It has been a week full of family, festivities, and food! I am truly overwhelmed by the warm–hearted generosity of Jon’s extended family in Alabama, many of whom are related simply by love rather than blood.
After leaving Florida, we drove through Georgia to arrive in Clayton, Alabama on Friday evening. We spent last weekend, in Clayton, with Mom and Pop Watson. They were the house parents of the group home where Jon spent several years of his childhood after being taken into state custody as a seven-year-old. He kept in touch with them into adulthood, and Mom and Pop Watson sat in the front row at our wedding. They are considered part of our extended family!
It was wonderful to spend the weekend relaxing at the Watson’s home in rural Alabama. The girls got to ride horses and take long walks over fields and through the woods with Buddy, the dog, at their side.
During our visit, we explored Lake Eufaula by bike, Jon took the girls to Sunday service at his old church, and all weekend, Mom Watson kept us well fed with numerous home-cooked meals. We spent the evenings eating delicious southern desserts (banana pudding, anyone?), assembling puzzles, and playing Scrabble. It was a perfect family weekend!
On Monday, after yet another fabulous lunch, courtesy of Mom, we were sent off loaded down with goodies and gifts. After many hugs, we were back on the road, heading toward Birmingham.
In Birmingham, we received a warm welcome from Jon’s uncle and his family, who are relatives of his first cousins. Despite a full house, they provided us a place to stay and let us use their house as a home base for four nights over Thanksgiving break. After arriving on Monday night, we enjoyed dinner at home with Uncle John, Aunt Tanya, and Cousin Gracie, who was home from college for break. My girls absolutely adore Cousin Gracie, and she patiently listened to, joked with, and entertained them throughout the week.
Much of the holiday week was spent enjoying delicious meals and lively conversation with Jon’s family. Quite a bit of time was also spent lounging in our pjs. Uncle John also arranged an evening book presentation for Mic at their local library and so, on Tuesday evening, she presented to a group of friends and family, plus a handful of local residents. As always, she did a fabulous job!
Our academic lessons this week have shifted from the East Coast topics of European exploration, colonization, and revolutionary war. Being in the Deep South, we’ve moved on to the topic of slavery and the lasting social impact of this very ugly part of our nation’s history. On Wednesday, we visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and on Friday, we went to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. Both of these sites do an amazing job of taking what is often presented as a page or section of a textbook, and turning that information into true knowledge. Reading about the civil rights movement cannot compare to the impact of standing in front of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birmingham jail cell, or listening to the racist words and reading the hateful signs of southerners deeply afraid of and resistant to change, or reading the laws designed to permanently keep African Americans as second-class citizens in the south. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute creates a space where the short section of a textbook becomes dozens of personal stories of human experience.
The Legacy Museum, in Montgomery, was even tougher to visit, as their museum starts with interactive exhibits related to slave experience, then the terror of post Civil War torture and lynchings, then the fight for civil rights, and then the modern day “slavery” reflected in the criminalization and mass incarceration of African Americans. The nearby National Memorial for Peace and Justice memorializes the thousands of men, women, and children who were ruthlessly tortured and killed in the south (usually by burning or lynching) during the period from the end of reconstruction efforts to the mid 20th century (1877-1950). The memorial is powerful and heartbreaking. I think that both sites can offer transformative experiences for people brave enough to challenge themselves with an open-hearted visit.
After leaving Montgomery, we headed towards Mobile, Alabama, which is the city where Jon and I met almost 20 years ago and where Jon still has close family and friends. We arrived at our hotel after dark on Friday, only to find that they were overbooked and didn’t actually have the room we’d reserved available for us. Who else is thinking of Seinfeld? “Anyone can just take a reservation; the trick is to actually hold the reservation!”
Rather than freak out, we went out for pizza. We ate at Mellow Mushroom for the second time this trip, and that is the opposite of freaking out, I think. Using Booking.com, we found another place to stay and, after dinner, set out for our new lodgings. The Baymont Inn and Suites was farther from the center of Mobile, less well kept, and more expensive than the Travelodge we’d originally reserved, but they actually had a place for us to sleep. And, ultimately, it ended up being in a better location for us.
Our motel was actually just a few blocks from the trailer park where Jon and I first lived together, so Saturday was a wonderful day of visiting sites from the old days. Breakfast was at Dick Russel’s BBQ, which is known for their fresh biscuits and homemade peach preserves. After breakfast, we showed the girls our old neighborhood and then we drove down to Dauphin Island, where we rode our bikes, played on the beach, and walked the nature trails of the bird sanctuary. We even saw an alligator! It was a beautiful, and tiring, day!
After a quick, sunset snack of quesadillas and sweet tea at Miguel’s Beach’n Baja, we drove to one of my very favorite places, Bellingrath Gardens. The gardens are always beautiful but, during the holiday season, they house an amazing light show. Walking with my family, through light displays of castles, animals, toys, and holiday scenes brings me to a completely nerdy level of holiday joy!
We met Jon’s cousin, Gene, and his wife, Julie, at the gardens and spent a lovely evening admiring the lights as we wandered through the gardens. The kids absolutely loved it and, of course, I was in heaven. Afterwards, Gene and Julie took us out to an Italian restaurant near their home where the service was friendly and the portions were huge!
This morning, after checking out of our motel, we visited the Nina and Pinta on the Mobile waterfront. It was the last day of their annual tour of North American harbors, and Mobile was their last port, so our timing was very fortunate. These close replicas of the ships Columbus guided on his first voyage to the “New World” are really fascinating. It’s very interesting to be on deck and imagine the emotions and experiences of the two to three dozen men on each small vessel as they crossed the Atlantic into the unknown.
We finished our time in Alabama with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants- Guido’s. This awesome little place on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay is close to where Jon and I got married and is a spot we return to whenever possible. Our first date was actually at the old Mobile location of the restaurant, so eating at Guido’s always brings back good memories. After lunch, we said goodbye to Alabama!
Now, you might be thinking we headed west. We were supposed to. In fact, New Orleans was our intended destination this evening. However, we absolutely could not pass up the chance to stay at Uncle John’s beach house when he offered us the opportunity. Luckily, our plans are flexible. So, we’ve headed east, back into Florida, in order to spend a few nights at the beach!
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