I visited my friend, Tressie, in Alabama this past Monday-Thursday, July 18-21. Tressie and her husband, Jonathan, moved to Alabama two and a half years ago. Her husband is a youth pastor at a church and they have a cute little house right near the church. I had been wanting to visit for awhile, but Tressie and I are both teachers, so the most practical time to plan a visit was in the summertime. I had been looking forward to this trip for a long, long time!
I will warn you now that this is going to be a long post filled with pictures!
Monday, July 18th (my dad's 50th birthday!!)
I flew into Birmingham on Monday afternoon at about 3:00. Tressie was there waiting for me and after getting my luggage, we headed to Tressie's house to drop off my bags. Her house is so cute! It's the perfect size for her and her husband. It has real wood floors which I love! I forgot to get a picture of the front of her house but I did get one of the room I slept in! I LOVE the white furniture she has in this room!
We spent the rest of the afternoon touring some of AL, including Ross Bridge which has the most amazing homes you've ever seen. Ross Bridge is its own community with some shopping, neighborhoods, doctors' offices, playgrounds, and even a fancy hotel that seems pretty expensive. :)
Tressie drove me by the school she worked at the past 2.5 years and then took me to the new school she'll be working at this year. It's a 3 story building and will only house 5th and 6th graders! That's how big the area is!
We ended the day with a quick mall food-court dinner and some shopping. I was looking for a dress to wear on the cruise and Tressie had found a few for me to try and one of them ended up being the perfect dress! It fit well and was on clearance with an additional 30% off so I was pleased with the deal!
Tuesday, July 19th
On Tuesday, we drove to Montgomery, AL to experience the trolley tour and view the sights. It was about a 2 hour drive from Tressie's house. While driving, a small pebble hit Tressie's windshield and cracked it in the far right corner! It was a pretty big crack from such a small rock or pebble! I saw it happen and it wasn't a big rock at all. The crack was at least more than a foot long! Thankfully the windshield stayed in tact and we were safe driving there and back!
Onto Montgomery...we rode the trolley for only $3!
The trolley tour guide showed us many historical sites in Alabama's capitol city. We learned about the meaning behind many of Montgomery's buildings. Buildings with green roofs or siderails are part of Alabama's Retirement System. We saw a 4-story building that was for "colored" people during the segregation era where Martin Luther King had his last haircut before he was assassinated. We saw Alabama's capitol building,which resembles the capitol building in Washington D.C. We got to see inside, too!
I love, love, love, staircases like these!
Look at the ceiling inside of the capitol building! Isn't the detail phenomenal?
We were able to see some of the rooms where the Confederates met and made important decisions, back in the "old days."
We went inside and toured the Rosa Parks Museum. This may make me sound nerdy, but I loved this museum. I read every plaque and description there was to read about and took my time walking through. Troy University, which is in the heart of Montgomery, founded the museum in 2000. They built the museum over the very spot Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white person.
There was a life-like simulation of what took place on the bus that Decemeber day in 1956 when Rosa had had enough of the ridicule and humilation and refused to give up her seat. I learned a lot in this museum. I didn't know beforehand that Martin Luther King had so much to do with the bus boycott following Rosa's arrest. His philosophy was "victory without violence" and I just think there's so much power in that! There is no doubt that Rosa and Martin were extremely influential people in ending segregation and obtaining equal rights for all people.
This is the church where Martin Luther King Jr. was the preacher of for a few years.
The church was a common meeting place during the bus boycott. (We showed up too late to be able to see inside.)
Montgomery is very close to the Alabama River. We walked along the river's edge and I learned that after a very heavy rainfall, the river had risen a significant amount.
This is how high the water had settled after so much rainfall, 58 FEET, 1 INCH IN THE AIR! I can't imagine!
Touring Montgomery was a highlight of this trip! It was fun to learn more about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, and it gives me more understanding and appreciation for who they are and what they had to endure, in order to achieve what they did for our country. I look forward to sharing what I learned with my students this year during some Social Studies lessons! Check back soon for Part 2 of my visit to Alabama to see what happened on Wednesday and Thursday! :)
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