Monday, August 24, 2009

Day 4 - Birmingham, Cajun Dog

Today has brought me to a new city and state - Birmingham, Alabama.  I've never been to the state before, so that's my big new thing for the day.  En route I had two additional new things, one inadvertant and one deliberate.

The flight from Boston to Atlanta was a full boat, and things were looking grim when the young family with several children roughly seven years old and younger, slowly maneuvered their way into the row directly behind me.  However, once we were underway I couldn't hear a peep from any of them due to the ambient noise level of the plane.  It wasn't until we were nearing Atlanta that I happened to glance out the window behind me that I discovered the reason - I was seated about four feet away from one of the engines.  I've never had such a clear view of one, and it looked very cozy.  Seemingly still, smooth, round and roomy.  Looked like a nice place for a snooze, like a riveted metal hammock.  Of course I know better, having seen the pilot episode of Lost.  Not to mention that Firefly episode.

So, sitting next to the engine: inadvertent new thing.

After this morning's complete failure to vary from my Starbucks routine, I determined that such would not be the case at lunch.  After walking for a bit and exploring the food options, I decided to hit the Oscar Mayer Hot Dog Zone for the enticing Cajun hot dog.  It had cajun-spiced cheese sauce, onions and relish, and it was a gooey, spicy, yummy mess!  And I ate the whole thing.  My mouth tingled all the way to Birmingham, and unfortunately my stomach was starting to tingle a bit as well.  Just a tingle, though.  Nothing major.  Although as I was waiting in line at the Enterprise car rental counter I was beginning to think perhaps it was a caffeine hot dog, as I felt like I had caffeine jitters.




Once I dropped off my stuff at the hotel and checked my work email, I went out for a walk around downtown Birmingham, which is quite nice.  The restaurants are all geared towards business, and are only open for lunch, so that was a downer.  I did get some nice pictures of the library (view from my hotel room) and park across the street, and also of the Museum of Art.  Most are on the SLR, which I'll upload after I'm back home, and I'll update this post.  For now, here's the view from the room:




Usually my hotel views are of parking lots, fast food joints and strip malls, so this is a nice change.  Now if only there were a nice restaurant in walking distance!

Tomorrow, after wrapping up my site visit: Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

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