Hyatt Place Birmingham/Hoover

... I guess by being realistic I should succumb to the fact that I WILL be homesick at some point so it might as well be right in the beginning. I think I've found some really cool people to stay with my first two weeks abroad, so I think they will aid in distracting me from feeling alone and scared so far away from home. Well, that's all I have to say for now. My next post will be from London! 'Till then...

xo,
jenna p.

Since nothing too terribly exciting happened while in Birmingham, AL, I'm going to take this time to talk a little bit about Continental Breakfasts.

One of my favorite exchanges in a movie is from Tombstone when Wyatt Earp asks Josephine "What's your idea of heaven?" and she responds "Room Service". I still love that and think it's quite true... but there is a vast chasm between Room Service and the Continental Breakfast.
Birmingham, Alabama, United States tourdev

We had a one night stop over in Moody. We passed Talladega raceway on the way there but as it was a longer drive we didn't stop off along the way. We also got held up in our first traffic jam. A truck had gone off the interstate and crashed. Delayed us by about 40 minutes. The Super 8 wasn't the worst or the best motel but we both slept well after dinner at Cracker Barrell.

As most of you know I have been sick since my last blog and yesterday was pretty much a write off. I arrived in Birmingham at 11.45am after taking a 4 hour ride on a Amtrak train. The train ride was quite comfortable. I was able to get two seats to myself and there is a lot more leg room on a train than an airplane. The taxi driver had never heard of the hotel I was staying at and couldn't find it on his GPS. Luckily I had the additionally information that it was off a certain ...

A few days ago we realized that the day we leave, marked in our brains as Memorial Day, comes a week earlier than we'd been thinking. Oops. At least we saw the light soon enough so we won't miss the flight. (Memorial Day this early in May feels very odd.) This trip is no big deal but will serve well as a test travel blog. Something to play with between meetings and meals.

... along the way. We'll be visiting family and staying in inexpensive hotels until we get further West, and then we'll mix camping in with staying in some lodges and inns. I hope to be able to post every couple of days -- not so much detail that our readers will be bored, but enough to give you a flavor of the trip. Hope you enjoy it half as much as we plan to!

( ) JULY 3-4, 2002
THIS IS A TIME OF GOODNESS FROM THE LORD...ALL IS WELL AND THE KIDS ARE FINE. AGAIN, JUST GETTING AWAY BY OURSELVES... AWAY FROM THE NORM. WE CHECKED IN THE HOTEL. THEN WENT TO THE U CHINA BUFFET TO EAT DINNER. THE FOOD WAS REALLY GOOD. THE WE HEADED BACK TO THE ROOM TO START OUR EVENING TOGETHER.THIS HOTEL IS REALLY LOVELY. WHAT WE DID NOT UNDERSTAND ...

Here we are in Alabama, the birthplace of Marty. She found a map at the visitors center that actually shows the town where she was born. Yesterday was good. After the trip down the Natches we had a drive on I-20 with a lot of trucks. Why don't they put all that freight on the train? We are planning a stop on Huntsville to visit Martys cousin and to see the old family home; then on to Chattanooga.

We rode with a local rider on the beautiful backroads of Alabama. we stopped in a town called Blountsville and met the local people at their fall festival- what a hoot. we looked at the old farm equipment and car show. one half of the town was in the parade that we participated in and the other half watched the parade. during the parade, I was run over by one of my co-riders and fell in front of the whole town on Main Street- we ...

... I had such pretty little curls, we must have gone there on a Sunday afternoon, Vulcan and Vestavia. I find it, easy as can be, Temple of Sybil, just an open portico and garden all around, and picture-worthy, yes. Nobody else in sight. Where next? There's something else I want to see, I can't remember what. The trees are blooming spring, the dogwood white is everywhere, the gentle streets, the neighborhoods you'd like to live, Shades Valley, Mountain Brook ...