Long story short... my work and/or my family vacations have brought me to every state except for one... Alabama. I have documented evidence of being in every state except for Alabama. I will likely make a special trip just for the bragging rights of having been in every state. Likely I will fly into Birmingham, Pensacola, or Atlanta depending on airfare, rent a car, and go from there. likely 2 or 3 days or so.

But I see there are no national parks there, and when I search for "Alabama Tourist Attractions" the results are pretty slim.

So, what would you suggest in Alabama? Food, entertainment, Parks, activities, outdoor recreation. I'm open to any and all ideas.

I will likely go in the year 2021 or 2022, depending.

thanks

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail if you enjoy golf.

Space & Rocket Center

Barber Museum - amazing motorcycle collection

http://www.barbermuseum.org

USS Alabama located in Mobile

Try all the foods....can’t go wrong with a Poboy....
Around Mobile there are several civil war forts, there is also the USS Alabama!

Quintzels, famous for its seafood( the downtown one, the other one is not as historic)

My FIL lives in Huntsville and they got a lotta rocket stuff there, there is a You tuber Smarter Every Day (think his name is Destin) who lives there and his stuff is great.

CMP has an office there where they sell guns.....you can tickle that M1Garand itch...

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Try all the foods....can’t go wrong with a Poboy....
Around Mobile there are several civil war forts, there is also the USS Alabama!

Quintzels, famous for its seafood( the downtown one, the other one is not as historic)

My FIL lives in Huntsville and they got a lotta rocket stuff there, there is a You tuber Smarter Every Day (think his name is Destin) who lives there and his stuff is great.

CMP has an office there where they sell guns.....you can tickle that M1Garand itch...

And where every gun supporter is supposed to visit at last once.

Honestly, if I had to pick one thing to plan a trip to Alabama around, it'd be an Iron Bowl (Alabama vs Auburn college football game.) Runner up would be a Nascar race at Talladega.

Otherwise, Alabama is a lot like the rest of the deep south though it probably doesn't have any one thing as unique as it's neighbors. It'd beaches are pretty good... same as panhandle Florida. It's national forests are similar to Georgia and Mississippi. Tennessee has more mountains. Georgia has Atlanta. Mississippi has some big river and the delta. Louisiana has New Orleans. The thing Alabama does arguably better than anyone else is college football.

For nature, I'd probably go to Lake Guntersville or Mobile Bay.

I worked in Alabama for four years in the late 1990s. When I arrived there, I was told that there are three things that I would never hear anybody say:

1. "This tea is too sweet."
   
   
2. "There is too much primer on that truck."
   
   
3. "You can't fix that with duct tape."

quote:

Originally posted by CWR67:
Barber Museum - amazing motorcycle collection

http://www.barbermuseum.org

THIS!

You should go to the CMP store in Anniston. Get yourself a nice rifle. I think it’s by appointment only right now though.

I just saw that this has already been suggested...

In Montgomery there’s some cool museums like the Hank Williams museum and the First White House of the Confederacy.

Outdoors:

Little River Canyon National Preserve(one of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi River):
https://www.nps.gov/liri/index.htm



https://www.yelp.com/biz/littl...reserve-fort-payne-2


Orange Beach, on the Gulf Coast:

Bellingrath Gardens and Home, just north of Mobile. I visited it in 1975. The collection of Boehm porcelein is exqusite. IIRC, the house has 27 identical Chippendale chairs.
https://bellingrath.org/visit/directions-parking/

flashguy

The USS Alabama is a must see. You don't get to check out a WWII battleship every state.

If you like things that fly (and who doesn't?) the US Army Aviation Helicopter Museum at Fort Rucker in Enterprise, AL is a great place to spend a few hours.
My son-in-law was the ATC tower chief there for a couple years.

I lived in Alabama for a while in the late 80’s and still get over that way from time to time. We honeymooned in Mobile. I second the USS Alabama and Belingrath Gardens. The beaches were nice, too. We stayed in the historic Malaga Inn, though I understand its rating has dropped since we were there.

The Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville is great.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program has its South Store in Anniston and the CMP Marksmanship Park is in Talladega. Great place to pick up an M1 Garand and to get in some practice (they have a store in Talladega, too, if you want to do it all in one place, but the selection may not be as good).

There are lots of nice camping and hiking opportunities in the Scottsboro/Guntersville area.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your trip.

Space and Rocket Center - Huntsville AL
USS Alabama - Mobile AL
Orange Beach AL

Honestly if you make it to Orange Beach, you need to jump the state line to visit NAS Pensacola / Museum of Naval Aviation just over the border into FL. Impressive place.

A couple of things:

It is "Wintzell's", not "Quentzels". It is a DELICIOUS chain in many cities in Alabama and Florida. https://www.wintzellsoysterhouse.com/. Try the bacon wrapped shrimp with Jalapeno.

If you go to the USS Alabama keep in mind that it is a steel box painted dark gray. It is hotter than Hell in Summer.

AL native and on-again off-again resident for cumulative 35 years, still there many times a year for family and vacation home. All of the above are good suggestions.

See someone suggested the Iron Bowl. That is a terrific suggestion and if you could swing the expense and time to slot that in a great time (tickets to this game tend to run $250-$1,000 or more depending on the season). I was going to suggest simply any Auburn or UofA SEC opponent weekend. As an Auburn grad I may have a campus bias but either experience will be a fun eye-opener for someone from the PNW.

Barber would be at the top of my options as well. IMHO a beach is a beach, so meh.

The USS Alabama is like a trip back in time and worth it if you're in south AL.

quote:

Originally posted by Rolan_Kraps:
If you go to the USS Alabama keep in mind that it is a steel box painted dark gray. It is hotter than Hell in Summer.

It's a good simulation of what it was like onboard in the South Pacific during WW2...