and saying our goodbyes. It was great to see my mom for her 2nd leg of our journey and it was great to have my aunt along for the ride as well.
From the airport we stopped by a grocery store stocking up on needed items again before heading over to the #1 tourist spot in Birmingham, The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. This museum has the largest collection of vintage motorcycles and Lotus cars in the world. Within its 700+ acres the property also houses a track, which is home to the Grand Prix of Alabama. Entering the museum you are just in awe from the start. The museum is a 4 story open floor plan that winds up so from spots near the center of the building you can see all 4 floors. Motorcycles in the museum range from a recreated Harley Davidson workshop, which houses motorcycles from 1904 to racing motorcycles from 2018. Even though Julie and I are no means motorcycle enthusiasts this museum was amazing.
In addition to the museum the entrance fee allows you to explore the racetrack as well. The day that we were there a McLaren driving school was taking place. It was the neatest thing to be standing on a bridge over the track, seeing, hearing and feeling the vibrations from these supercar engines as they passed underneath us. The track grounds themselves were also manicured beautifully with the track weaving through forest and flowers. We were told that people hold weddings on the grounds, as they are so beautiful. As much as we didn’t want to leave it was getting late and we had to get Bubbles to a campground to set up for the night. As far as museums go the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is not one to be missed. On the entire trip this museum came in at #2 for us coming in just behind the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. It was just amazing!
Next up…we visit Alabama’s capitol city and hit the beach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
