We just had another fun-filled Alabama Adventure with our friends from the "north." This was Margaret's 3rd time visiting (I think she secretly likes it here!) but it was Matt's 1st time so we had to find a nice mix of new southern things to do!
Matt arrived first on Friday, while I was still at work, so Tom picked him up at the airport and they went to see the Vulcan. After they rescued me from my super busy day at work, we went to a local favorite, Jim 'N Nick's for lunch. Then we went to get fresh-squeezed limeade from a local deli in Mountain Brook (my favorite! I big puffy heart limeade!)
For dinner Friday night we went to the J. Clyde, a local Birmingham restaurant with a wide variety of beers on tap and a fun atmosphere. We sat outside (in January, yes, it was warm enough to sit outside! Well, it was kind of a "tented in" area on the deck but still) and enjoyed some live jazz music during dinner. Afterwards we strolled over to meet some friends at the dueling piano bar. It wasn't the best performance we had seen there, but we still had a good time.
Saturday we woke up and got ready for the main attraction! We drove to Archibald's, a tiny, family run BBQ joint a few miles north of Tuscaloosa in the back yard of Archibald's house! Tom and I first learned about this place while watching an Alabama football game on tv when Todd Blackledge went there for his "Todd's Taste of the Town." One look and we knew we had to go there before we left Alabama! The menu consisted of small or large rib plate, rib sandwich, pork sandwich, or rib/pork combo. That's it. We all got rib plates and they were awesome! You really can't beat this experience. You are driving through this neighborhood and all of the sudden you see smoke coming up from the "oven." You pull up and walk into this tiny little "restaurant" where there is a bar with a few stools and right behind the bar George Archibald himelf is hosing down the ribs with water so they don't get too hot. His wife (I'm guessing) takes your order (or smirks at you when you tell her you've never been there before)! Then you enjoy your ribs outside on some picnic tables and the smell of smoke lingers with you for the rest of the day!
After Archibald's we hit up another local winery that we had never been to, Vizzini Farms. We sampled some of the wines and went on a "tour." I wouldn't even call it a tour, considering the "tourguide" was some guy that had obviously been drinking wine all day and we stood in this garage while he pointed out the barrels they make the wine in. But we got to sample some yummy Alabama wines, including a peach wine and an apple wine!
We were all BBQ'd out for dinner so we went to Surin, a local Thai restaurant. We had originally planned to head out to a bar in the Lakeview District to see a band called The Cheesebrokers, an 80's cover band! But we were all too exhausted and full after dinner so we went home and hung out instead.
Sunday we went to the Original Pancake House for brunch and stuffed ourselves silly yet again. I think we all gained about 5 pounds this weekend! After brunch we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. You all know how I feel about museums, but I actually enjoyed it. We ended our visit with some Milo's Sweet Tea because you can't come to the south and not have sweet tea! All in all it was a great weekend! Thanks for coming to visit guys!! :)
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