Friday, July 13, 2018 - Birmingham, AL (Travel Day and Bowling Green, KY)

With a long day of driving ahead of us and a great desire to avoid Chicago rush hour, the alarm went off at 1:30 a.m. so we could be on the road by 2:00 a.m.  We took the 2018 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD which is rated at 19/26 mpg.  I took the first shift through Chicago and managed to get 32.5 mpg!

We saw a great electronic sign in the Chicago area which read, "No Texting No Speeding No Ketchup."

On our way down, on a whim we planned to stop at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was just a mile off our route.  So we plugged in the address in our GPS and noticed something a bit strange as we got close.  Check it out.

Once we looked at our watches, we discovered that we must have driven into eastern time briefly and the car clocked changed to that but knew that the Museum was back in central time.

The National Corvette Museum was really worth the stop.  On display were so many unique Corvettes plus they had an entire display on the sinkhole that swallowed 8 Corvettes in 2014.  The Corvette plant nearby is not currently offering tours (they plan to again in 2019), but they did have a neat video on how Corvettes are produced. Finally, they had three Corvettes that you could ride in, for an additional fee. 

On February 12, 2014, a sinkhole swallowed eight Corvettes located in the Skydome.  No one was present when the cave-in happened but the security cameras caught it all on camera.

This concept car really caught our attention.

Here are the three cars you could take a ride in:

After leaving at 2:00 a.m., lunch, two gas stops, and the stop at the National Corvette Museum, we made it to our hotel, the Sleep Inn in Pelham at 5:06 p.m.  Total drive time was 12 hours and 49 minutes.  We didn't deal with a lot of traffic (although a fair amount of construction with a 55 mph speed limit) until we reached the northern side of Birmingham.  Traffic on I-65 was stop and go from that point on and even getting off at our exit in Pelham, traffic was crazy.  We later learned there was a big concert across the street that evening which added to rush hour traffic.

As we drove into Birmingham, we encountered some familiarity in a billboard.  Whoever came up with this slogan must have made a fortune.

We traveled 787.8 miles and averaged 30.1 mpg (as calculated by the trip computer).  We paid $2.89/gallon for gas in Indiana and just across the border into Alabama we paid $2.47/gallon.

Our Sleep Inn hotel was a really great hotel with one of the best breakfasts we have ever had at a Choice Hotel and a beautiful pool.  Plus the staff was so friendly and helpful.

Saturday, July 14, 2018 - Birmingham, AL

The reason for this weekend trip was a job interview and so one of our goals was to check out apartments.  That way, if an offer was received, we could easily go forward with securing housing without having to take more time off to take another trip down here.

We had appointments with three apartment complexes but found that the tours went so quickly we had lots of time between.  So we stopped in to two more (one of which we had planned to visit the next day).

Lunch was at Zaxby's which was really good.

We had some time after apartment hunting to relax by the pool for a while.  The weather was a bit strange as we sat out.  As you can see in the photo below, blue skies with just a few fluffy clouds could be seen above and in front of us.  Just behind us was a huge band of dark clouds and we could hear thunder rumbling not too far away.  At one point a small cloud floated over the pool while we were swimming releasing some temporary rain.

Supper was at Moe's Original BBQ which was amazing.  My husband had a pulled pork sandwich and I had the smoked turkey platter.

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.