January 24-25, 2009


We enjoyed the wilderness of Alabama but enjoyed the city much more! We got up in time for our complimentary continental breakfast and wouldn’t you know it Titanic was playing on the television. So we settled into the comfy couches with our fruit loops and breakfast pastries until time forced us back into reality and we headed back to our room to clean up and head into Birmingham.

Our first stop was the gas station and while Dave was pumping gas I started to play around with the GPS and found something called “The Statue of Liberty.” My interest was peaked and Dave and I set off in search of this so-called Lady of Liberty. It turns out that there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty in a business plaza that uses it as their symbol. We also found a monument thanking the outstanding Eagle Scouts of America (we checked for Dave’s dad’s name but sorry Mr. Edsall it’s not there). We decided to grab something to eat because we were waiting around for the Civil Rights Institute to open at 1pm.



Now comes Dave’s favorite part…Sonic! For those of you who don’t know it’s a burger place where you order and they serve you outside in your car. We got two cheeseburgers and Dave tried one of their slurpees (Grape). Needless to say Dave already wants to go back. It was a very entertaining side trip.



Then we headed to the Institute. They offer pay what you wish on Sunday’s which made our wallets very happy. There were many moving exhibits. It was such a wonderful opportunity to be able to see how far we have come in less than 50 years and also very informative of how far we have left to go. It was moving to see the African American’s struggle for freedom and equality through sculpture, video from the era and audio/visual presentations. I don’t think we could have had a better experience in Birmingham.




We only had a couple of hours in the Museum as we had to get to Memphis before checking in hours at the Pilgrim House Hostel were closed at 8pm. Before we left Dave had called the hostel and asked if we needed to make a reservation or if they had enough dorm beds for the night. He ensured us that we would be fine just showing up. So we arrived around 7pm to find a small sign for it outside of a huge community center. The doors were locked and so we tried calling and when that didn’t work we tried banging on the door. We did this for about 15 minutes until finally our harassment paid off. Dave found a nice woman to help him inside and walk him up the stairs and I finally got the guy to answer the phone. He grumbled about us not making a reservation and we ignored him. Finally we were checked in and alerted to the hostel rules, which included a chore to do everyday. You would be so proud of me mom! Finally we were shown to our room. I don’t know why people travel any other time of the year than the winter. No one is traveling so you get the hostels to yourself. I’ve experienced both and I much prefer the desolation of January.

After checking in we went in search of food. We asked our sour resident assistant if he had any recommendations but he didn’t really offer anything that sounded very good. So we headed to, The Neely’s, a restaurant I had heard about on the FOOD Network. We drove there only to find that it was closed. I forgot we were in Tennessee on a Sunday so everything was either closed or never opened at all. So we headed to the one street in Memphis we knew would be open for business, Beale Street.




We walked around and took some pictures of this vibrant street. It has the feel of New Orleans and Las Vegas combined. We picked out one place but went in and didn’t like the vibe so we went back to the place we had originally began at, The Rum Boogie Café. I got some BBQ wings and Dave got the Gator Gumbo (Patty made him try Gator tail in St. Augustine and now he’ll try anything). But the sweetest part was a live blues band, called The Plantation All Stars, began to play a set shortly after we arrived. They were amazing. I will never forget hearing live blues on Beale Street in the city where Rock and Roll was born.

We headed back to the hostel to get our rest before another fun filled day in Memphis.
Emily