The Sites of Birmingham

Its not often that you get to be a tourist in your own hometown, but this past week I had the privilegde of showing Dan's cousin, Anna Laura, all around town. I have always enjoyed living in Birmingham but as most people do we just get busy living life and doing our everyday actitivies that we don't take time to really enjoy the sites our city has to offer. I thought I was going to get bored and run out of things to do in Birmingham in a whole week but we stayed busy and I actually didn't get to take her to all the places I wanted. We did have fun and Nathan was a great sport by going everywhere with us. He usually just took his morning nap in the car while we were in transit and there were many feedings from the back seat of the car in between tourist stops. We did however, always make sure we were home by 3 for his afternoon nap.
Our Itinerary:
Day One: It was rainy so no outdoor activities; we went to see a movie at the IMAX Theater at the Mcwane Center. The movie was good, (I think it was called "To the Limit" and it was about athletes pushing their bodies "To the Limit.") and the Mcwane Center looked like a lot of fun when Nathan gets a little older. We also stopped by the Vulcan for some photos of downtown.







Day Two: It was cold but not rainy so we of course headed outdoors. We went to Oak Mtn and drove up to the trails at Peavine Falls. The walking trail to the top of the falls is real short (about a mile) and easy so it was no problem to carry Nathan on my front carrier, and the falls were great since it had just rained the day before. After the hike we met Dan at the Pizza Hut Buffet because that is Dan and my favorite place for pizza (we love the pan pizza and who doesn't love a buffett). After that we stopped by to see sweet Shireen who looks amazing to be 38 weeks pregnant. Nathan loves Shireeny! On our way home Nathan fell asleep so we took advantage of the extra time to drive around and I showed her the look out from the Tip Top Diner and the Antique Shop in Bluff Park.

 

 

 

 

Day Three: Anna Laura had mentioned earlier that she loved donuts and that they don't have good ones in Uruguay (that must be the only thing that's not good there because all the other pastries I had while we were there were delicious). So we got up and went to Krispy Kreme as our first stop. I thought we were just going to splurge and get 2 or 3 donuts, but a dozen later we left and headed to Swann Lake for a quick viewing. (It took us 3 days to eat the dozen, just so you know). For lunch we picked up O'Carrs Chicken Salad and Fruit Plates which happens to be my favorite lunch spot, and we headed over to visit Heidi and Isaiah. After that we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked through the entire place (it was bigger than I had remembered). That night we took Anna Laura to Brio which is one of our favorite restaurants.















Day Four: We slept in a little and then got Chik-fil-A and headed to meet Dan for lunch at his work. Its always fun to get to see him during the day. Then we headed off to shop at the Summit. We had an hour and a half before it was going to be Nathan's naptime, so I thought we could get some good walking in and see several stores, but they were having lots of sales at Old Navy so we only made it to Old Navy and Express and then had to head home. We both got several good bargains at both stores.



Days Five and Six we headed to Atlanta which will be in another post, but I will have to say we did start the day off at Shipley Donuts just so Anna Laura could make her comparison. The ruling is, Krispy Kreme has the best glazed donuts but Shipley's has a bigger selection and has Kolaches, which are delicious. If you haven't had a Kolache before they are like a really big Pig in a Blanket and they come with either ham and cheese, sausage, sausage and cheese or sausage and jalepeno inside.

Overall we all had a great time and I praise the LORD for good health, good weather, safety, family and friends, and for sweet Nathan being such a good and flexible baby. I do have to admit that I am a bit tired of travelling now (which is rare because I do love to travel and see new things) and it will be nice to get back into a regular schedule.