Sweet Home Alabama

This will be a quick one. A lot has happened the past few months but even more exciting things are about to happen. So here is the deal, I will get you caught up with the important details from our time in the deep south but it will be more in picture form with brief words.

We left off with H3J2 returning home from Nicaragua and preparing for a busy month of March. We had the usual social gatherings that coincide with birthdays (I turned 40), plus the added bonuses of a baptism and the annual weekend away with the Hoelter Niece and Nephews. A nice addition to the month was the Kansas Jayhawks making a run to the Final Four.

Nephew Finn getting baptised

Hiking Salmon River Trail with the kiddos

The next step in our wandering lifestyle began in early April with yet another road trip in a loaded car. Alabama was our destination, chosen for its location in a corner of the USA we know very little about. To get there, we drove the southern route; down through Las Vegas, a brief stop in Arizona to see family, then straight East on I-10 until we hit the land of football and humidity.

Our friend Nick just happened to be in Las Vegas

Hoover Dam

The famous Boll Weevil Statue

Julia's assignment was in a nursing home in the tiny town of Elba but we rented a town-home in the proportionally larger town of Enterprise. A quick side note, Enterprise has a statue in the middle of town in honor of the Boll Weevil, a beetle that ruined the cotton industry. They believe the infestation actually helped them learn to diversify into other industries like peanuts and manufacturing, which has created a stronger and more sustainable local economy.

There wasn't much to do in town but we did enjoying strolling around the multiple festivals and farmer's markets. About 10 minutes from our house is Fort Rucker, the primary flight training base for Army Aviation. They have a cool museum with planes and helicopters of all types. They also have a nice park which, conveniently for me, has a decent disc golf course.  


The most attractive aspect of our location was the proximity to beautiful white sand beaches and historic southern cities. Julia manipulated her schedule to give us longer weekends and we explored. Below is a breakdown of the 4 main trips we took and the things we saw:

The first trip (and one of our top priorities) was 2 nights in New Orleans. We did the classic tourist activities; a slow swamp boat tour, ate some really good seafood, rode the streetcar down to Bourbon street, listened to some live blues music, and strolled around cemeteries. The perks on the trip were a Crawfish Mambo Festival, and a Champagne Stroll on the street where we stayed. The crawfish were tasty but too much work. The champagne stroll was a joy walking down the street with a plastic cup that we could get refilled at a number of small businesses. On the drive back to Alabama, we travelled along the Mississippi gulf coast that is scenic but somewhat deserted since the hurricane, and we visited a casino in Biloxi.

Gator sighting on the swamp tour

Bourbon Street

Crawfish Festival

The next trip was spurred by a visit from my Dad over Memorial Day weekend. This one focused solely on the popular Alabama historical destinations in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Growing up, we had seen the movies and heard the textbook versions of the Civil Rights Movement, but seeing the museums and memorials made it a lot more real. They were all very detailed and powerful, we spent hours reading and thinking in each. Aside from the somber sights, we ate some good BBQ, toured an old furnace factory, got a great view of Birmingham from the top of the Vulcan statue, and strolled through a botanical garden. Bookending the trip were rounds of golf with my Dad at 2 of the area courses, one of which was a Robert Trent Jones design in Dothan that was special.

At the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Sloss Furnace factory

View of Birmingham from Vulcan statue with lightning (credit Julia)

Highland Oaks Golf

The other top priority (and originally our preferred work destination) were the cities of Savannah and Charleston. They were both lovely and historic, so I will give them each their own paragraph.

Savannah: First stop was a picnic lunch in Forsyth park, followed by a walk through downtown to the waterfront. While walking around Bonaventure Cemetery, we had to briefly take shelter in the car during a storm. That night we took a guided Ghost Tour around the central blocks and learned some interesting details about the cities gruesome history. We did not see any ghosts. 

Forsyth Park

Walking around Bonaventure Cemetery

Charleston: We wandered around Magnolia Plantation and got a little lost, then spent the rest of the afternoon walking the historic downtown and saw some dolphins in the bay. The next morning, we took advantage of free kayaks at our Airbnb rental and explored the canals around James Island.

Magnolia Plantation in Charleston

More from Magnolia

Walking around Charleston

Kayaking around James Island

The last trip we did came out of a desire to get a little taste of the Appalachian Mtns. The drive all the way up to the Great Smokies was too long, so we settled for a hike in Cloudland Canyon State park in Georgia, followed by a night in Chattanooga. The area gave us a small reminder of home, with surrounding mountains and flowing streams. The last morning there we hiked to Deep Creek for a short swim, before driving to Atlanta for a Brandi Carlile concert.

Cloudland Canyon State park

Cherokee Falls

Brandi concert

Deep Creek swim

Other than the big overnight weekend trips, we found some fun day trips to keep us occupied. I will just let the pictures and captions fill you in on the highlights.

Swimming near alligators in Goerge T. Bagby State Park (GA)

mini-Golf in Dothan (AL)

4th of July at Grayton Beach State Park (FL)

Kayak trip to Cypress Springs during a thunderstorm (FL)

What else is there to say about Alabama? The people were very friendly, the guy bagging our groceries would say "Jesus loves you", the political ads on the radio were the complete opposite of Oregon, the food was decent but best when deep fried, it can be tough to find health food in stores, Piggly Wiggly's are interesting, the weather was humid but not crazy hot temperatures, we enjoyed watching the big storms roll through and trying to photograph lightning, lots of massive yards and riding lawn mowers, and the rolling green hills and thick lush jungle were a pleasant surprise -reminding us of Central America.  

After 13 weeks, we were ready to get back West. A few long driving days sprinkled with stops to see family and friends along the way, got us back to Portland. Here we have filled our time with social things before we once again leave town for a prolonged period of time. This trip though will go by the official title of "Honeymoon in Europe", and will last for 2 months.