Day 15 - Pensacola to Birmingham

Following a quick hotel breakfast we were on the road North cos we had to cover a lot of ground today. We made the wise decision to wait til we crossed back over into Alabama to buy petrol cos it's cheaper here than in Florida. We filled up and K bought loads of caramel m&ms and the cashier was delighted - she definitely approved of the purchase.

Back on the road and we were soon (not really) at Priester's Pecans. This is the most American of stops. A giant roadside extravaganza built round the humble pecan, it sells every pecan related product you can imagine - and lots you probably can't. The reason it is so wonderful is there are a lot of tasters, I particularly enjoyed the key lime pecans. There is also a massive shop selling all sorts of southern wares. There was a whole section of jesus tshirts! There's a restaurant too and an ice cream section - I may have had a wee scoop of butter pecan.

Our first big stop of the day was Montgomery, it was weirdly quiet considering it is a Saturday but at least we got parked with no problems. We continued our civil rights education at the Rosa Parks museum. It was brilliant, there was a great reconstruction of the night she refused to give up her seat and lots of information about the year long bus strike that happened as a result. Afterwards we popped round the corner to the old Greyhound station, site of the Freedom Riders riot. Again it was great and there was a lot of information. We've really been impressed with the civil rights stuff we've been to but it really is horrific what's gone on and unfortunately what continues to go on.

We stopped for lunch at Chris' Hotdogs which celebrated its 100 year birthday earlier in the week. It's a proper old school burger joint with booths, paper plates and is nothing fancy but it was wonderful. We both got the special burger,  mine with cheese, it was a double burger smashed patty with onions and secret sauce and we shared some chips. The burgers were incredible,  top 3 ever!

Even though Chris' is on the same Street as the state capitol there were no people about even though the restaurant was busy. We drove up the street and parked right outside the Capitol and took some pics, we also went down to the MLK church that had an eternal flame outside.

We left Montgomery behind and to an exciting island 20 mins outside of town. The island is privately owned but you can drive on for $3 and a lot of people go for the fishing or just to picnic but we were there for the town of Spectre which is the set for the Tim Burton film Big Fish. The film was filmed on the island and they built the fake town then just left it to ruin. It was really cool to see and the buildings were in various states of disrepair. The weird thing was that it seems to have become a popular spot for family photo shoots so there was a sweet 16 phot shoot, a this is our new baby photo shoot and a cute children photo shoot going on.

The island was lovely, really scenic, it would be lovely to spend a whole day there just chilling. We found a swing seat by the river so sat there for a while enjoying the view but then we had to push on.

Our next destination was Peach Park which was similar to the pecan stop this morning but with peaches instead of pecans. We both had some peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream and sat on the porch on rocking chairs with some sweet tea, it's the Alabama dream. They had a lot of stuff to photograph including a giant peach.

Finally, we arrived at our Birmingham hotel and they told us it was kick back time. Apparently between 530 and 7 the hotel lays on some snacks and you are entitled to 3 cocktails! Bonus! They had millions of stuff - Hotdogs, nachos, baked potatoes,  salads, soup, popcorn and more! We had some tortilla chips and a couple of drinks but didn't go too wild cos we had dinner plans.

We chilled in the room for a bit trying to cool down and then headed over to Barnes & Noble for a wee browse. At about 9 we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner - have you really been on holiday to America if you don't visit the Cheesecake Factory?!

It was super busy but we got an outside table in about 5 minutes,  result! We ordered some cuban style spring rolls to start cos I've been dreaming of them since we had them in Fort Lauderdale 2 years ago but they had ran out, gutted! We both got similar meals with breaded chicken, mash and asparagus but mine was honey truffle chicken and was thick and K's was lemon which was super thin. We both enjoyed what we ordered but brought about half home. It's currently in the fridge in the room and might be breakfast.

Tomorrow is to be spent in Birmingham with a side trip for fried green tomatoes.

K is currently sleeping and I should do the same.

Night y'all!