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.