Sunday, July 15, 2018 - Birmingham, AL

This morning we checked out of our hotel and attended a service at a church across the street from one of the apartment complexes we really liked.  The church was St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.  The church is a great size with lots of groups, activities, and service opportunities.  The pastor who gave the sermon was interesting to listen to and the music was amazing.

After the service, we headed to the Birmingham Zoo where our reciprocal membership at the Milwaukee Zoo got us in half price.  The Birmingham Zoo is a little smaller than the Milwaukee Zoo but the enclosures are so much more animal friendly and natural looking that it really was a neat zoo.

We started on the Alabama Wilds exhibit.  I always really enjoy zoo exhibits that highlight local native species and this exhibit was no exception.

Sandhill Crane

Red Eared Slider - Our former pets are native to Alabama.

Northern Cardinals seem to be just as common down in Alabama as they are in Wisconsin.

Black Vulture enclosure

A display of what the scats of various animals look like

Butterfly Exhibit

The Official State Rock of Alabama

Our next exhibit was the Trails of Africa, where we found something to eat at the Wild Burger restaurant.

The primate building clearly held more than just primates.  The otter exhibit in the building was especially impressive.  A series of bridges allowed you to look down on quite a large indoor exhibit.  (Note, all the credit for the anteater video above and otter video below goes to my husband.)

The orangutans were quite active.

The last section of the zoo we toured seemed to have a lot of birds of many varieties.

The Birmingham Zoo ended our time in the suburbs.  We checked into our hotel, the Springhill Suites Birmingham Downtown at UAB.  Our room included a sitting area with a large couch, desk, counter with fridge and microwave, bathroom area (including a huge stand-up shower) and partitioned off sleeping area.  Additionally, the TV had Netflix and Hulu apps allowing you to log into your account.  This was a great hotel.

We had time to take a tour of a nearby apartment before finding some supper at the nearby Publix to take back to the room.  We never made it down to the pool because it was so nice to just relax in the room.

Monday, July 16, 2018 - Birmingham, AL

Today was the big day, the whole reason for the trip.  So we got up early, had a good breakfast, I put on my suit, and walked the eight tenths of a mile to my interview.  I put my best foot forward and now, all we can do is wait.

After the interview, we went back to the hotel to change before checking out a couple more apartments.  One of the apartments we looked at was right above the Pizitz Food Hall which is where we had lunch.  I had poke for the first time and fell in love.  For those who do not know what it is, it is kind of like sushi in a bowl except it originated from Hawaii not Japan (although Japanese cuisine has influenced it over the years).  This food hall seems to specialize in international and unique food.

Temperatures were a bit cooler this day.  It was pretty warm and sticky in the morning but then storms came through and brought with them temperatures in the mid to low 70s.  Alabamians were out in jackets and sweatshirts.  After the storms passed through and the sun came out temperatures climbed to the low eighties and it was quite pleasant.

We had time in the evening to rest before the long drive home the next day.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - Travel Home from Birmingham, AL

Today's timing was a bit tricky because we definitely didn't want to go through Chicago during rush hour, but wanted to avoid Indianapolis rush hour as much as possible and not get home too late.  So we left a little after 8:00 a.m.  Traffic in Birmingham was better than expected.  We were leaving downtown and thus going against all the commuting traffic going into downtown. 

Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration that Indianapolis is in the eastern time zone so we ended up going through there right around 5:00 p.m.  It was not too terrible though on the bypass. 

Here are the stats for today's drive:
Total Drive Time:  11 hours 37 minutes
Total Miles:  773.8
Computer calculated MPG:  30.5
Start time:  8:11 a.m.
End time:  9:25 p.m.

Here are stats for the entire trip:
Total Time:  27 hours 54 minutes
Total Miles:  1641.1
Computer calculated MPG:  29.3
Hand calculated MPG:  28.4
Cheapest Gas we paid:  $2.44 in Athens, AL
Most Expensive Gas we paid:  $2.89 in Whiteland, IN and Indianapolis, IN

Vehicle:  2018 Kia Stinger GT2
Air conditioning running the entire time
70+ mph a significant portion of each travel day
Number of miles driven around Birmingham:  79.5

Chicago Auto Show

Being President's Day, my husband and I had off and so we decided to take advantage of the weekday to drive down to Chicago and check out the Chicago Auto Show.  Unfortunately, crowds were not as light as we had hoped and with the number of children present, schools must have had the day off.

Before I get into the Auto Show though, we saw a great sign in Wisconsin that made us chuckle as we were headed south that said, "Your car is not a bobsled.  Watch your speed."

Now, on to the Chicago Auto Show.  We parked in Parking Lot C at the McCormick Place which was a great location.  (We had originally thought to park in Parking Lot B as it is a bit cheaper but due to the rain today, wanted to be in a covered location.)  We arrived about 30 minutes early (not knowing how bad traffic was and so were one of the first ones in the show when it opened.  

The North Floor before opening time:

Our first stop was Hyundai where they had on display the 2019 Veloster N, set to be released in the third quarter of this year.

The also had the 2019 Veloster Turbo which was redesigned this year.  We were disappointed that they had eliminated some of the glass in the back and the sunroof wasn't nearly as big.  They moved the navigation screen up higher.  Other than that there didn't seem to be a lot of changes.

While at the Hyundai display, my husband took part in the Racing Challenge.  He ended up with the top lap time for the morning and was invited back to the tournament at 1:45 p.m. where he took 2nd place overall to someone who has the same chair at home and is familiar with Watkins Glen (a track my husband doesn't have much experience with and he almost caught him on the last lap).

Kia, Jeep and Toyota all had indoor tracks where you could ride along with a professional driver.  The lines were longer than we wanted to wait and so we didn't participate but it looked like fun.  Here are a few photos of Kia's track.

The Jeep track was even more impressive.

The Volkswagen that seemed to stand out to us was the 2018 Golf Alltrack.  The model on display was this beautiful green color with brown seats.  And the best part is that this vehicle still comes in manual (not that I'm ready to trade in my Veloster yet).

Here is the 2018 Beetle Dune:

Here is the Golf R:

Here is the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon:

Here is the row of Subarus:

The 2018 Subaru BRZ made its debut at this auto show and was a pretty neat sporty car.

The Kia Stinger is a sharp looking car but a little difficult to see out the front with such a narrow windshield.

The Slingshot is a really unique three wheeled vehicle, but way too low to the ground for me.

Infinity had a neat looking concept car they called the Q Inspiration.

After 5 hours at the show (including the half hour before it opened), we decided it was time to find our car and find some late lunch on the way home.